General Psychology

In the spring of 1989 I took a class in General Psychology at Lee College.  It was taught by Dr. Paul Conn, president of the college.  I think that was the one class he continued to teach after becoming president.  Dr. Conn was quite in tune with the students, and he made the class very interesting.  

It was during this spring semester. my second semester at Lee College, that I also joined the study tour group going to Israel for two weeks.  After these two classes my mind was made up, at the age of 39, that I wanted to pursue a college degree.  I regretted not getting a degree after high school, but at that time I could not see how it would benefit me...one who only aspired to be a secretary.  

I went one year to Olivet Nazarene College back in 1968, as requested by my parents, and decided it was not the route for me.  Also, I did not find Mr. Right on the college campus...which may be more the reason I wanted to attend college in the first place!  It was a good year over all, but I did not excel in the grades, and was not inspired to continue.

After my clinical depression in my 30's (see previous blog posts), I did not feel adequate to obtain employment.  A return to college seemed like the place to get my life refocused.  I started out slow, not knowing if I would be able to fit in with the academic world.  However, even in the registration line I began to make friends with other older/non-traditional students returning to school.  Many of them were seeking a mid-life career change, or following God's call on their lives to prepare for His service in some type of ministry.  That helped me feel like maybe there was a divine purpose in  my going back to college.

It was my second semester at Lee College in which I took General Psychology and the Study Tour of Israel (I do not recall the exact name of the class).  The desire to know the Bible in more depth was planted in me while in Israel.  I knew if I intended to seek a degree, I would need to take a foreign language class.  Since I did not think I would use German, French or Spanish, I chose to study New Testament Greek as my foreign language.  I knew it would open the Bible to me in ways nothing else could.  

New Testament Greek met five days a week for two semesters for the first year.  Since it was a class required by ministerial students, there were several in the class, many for their second time.  The class started out with 24 students, 21 of which were male.  By the end of that first year, only 11 students remained.  The top three of us were highly competitive with each other, and I think Dr. Bowdle enjoyed our camaraderie.  I personally think he rooted for me...the only female.  He did say that females are stronger in language arts and typically should do better.  I also think he enjoyed my system for memorizing Greek vocabulary.  There are three noun genders in Greek...masculine, feminine, and neuter.  So it seemed natural for me to put masculine nouns on blue 3x5 cards; feminine nouns on pink 3x5 cards; and neuter nouns on yellow 3x5 cards.  Not only was it colorful, it was a devise for helping me associate the gender of each  noun...very necessary in the study of Greek.  (I still have those original cards...29 years later.)  

However, this post is about the other class that helped me determine that I wanted to get a college degree.  So, kudos to Dr. Conn for creating the spark in me to pursue a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology.  If any academic class could be considered fun, this was it for me.  It was the beginning of a new journey for me to better understand what the human psyche was all about.