The Rippling

Hi.
So, why do you regret sociology?
just curious...

I regret having become a sociology major because I am at a small Christian college that has an even smaller sociology department. Anywhere other than Covenant, I might have been quite pleased with my studies; at Covenant, I've taken maybe 3 classes in the department that I've really enjoyed. Furthermore, I've only learned effectively and actively under the teaching style of one of the profs. This, along with the fact that I wanted to study more of the theoretical side of the discipline rather than the practical and counselling portions that most of Covenant's classes focus on, has prevented me from enjoying my studies.

HOWEVER, I will never say that I didn't enjoy Principles of Sociology or Contemporary Social Thought--the things I learned in those classes still fascinate me. PLUS, the fact that soc. is such a small major (only 32 credits) has allowed me to take a lot of other classes. For example, next semester I'm graduating and I only have 1 credit of sociology left to finish. I have to take 2 Core Classes (A&M and Global Trends), but then I'm taking 3 other electives.

Of course, I do have to finish my SIP this semester...

G

Yeah, I'm taking Contemp. Soc. Thought right now. I found within the first few days of class that the Soc. program at Covenant is geared far more towards producing social workers than sociologists. Which is a shame, because I'm thinking that the church could use far more of the latter than the former.

McGee:
Those are good reasons to be frustrated with the sociology major. Jess had the same problems with it, as you probably know.
But, Ryan, I'm going to have to go ahead and disagree with you: the church (not to mention society as a whole) needs social workers at least as much as it needs sociologists; while it is true that social work practice needs to be informed by good sociological understanding, there is lots of work that can be, is being, and still needs to be accomplished without perfecting our sociology. I would suggest the analogy of Bible translation: though correct doctrine (insofar as doctrine is intended to be a working out of Scripture) is entirely essential when translating Scripture, we cannot afford to wait until we perfect our doctrine to begin translating Scripture into new languages.

But your point is at least 86% valid, I think, in that sociology is a invaluable resource for the church, which is (as far as I can tell) nearly ignored.

Hey Rob,

So what is Jess doing now? I think she had said something about going t' grad school, but i was wondering if that's what she ended up doing. What DOES a sociology major at Covenant do if he/she isn't terribly interested in social work? I'm amusing myself with thoughts of some post-graduate work in history; taking Contemporary Global this semester has made me think history is what I really wanted to study all along...

McGee....my KY bro, i have but one thought on your situation. You should have joined me at UofL heh heh....oops did we win the football game this year? and you know we'll win the bball game too. um...for a sociologist that means UofL fans are easil identified by the fact that their head is up and looking where they are going, but UK fans tend to look at their feet as they scurry around their meaningless existances...heh heh. mmm rivalry, always fun.

Hey!!

Yet another person I know joins the blog realm. Yeah yeah I know this is a little belated, but I've been away from a computer for the last few days.

Good to know you're alive and kicking McGee. . .

McGee,
Jess is doing grad work, in social work, at UGA, which she is not liking very much (she thought about dropping out but I convinced her that would be a waste of money since she's already paid for half of it). The big reason she doesn't like it is because its ridiculously easy (and therefore she isn't learning too much, which was supposed to be the point of going to grad school).

Myself, I'm going to switch directions in grad school, so I'd recommend it to you, I can't see any reason not to do history if that's what interests you.

I really appreciate your advise Rob. Gives me more of a feeling that I won't be throwing away my undergrad if I switch directions after this...

See you down here in the real world man.

history would also be good, if you're more interested in the theoretical side of soc. A whole way of doing history is "social studies."