As some of you may or may not know, I'm working on a college IT degree through the University of Phoenix.  I'm taking a whole lot of courses not related much (if at all) to IT, but my most recent IT course just takes the cake.

The course is IT/220.  The assignments are incredibly simple for me: things like describing wireless networking and FTP.  My most recent assignment was to decode HTML that was in a Microsoft Word document online.  The syllabus literally said: "Decode the HTML listed in Appendix C to a Microsoft Word document."
 

Since the rest of the course had been about understanding fundamentals of the Internet, I figured it meant that I was to explain the meaning of everything on the document.  So I sat down in my comfy chair and went through the motions of explaining every bit on the document, thinking it was a pretty silly assignment that was not explained nearly well enough.  I submitted the updated document to my instructor with a note saying that I wasn't sure of the instructions.

I got ZERO points.  NOTHING.  Even though I explained everything about the formatting on the page, I got no points for it.  I submitted it as a text document, so anyone with half a brain--let alone someone that is teaching courses for Information Technology--should know that all it takes is to rename the file as *.html and open it in a browser.  Seriously.  There is NO difference between a text document and a webpage except the medium used to decipher the text: one is a text editor, one is a web browser.  Save this page as an HTML document or view the source and you'll see nothing more than TEXT.

This isn't the first time.  I was docked 10% of my grade for failing to describe the download process.  I explained website registration, paying for stuff with a credit card, and how to save the file that was being downloaded.  I told the teacher it was ridiculous, and the only way I would have been able to describe the process any better is by going into detail about how the packets of information travel from the server through a series of routers and cables and such to the destination computer, describing the Transport Control Protocol/Internet Protocol, or something else ridiculously too low-level for such a course.

I have designed open source web applications.  Frameworks for content management.  Content management systems.  Massive online transaction processing websites with real-time statistical tracking and logging.  But somehow I'm getting a terrible grade in a class that asks about such things on a far, FAR simpler level.  Just why the hell does anybody put any weight behind these degrees, anyway?  Nine solid years of web development and systems administration.  NINE.  How many years do you have, Mr. Richardson?  Tech support doesn't count!