I handed in an assignment today for TAFE, on a subject that I know nothing about, because we have been taught nothing about it.

We also did an exam that contained questions that we had never heard of before, so the whole class basically sat and struggled for the answer before they could move on. We hadn't been taught that so we had to guess, and nobody got it. It wasn't hard, it was just that we hadn't been shown it before, so nobody knew it. The exam was structured so that each section had to be signed off before you could move on to the next one.

So we all sat and struggled and then sat and gave up trying and sat and sat and sat. Until the teacher got the shits and finally told us the answer.

The whole class.

I was the one who piped up with "has anyone actually got the answer to this one yet?" to the teacher, who answered "no" and that must have got him thinking.

The whole class is structured that way. That is the second exam we have had with questions we don't know the answers to because we haven't been taught them. I passed the last one with 54% because I got lucky with a few of my guesses. Lots of kids got unlucky with their guesses and failed (but we were all guessing, except for one kid who got 80%, and guess what? he has worked in this industry so he learned it there - coz he sure as hell didn't learn it in our class).

We also get 'pop quizzes' with questions that nobody knows the answer to. The first time it happened I thought he was taking the piss. I honestly did. I thought it was a joke!

But I didn't think it was a particularly funny joke. And I still don't. The teacher insisted we had been taught it. But I know we hadn't. I know this because those answers weren't anywhere in my head, I had never heard it before in my life. Same as what happened today. I turn up to every one of those classes and I listen to every word, mostly because I know that I need to because its all unfamiliar to me, and because its so unfamiliar to me I know I would remember if I had heard particular words before.

Basically, most of TAFE is a waste of time. The Monday morning class is learning software that I have been using for around ten years or more and have sat numerous tests for at various recruitment agencies. Then the Monday afternoon class is the bullshit one where we sit exams on a subject that no one is teaching us. Then the Friday morning class is the class that I am actually attending TAFE for, the website design, which is good, but slow. Then the Friday afternoon one is communication and things like how to write a letter applying for a job and how to write a resume and how to perform at a job interview. So yeah, basically How To Get a Job.

I have going for jobs and getting them for ....over....twenty....years. If I didn't already know that subject matter I would have starved to death by now, lol, geez.

So, I talked to Steve about it and I am going to keep going for a bit longer and if it still feels like a pointless waste of time going to the other classes then I will only go to the Friday class. It means I won't get the certificate, but to be honest, I just want the information. I already have certificates in various things and at this stage of the game if you say you have the skills to do something then a prospective employer tends to believe you.

But anyway, we will see. It just feels like it's dragging out and I am doing a lot of stuff that

a) I hate

b) I already know back to front.