February 13th Picking Classes

Write about a work in progress

“I wana be done! Just tell me what I have to do next.” The young man across from me just hung his head at this point. It was something I had seen a dozens of times before and knew I would see dozens more. Kids who changed majors part way through, kids who came back for degrees to advance after thinking they’d been done with school. Yeah they weren’t all kids, some were legitimate adults but the idea of another full semester of classes, or even another year of classes for those who couldn’t do full time, was enough to bring out the highschooler in anyone.

“Let’s see what we can do.” The current student sitting across from me looked young for his age. I would have guessed 24 maybe 25 but according to his file was 34, and it made me a bit jealous. “Let’s seee…..” He was on an Education degree track, not to rare, often people went back to school to be teachers. It was about seeing how many credits we could waive and so I pulled up his transcripts from his previous schools and I had to suppress a small chuckle. This one had been a LifeTime student. Associate degrees in computer science, robotics, mechanical systems, and business, bachelors in computer science and business. But this was only his third semester in his Education track and…..

I sighed, as I had feared most of the credits didn’t cross over. As I did the comparison I talked out loud to myself. “English comp I, English comp II.” I scrolled further down. “History of Civilization I, History of Civilization II, College Mathematics….” There had to be somewhere else I could save some time. “Well if you didn’t want any of the education electives we could drop another nine credits there.” 

With each class listed the student’s eyes got just a spark more life in them and I understood why, he was a part time student with three listed jobs, one full time and two part time. On top of a class load if he had any family, kids, hobbies, his life would be probably overwhelming. 

“Sure at this point I’ll drop anything, but I can’t do a full semester again.” He said, there was slightly more hope in his voice than had been at the start.

I agreed with him and looked at his schedule. Last semester he’d done 12 credits, and compared to his summer class of one, it was obvious his grades had taken a hit. “Alright let’s do a single class, Individualized Learning. It only has one term project along with the weekly assignments, it’s completely online, and the professor is one of those who answers emails at all times of the day.” It wasn’t much and I was basically adding a full two years to his attempt at getting his degree but it was better than watching him burn out and drop out. Education was always a work in progress.

2025 February Flash Fiction Challenge: Day 13 - Writer's Digest