A rant about direct relationships

The more time I spend sitting through college classes, the more fond I become of my years in the International Baccalaureate program. A large part of the problem arises because I am still in required lower-division courses. The classes are ridiculous. I constantly feel like I am being spoken down too and that professors purposefully draw out lectures to fill the entire class period, even when they could finish them in half the time.

The I.B. program was a good program because more than being challenging, the teachers expected things of students. Perhaps I have become disillusioned during these years I haven't been in high school. I didn't like all my classes, but save for a single instance (a horrible zero hour class) I don't remember constantly feeling like my time was being completely wasted.

It's not that I know everything already. I.B. prepared me well, but I still have much to learn and am eager to do so. The classes introduce new material, they do, but it is presented in such a way that it's better for me just to read the over-priced textbook. It bothers me that the lectures aren't really necessary.

All throughout high school, we were warned. College will be different. It is different, but not in ways I had hoped. I miss the challenge. I miss having more expected of me, than merely showing up. I suppose I may take all this back when the first set of mid-terms come around, but somehow I doubt it.

I'm not suggesting classes should be made unnecessarily difficult, but I want to gain something from them. I sincerely hope upper-division courses will be an improvement.