That time of the month...
This is the time of year when all the students who thought having five classes was easy get a big kick in the pants. Sometimes it is easy, through september, october, and even a little of november, because some classes save all the hard and mark-valuable things until the end of November, and the December exam session.
UVic students have four seasons: Whining time, winter break, whining time, and summer break. Every late-november, (as well as every late-march) thousands of student socialites come out of the woodwork to tell the whole world how many tests and essays and assignments they have, and how impossible school is, and how THEIR homework is somehow heavier than everyone else's. I can't count the number of people (mostly girls) who have insisted that whatever my workload is, theirs is harder.
And they're right, all we do in philosophy is sit on our asses and think about the meaning of life all day, wasting time and getting A's by answering essay questions with witty, sentence-long quips that just dodge the issue. It's pretty sweet, you should try it.
Have you heard this story, possibly in a chain mail or on the internet?:
...a professor of philosophy giving his seniors their final exam. His only question on the test: "Prove to me that your desk exists." One enterprising student wrote one sentence, and received an A for his effort.
His answer, "What desk?"
I've come across it many times, and every time it gets sent to me in a chain mail, I'm told it's a true story. And it must be, because that happens all the time! Just last week in Business Ethics I was asked to write a critical essay comparing Kantian and Aristotelian ethics with relation to the professional responsibility of engineers to engage in corporate whistleblowing, and my answer was "What IS an engineer, really?"
Big fat A+. It's just that easy.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
When I started this entry, I thought I was able to insert an "eye rolling" emoticon at the end of the above rant. I'm really disappointed now as it turns out I can't, so you'll have to picture it yourself.
Anyway, the point is that we're a bunch of monkeys with dellusions of grandeur, flying about on a crappy little rock, waiting for death to come along and dreaming up all sorts of ways to make our lives significant. But all the wars, monkey butlers and cloned dogs in the world won't help. We're stuck with this horrible, bleak, damning truth.
Or not! That's what I used to think in high school, and what still itches at me on bad days. But generally I've evolved my thoughts to a point where it is quite plainly obvious that while nobody really agrees on what the point in getting out of bed in the morning actually is, there surely IS one. Living well is a very good thing. Living poorly makes one unhealthy and miserable. This carries tremendous weight, despite that we are very small little things on a grander scale. Isn't it fun though, that the optimists and pessimists are equally self-centered? I think it's fun. Anyway I have to go, I have like 3 essays and two assignments and this group project thing and 3 exams and OMG I don't know how I'm going to get them all done in time!.....
UVic students have four seasons: Whining time, winter break, whining time, and summer break. Every late-november, (as well as every late-march) thousands of student socialites come out of the woodwork to tell the whole world how many tests and essays and assignments they have, and how impossible school is, and how THEIR homework is somehow heavier than everyone else's. I can't count the number of people (mostly girls) who have insisted that whatever my workload is, theirs is harder.
And they're right, all we do in philosophy is sit on our asses and think about the meaning of life all day, wasting time and getting A's by answering essay questions with witty, sentence-long quips that just dodge the issue. It's pretty sweet, you should try it.
Have you heard this story, possibly in a chain mail or on the internet?:
...a professor of philosophy giving his seniors their final exam. His only question on the test: "Prove to me that your desk exists." One enterprising student wrote one sentence, and received an A for his effort.
His answer, "What desk?"
I've come across it many times, and every time it gets sent to me in a chain mail, I'm told it's a true story. And it must be, because that happens all the time! Just last week in Business Ethics I was asked to write a critical essay comparing Kantian and Aristotelian ethics with relation to the professional responsibility of engineers to engage in corporate whistleblowing, and my answer was "What IS an engineer, really?"
Big fat A+. It's just that easy.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
When I started this entry, I thought I was able to insert an "eye rolling" emoticon at the end of the above rant. I'm really disappointed now as it turns out I can't, so you'll have to picture it yourself.
Anyway, the point is that we're a bunch of monkeys with dellusions of grandeur, flying about on a crappy little rock, waiting for death to come along and dreaming up all sorts of ways to make our lives significant. But all the wars, monkey butlers and cloned dogs in the world won't help. We're stuck with this horrible, bleak, damning truth.
Or not! That's what I used to think in high school, and what still itches at me on bad days. But generally I've evolved my thoughts to a point where it is quite plainly obvious that while nobody really agrees on what the point in getting out of bed in the morning actually is, there surely IS one. Living well is a very good thing. Living poorly makes one unhealthy and miserable. This carries tremendous weight, despite that we are very small little things on a grander scale. Isn't it fun though, that the optimists and pessimists are equally self-centered? I think it's fun. Anyway I have to go, I have like 3 essays and two assignments and this group project thing and 3 exams and OMG I don't know how I'm going to get them all done in time!.....
Comments
Though I shouldnt be surprised... I would think that the numbers would decrease and the annoyance of people bitching about their school work would lessen. (Learning from past mistakes and such).