Ah the joys of University, 2008.
I feel I must rant about recent problems that have come about in the last four days I have been back at school. I am a Japanese major and as part of my major I may take either historical and/or religious study classes focusing on Japan. This semester I decided to start working on understanding some of the religions - like Shinto and Buddhist - of the region. First, however, I must take RLST 100, and now that I've given you a short summary I will rant on the problems I have incountered.
First off, the bookstore failed to order enough books for the class. On the first day of class the prof utilized the 'show of hands' method to see how many in the class had in fact aquired the book, and I was relieved to see that half the class, or less, had been able to do so. That is, until the prof assigned the reading assignment due the next class anyway; if we didn't have the book we'd best find some way to get it. As this particular book is put out by the University, ordering it from an online source such as Amazon.com is impossible. -- Before I go on I must make note that this 'text book' is in fact a computer CD, one that the prof pointed out as having been problematic in the past for students. You see, the CD is formatted for a Mac, and most students choose to work from a PC. The prof acknowledged that the PC can not always read the pdf file properly. -- Needless to say on the next day when he asked questions no one offered answers, whether due to the fact of not having the book yet (as was my case) but also to a second fact that has only come to my attention after having completed the readings.
This "book" could have been written by a child. The writers (as there are several) appear unable to put together a grammatically correct paragraph or even a sentence. Sentences flip flop on topics which they are speeching and paragraphs have no central idea they explore. Many paragraphs are made of one giant run on sentence. Commas are nearly non-existant, and the authors seem unable to decide on a format for using quotations. At one point one of the authors actually suggests in a bracetted section that to better understand religious studies students would be well off to read a book which she makes multiple references to, because the auther of this book provides an excellent arguement on what 'religion' is without actually telling the reader what exactly his arguement she is so impressed by is.
I am by far not one of the most intelligent people in the class, so it may not mean much to say I did not understand anything from the readings, but I do understand basic grammar. I will not name the book here, nor the authors, nor my University I attend because I wish not to encounter legal rights issues in posting this on the internet, so you will just have to take my word for it.
Guin Korishi Community Member 
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