Arghhhh!

Ok so, I'm in a photo class and has just recently been changed from analog to pure digital between semesters. My unfortunate luck landed me in the digital class. I enjoy digital photography, sure, but there are a few aspects of it and this class that are driving me up a wall. We just completed the fifth week of class, and I feel as though I'm not learning anything. To me, photography is a science; you have to learn the mechanics of your medium in order for your vision to become successful art. So far, it's been along the lines of, "OK, go shoot." without really understanding what I'm trying to accomplish or how to achieve the look I want. I know that there is no specific f-stop or shutter speed for certain light, but all the same we've only talked about it on the first day of class for maybe five minutes. This is all rambling into one paragraph and I'm sorry, but oh well. The most irritating part is PhotoShop. I feel like I should be able to take a photo and not need to color correct and adjust and crop. It seems as though minor mistakes that can be fixed and tweaked and learned correctly are being put on the computer to be fixed. Maybe I just feel as though I'm not being challenged enough, but this is all really important to me and I'm not taking well to the computer reliance. Who knows? Maybe I will just have to accept that this is the practices of the medium right now and suck it up, but I don't have to like it. Hell, it could be too that I just don't really like my teacher because he only teaches us what HE uses in PhotoShop and how HE shoots HIS photography. GRRRRRR it all.