Not that anyone really cares. This is more for my entertainment than anything else. I would seriously doubt anyone still checks this and if they do they might have less a life than myself. And while the fact that no one is likely to see this tempts me to discuss current work related topics...errr, yeah...I would rather like to keep my job, or at least until I find a better one.
Nothing too exciting has been happening- the last few months have sort of melted into one blob of homework, exams, and undue stress. Who would have thought that I would actually start caring about my grades? Weird. The first semester back I got C's across the board and didn't quite deserve them either. Last semester I had straights A's except for that damn C in history (not my strongest subject). And this semester it's looking to be mostly A's with a B or two...and I'm taking 20 units! Boo Ya! Not really though- I hasn't been as much work as it should have been. I'm pretty sure I'm getting a faux education. I mean for what it's worth- a job, future earning potential, bragging rights- I'm not getting properly educated. But I am howevere learning a lot and retaining most of it. My education I've decided is not to end in earning a degree. I want to be educated for the sake of being educated. If in the end I never end up graduating- so be it. In this economy, true education and determination beat out a degree that any old stoner could earn anyways. Why do I need a peice of paper that says I'm "educated" to get a job? All that really shows is a 4 year comitment to something and doesn't express true value.
Look at our education system these days- teachers are requiring next to nothing for a student to pass. And in their defense, if they did require actual work, and not just busy work but actual work that requires serious thought, then most of their students would fail. If most of their students fail the college sees it as a poor teacher not doing their job. My aunt tries to uphold standards but when your facing a majority of faculty, parents, and students against you than is it worth sacrificing a paying job over? The students in this scenario don't help much either but it's more due to the influence of society than anything. In Newsweek there was an article that ran and gave the figure (this is a guess because I don't recall clearly) but 2/3's of students think that they should get a B in class just for showing up. Really. Just for showing up; not doing any homework or taking exams, or putting thought into papers. Is getting a good grade one of our fundamental rights as students? No. When a C is average you shouldn't be getting an above average grade for filling a seat. If that were the case, than the chair in which you sit should have an A. But alas, it's not just the students fault. This generation- my generation- is being raised by the "never-let-anyone-fail-ever" society. This society has created "equal opportunities" for everyone in every scenario so that we are all equal, so that no one is above or below anyone else. What a bunch of bullshit. Some people are better than other people. If you have to make everyone equal than the group can only be as strong as it's weakest link. Our society is becoming a nation of low achievers. What happened to competition? Winning in losing is being taken away from kids now more than ever. Some sports are even go so far as to saying there was no winner in a game. What is that teaching the kid? That there is no point in working hard or giving it your all? Great lesson parents! When you take away the opportunity to fail, you set up a life of mediocracy, low standards, minimum effort, and inevitable failure. When you don't allow people to fail you make them weak, you take away the lessons that they would have learned from their mistakes. They no longer have to take responsibility or face consequences.
This is part of why I'm unhappy with the government bail outs. They are not allowing these businesses and banks and people fail. Yes, I know it would be very difficult if there was no bail out, but the consequences down the road are going to be catastrophic. All these people facing forclosures need to face them. They made the mistake of taking out loans that they didn't understand or they lived beyond their means. They need to face the consequences and accept responsibility so that they can take this experience, learn from it, and pass the lessons onto their kids. The businesses and banks too- they have to fail in order to rememdy the problem. We have already seen what happens when you bail people out! Look at the car companies that were given bail outs- did they take it seriously? No they fell into the same old habits and took a company vacation! What have they learned from being in a financial crisis? The government will give them a handout when they need it. They are not learning what they need to be, which is finding out why this happened in the first place and what changes need to be made in order for it to not happen again. By giving them a light slap on the wrist and 70 billion dollars we are only hurting ourselves and the economy will continue to spiral downwards. The same is true with education- which is what this was originally about- by giving students a pat on the back and saying "well, it was a good effort" your only misleading them and setting them up for future and certain fialure. You are not preparing them for life.
