So… I got docked for not using what is essentially the two-column note-taking system most of us were taught in high school for my field notes. They’re explained in the syllabus, and when I read their description at the beginning of the semester, I thought, “You must be fucking kidding me” for a few of reasons:
1) If I need to be told how to take field notes in my last semester of grad school, I am fucked.
2) That’s not at all how this program taught us how to take field notes in the first semester.
3) Two-column notes are for high school suck-ups who don’t know how to take notes.
4) The two-column system assumes note-taking in an actual notebook… We’re supposed to take down as much dialog as possible (to make the notes accurate and useful) which can most easily be done in real time by typing 80wpm instead of writing at less than half that speed. Also, it’s fucking 2014 and we’re all in grad school. Chances are there’s a laptop or two floating around.
I am now at an impasse: do I alter my field notes to meet the absurd requirements set before us (aka. be a kissass), or take a hit on my grade and continue to take excellent field notes? I’ll have to email the professor and ask for some answers to the above questions (once I’ve taken the poison out of them).
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Okok, I just had another look at the fieldwork observation guidelines, and it states we should either do two column notes, OR bracket our “analytical question or observation to think about later” amidst our field notes.
I cannot hate this more than I do at this moment. This level of micro-management (and the fact that it has already affected my grade) makes me bristle. It also makes me wonder how the previous classes fucked up their field notes so badly that this kind of hand-holding was deemed necessary. I’m inclined to misbehave just to see if I get threatened with a spanking.
Be Random, Be Clear 