Respected Associates

My classmates are stupid.

Ok, let me back up a second here. For the most, I go to school with a LOT of inspired, intelligent, and brilliantly talented undividuals. They constantly churn out solid work that makes me feel exorbitantly jealous. I feel really lucky to be working alongside these fellow students I've come to know for the last four years (well, three and three quarters). A couple have become reliable friends, and a lot more are a pleasure to work with, trustworthy, and sincere in their feedback to help you to complete a project.

And many of them are very, very dumb. Let me list the ways.

First off, drinking on campus is an offense that can get you expelled, no questions asked. And yet some people still choose to do so - on those late Friday nights where everyone really wants to unwind but they need to stay in the studio to catch up with impending deadlines, they bring in a bit of beer or wine to sip while getting work done. No one gets drunk - at least that I've seen. And I kind of see where they're coming from, and while I wouldn't really say that I condone the behaviour, it doesn't bother me too much. They usually stick to the back corner and have the cans obscured from any security guard that saunters by. What is the most IDIOTIC thing, though, is that they leave their cans and bottles in the recycling. At the top. In the very studio they were drinking in and work in every day. Ugh. And at this point, they're a mere semester from completion. How RETARDED is that? Needless to say, the cans were found and a general warning was issued to all the 4th year students in the program. To risk getting thrown out this late in the program... Ugh.

When we first started attending, we were told by pretty much every single instructor and senior student we ran across that theft was a big problem, so don't leave anything valuable left unattended. Someone broke into the Jewelry department and made of with some $12,000 worth of tools, supplies, and completed projects. Then two years ago, a girl in our very program had her purse stolen while she slipped out of class for five minutes and there were students next door.  Last semester, I had to go and grab something, and I asked a classmate/firend if he'd be in the studio for a bit to watch my stuff, and when I returned he was outside taking a smoke break with no one left in the classroom to watch over the half-dozen open laptops, mine included. They weren't taken, of course, but I was so pissed off. He said that of course no one would take anything, and I reminded him of the previous two thefts, which he brushed off. I was angry, but maybe he was right.

Two months later, though, while all the students were in one classroom for a lecture, someone slipped into the empty class and went through a purse, stole another's backpack, and took someone else's iPod. VINDICATION! But the real display of stupidity was how the backpack that was stolen had the owner's laptop in it. A brand new Macbook Pro. Left unattended. For an hour and a half lecture, in an empty room. Points to the theives for being ballsy right in the middle of the morning. Points taken away for those people leaving their stuff behind and expecting it to be fine. It has many times before, sure, but it was only an eventuality. Again, I feel vindication for always bringing my important goods with me.

The real kicker to that one, though, is that despite the security presence on campus, including cameras, the only result of the theft was a stern reminding from said security to not leave anything unattended, some printouts of that message left around campus, and a department head taking that same email we'd all received and forwarding it to us again. Bravo. No one was caught, of course.

A third degree of stupidness lies in some of our own criticism's for the program.  Everyone has been getting frustrated with the program, feeling like we're being churned through a meat grinder, that the work is overly intense and there are some flaws with how the degree is setup. So at some point, the two most senior teachers in our program took the morning of a class to get everyone to discuss how things were going. There was a lot of legitimate, constructive feedback that people replied with. Some academic concerns, the way courses were structured, how feedback was given... A lot of legit stuff. But one student or group of students brought up that there were a problem with due dates in the courses that features semester-long assignments. They wanted due dates for smaller components of the projects along the way, rather than everything all at once at the end, to avoid a major rush in the last stretch to get everything completed. And I agree, I know I'd get my work done a lot quicker and more consistently if I had those deadlines. But.

I think it's damn unprofessional to bring that up. Yes, of course those dates would help, but we should have some amount of self-discipline to move things alone. When we get out of school, there won't be the hammer of academia hanging over our head, threatening us with poor grades. We need to suck it up and get the work done, one piece at a time. We should be setting those smaller deadlines and holding ourselves accountable for those missed dates. Not asking someone else to set those for us. Responsibility, people. It's time to get some.

On a side note, there's one student that's really outspoken about the workload of the program and many small (and not so small) grievances with how things are run. And where was she that morning when we were all together, discussing issues and trying to come up with a solution? She was next door. I told her about what was going on. She said something to the effect of "I can't deal with that right now, I have too much to do." I lost a LOT of respect for her right then and there. I don't ever want to be that kind of person that complains with no intent to fix a problem.

Our fourth and final observance of stupidity, one for each year and this one indeed most appropriate for the fourth... Is that people are starting to burn out. Which is totally understandable - I'm feeling it too. We're all so close to the end, we're losing steam, we just want to be DONE. And what are most people doing? Starting to not attend class. There are 40 people in my major, about 6 of which (plus myself) consistantly arrive every morning. There are maybe 25-30 people that show up, sauntering in and out during the day. That means a quarter of the students are starting to go AWOL. And when we're so close to being done... Ugh. In one course, my one friend hasn't talked to a prof in over a month, and we're supposed to do it once every class. There's another student that's only been in half a dozen times over the semester out of all of her classes, and we're not at the half way point. The thing is... After you've missed three classes, you're on grounds to fail the course. We're lucky that our profs are a bunch of softies, but still. It ain't so bright of students to be giving up this late in the show. One, for the sake of FAILING and not being able to graduate so close from the end, and two for the fact that this is the last chance we have to get whatever we can out of our education. I'm tired too, but I'm not going to risk giving in or not taking advantage of whatever I can.

Sigh. Maybe I'm too old/mature for most of these people, or maybe I'm boring and rigid and predictable. Maybe I'm getting worked up over nothing. But as a whole, it makes me sigh. I don't want anyone to fail, I have enjoyed working alongside them, and hope to graduate alongside them too. We have our differences, and I guess whatever works for them is what counts. Some days, though, I just don't get it.

Just a couple days ago, I had a small discussion with my friend that hasn't talked to our prof in more than a month. I reminded him of the fact, told him that I just wants him to make the most of his time that's left. He came right out and told me that he hates talking to me about schoolwork. He said that to me "it's all so heavy". Made me feel like... A stressed out guy. Which I know I am. It was kind of like I briefly looked into a mirror to see who I am. It sucks that I'm that guy.
-Cril

He drinks a Whiskey drink, he drinks a Vodka drink
He drinks a Lager drink, he drinks a Cider drink
He sings the songs that remind him of the good times
He sings the songs that remind him of the best times

Angus & Julia Stone - Tubthumping