Releasing tension (warning:it might not make sense..but you already know that)
Written on 3/23/2005 01:43:00 am by sikapitan
I’ve just finished my first paper for my finals. It was something called the Law of Ass…there’s something missing in that sentence but it doesn’t matter because I really believe that I’ve been made an ass. It’s not that I have anything against taking finals, but I simply find the whole exercise of going through months of lectures as virtually pointless. It’s not like I studied for the past three months. Countless hours have been wasted going to class with me nodding off or my mind wandering from football to girls. I’m not the kind who studies or even take notes unless there’s an exam coming by, and frankly speaking, I think most of us are like that. We study last-minute, the genetically embedded procrastination gene working overtime to lure us with various distractions from something as interesting as a football match to something as inconsequential as an afternoon nap.
So we wait, and we delayed, and the phrase “Sebulan lagi” sounded so fresh in my mind. Next thing we know, it’s already the final week of lectures. Seriously, that’s exactly how I felt. I was caught surprised when the lecturer asked us if we find her lecture interesting and that she hope she won’t have to see us next semester. Stupidly, I asked “But aren’t we meeting next week?” The girl next to me looked me straight in the eye and said, “Next week dah takder kelas laa..kan nak finals”. Déjà vu, definitely. Every semester it’s the same thing all over again. That’s my point actually. I just don’t like the fact that I’m wasting time. I do understand that some students love going to lectures, but there’s a proportion of us who can’t give a rat’s ass what the lecturer’s saying.
Give me the whole course outline, proper notes, articles and 2 weeks to study everything and hit me with my finals. And then a 2 weeks break, with the cycle repeating itself all over again. At this moment, I’m spending 3 months (or more- I could never get that right) going to class just hanging out, then taking my finals, then spending 2 and a 1/2 months doing nothing but fill up this blog (that’s how long our mid-year break is), with only two semesters per year. I could be done with the whole course in a year and a half, god-willing. It’s a waste of time and for what? I don’t remember what I learned the last semester, if that’s the intention of having lectures and all that. I’ll definitely not remember any of the details (ie. case laws etc2 and for those not taking law- business theories etc2) by the time I graduate, nor do I need to. For example, a businessman needs to know that when there’s a surplus of demand, the prices will go up. He doesn’t need to know how to draw the graphs or calculate the whole damn economy. It’s not like I couldn’t look up cases on the computer or even textbooks. Is somebody going to fire me if I refer to books when researching for a case? Hey, maybe I could just take it easy and study just so I could pass since it’s all going to be useless anyway.
But in this current climate of so many graduates not being able to get jobs (according to the papers – 80 000 estimated), I wouldn’t want to risk working as a rubber tapper (not that there’s anything wrong with tapping rubbers, I’m just lactose intolerant..wait, that’s milk isn’t it? *laughs sarcastically*). You see, I think most of us have realized long ago that you don’t really use 80% of what you tried so hard to remember during school and university. The only reason we’re still sweating it out trying to remember is because we know our future employers have no better way to easily assess potential employees. Yes, some might be able to charm them despite below-average scores, but not many of us look like Hans Isaac or Paula Malai Ali. So we depend on our grades. It helps us get into university, colleges, scholarship and work even though that very same employer would later realize that the Dean’s List Dude is nothing more that a Photostat machine with zero creativity. But what else does he have to go by? Doing well in your exams means you’re dependable; you’re at least half-way intelligent, you’re strong willed, you’re hard-working and at the very least – you’ve got your priorities straight. Not everyone can be Bill Gates – a college dropout who turns into a billionaire. Even he employs many people based on their paper qualifications.
Until there’s some way employers can assess prospective employee by their ability to do the particular task they’ll be employed to, there’s no other way but to slug it out studying to score for your exams. But I still want to see a one-year degree program available as an option. I need the money to get married. AHAHAHHAHAHAHA….
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