Educate yourself correctly

Now a day, there are different amount of course times for the same field/title/degree.  Terms are five week periods, quarters are 11 week periods and semesters are 16 week periods.  I am currently in the Interior Design program at the Art Institute of Tampa.  Here we run on quarters, 11 week periods.

There are other schools that run off terms and they provide the Interior Design program.  I ask myself, “How can they possibly learn and retain everything that needs to be learned”.  This is not a profession of learning color theories only.  We deal with people’s life and safety.  It is something that is critical that needs time and reviewing.  If it’s rushed, accidents happen.  I feel like these student are being cut on important education.  Then, they go out to the real world and potentially misconception the profession or make mistakes that make the profession look bad.  On one part it is a little less cost effective; but you get what you pay for.

I feel like quarters is the perfect balance between time, cost, and education.  It’s more expensive than terms, but you get twice the time; allowing time for design process.  Apart from school, most of students have a job, and a family.  With school pressure on top of that, it would be very frustrating to have to cram an 11 week period in a 5 week term.  With quarters, sometimes it’s still a little challenging with real world problems, but it’s definitely manageable.

Semesters are the most beneficial in my opinion, but yes, it’s more costly, something not all can afford.  With the extra 5 weeks, any questions or concerns can be cleared up.  The only disadvantage to this lengthy period is that those courses that we don’t like would be longer.  My say is, Sometimes you got to do things you don’t like and make sacrifices for the best results.  This is our future.  I decided in this field and I would do everything that I can do to get the best out of an education while I have the opportunity in life.

With those main points reviewed, I believe that trade periods like terms, affects you in the long run.  Take your time and do things the right way.  Patience and quality is key to success.