Studying Is Hard And That’s Unfair
“Everyone deserves 8 hours of sleep,” say Georgia Tech’s branch of the Young Democratic Socialists of America.
Apparently, the students are struggling to reconcile their academic obligations with the need for rest, expectations of free time – eight hours of it each day – and their own socialist activism. And perhaps the students have a point. Socialism is tiring, what with the protests and psychodrama, and the relentless, almost daily, issuing of demands. In this case, our fatigued intellectuals “reject the hostile culture and severe working conditions that pervade Georgia Tech,” and a curriculum that is, they say, “far more difficult and demanding than is necessary.” “All professors,” we’re told, should “implement stress-reducing policies,” including allowing more absences from class without consequence, dropping quizzes and assignments, and generally making lessons “more forgiving.”
The Young Socialists also insist that the university hire more counsellors and psychiatrists, with fees for psychiatric appointments being “eliminated.” “We need more relief from the… emotional burdens of higher education,” say these warriors of tomorrow.
Less socialist activism = more sleep.
#sorted.
#sorted
As yet, I haven’t seen any evidence of the Georgia Tech College Republicans, on the same campus, protesting en masse about “severe working conditions,” or a lack of sleep, or a need for free counselling, i.e., paid for by some other sucker. Perhaps they manage their time better and prioritise accordingly, or maybe they’re not quite so inclined to excuses and whiny self-involvement.
Perhaps they manage their time better…
Or maybe they take a leaf out of their peers on the left of the divide and simply turn up late?
“All professors,” we’re told, should “implement stress-reducing policies,” including allowing more absences from class without consequence, dropping quizzes and assignments, and generally making lessons “more forgiving.”
The public sector WANTS YOU.
In other academia-related news,
I’m paraphrasing, of course, but not by much.
The public sector WANTS YOU.
Not entirely unrelated. You see, working in a tardy, half-arsed way is “a political stance” and an affirmation of “social justice.”
If you are too stupid not to be able to arrange your classes so that they are all between 1000 and 1500 Tuesday through Friday, you are too stupid to be in college. Besides, the average grade these days is something like an A- even if you never show up, so I am not sure what they are whining about.
However, speaking of welcoming and inclusive multicultural spaces, American University students want segregation.
This is, of course, part of, “…its diversity and inclusion strategy…”.
I see, so there already is a separate “space” (what is it with these idiots needing “space” for their “bodies”) for the Non-Pink People, but that is not good enough.
Perhaps if young Othniel got more sleep he wouldn’t need to be doing all the protesting.
I am a sporting man, get to Georgia where the footballers are as rigorous athletes as you would see. Maybe get some of these nerds out to play.
…get to Georgia where the footballers are as rigorous athletes as you would see.
Compared to Swarthmore, maybe, that state next door, not so much…
Compared to Swarthmore, maybe, that state next door, not so much…
Ooh. It’s all kicking off now.
Nobody drafted you to attend the North Ave. Trade School, y’ wuss!
(I am of that era at Tech when freshman orientation included some old guy telling the incoming class, “Look to the man at your right. Look to the man at your left. One of you will not be here come Christmas break.”
“All professors,” we’re told, should “implement stress-reducing policies,” including allowing more absences from class without consequence, dropping quizzes and assignments, and generally making lessons “more forgiving.”
Perhaps, Georgia Tech can make its courses more like your average law school. It’s only lecture three days a week for an entire semester and attendance is not mandatory. Rather, your grade is determined by the results of one four hour exam at the end of the semester.
Something tells me these students would be screaming for extra-credit assignments and more assessments in short order.
In other news: There’s a Georgia Tech branch of the Young Democratic Socialists of America? That’s shameful. The rot set in, I believe, when they started letting football players major in ‘Management.’
Yet again a result of allowing people who simply aren’t smart enough for University to go there. They get a place at Uni, struggle with the work and instead of looking honestly at themselves, blame some external force as the reason for their failure to thrive. Fortunately for them, there are plenty of others on campus, both students and faculty, who are only too eager to help them identify the enemy: Whypipo! The Universal Evil.
Farnsworth, you will need to educate me on the, shall we say, educational outcomes is Swarthmore or indeed physical address of said institution. I await with bated breath.
“We demand free psychiatrists!”
“It must be those evil capitalists raising college tuition fees! We demand free college education!”
Socialism is a hell of a drug.
“You can’t be white in here. This is a welcoming and inclusive multicultural space.”
“I understand why they would’ve opened it to everyone because exclusivity isn’t something that’s really garnered on campus,” said Sam Liang, a sophomore…”
Garner? They’re now garnering inclusivity? That’s an odd construction.
I await with bated breath.
Be happy to oblige, but even having run your sentence past the Yellow Jacket ESL app I am not sure what you are asking. Meanwhile, one of these states is famous for football and the US space program, the other for Coca Cola and Billy Beer.
“confronting professors, challenging administration, and so forth”
Noticeably absent from the list of student activities: studying.
You don’t have enough time to protest and study? It seems simple enough choice to make. What are you (or more likely, your parents) paying the university for?
If you want to spend that so much time protesting that you don’t have time to study, simply drop out and protest full time. You save tuition, you get a full 8 hours sleep, and you free up a slot for someone who actually wants to learn.
That last one is a bit of stretch, to be honest. I doubt it’s Chem Eng and Computer Robotics majors that are making these complaints, for some reason.
@Farnsworth,
I had occasion to visit the football-famous university with the youngest last year, and indeed it dumped a substantial part of its “bucket-of-competence” into that “extracurricular” activity. The very perky and very attractive Southern coeds who led the campus tours were well-versed their university’s gridiron achievements. Sadly, precious little competence was left for things like explaining its academic programs to prospective students or arranging meetings with professors and so forth, despite lengthy correspondence confirming such meetings. We did, however, get to venerate the football stadium and pantheon of former coaches’ statues, so there was that.
Asked the youngest as we were driving out of town toward Memphis on our return trip: “Is it just me, or were the tour guides wearing red and silver stripper glitter?”
American University students want segregation.
In one of the more astoundingly tone deaf demonstrations ever, when black students at a Georgia university discovered that they couldn’t have black-only student housing because it violated the Civil Rights Act, they denounced the Act as white supremacist, with one demonstrator yelling “What would Martin Luther King say to that?”.
Uh… the guy who fought hard to get the Civil Rights Act, you mean?
I’m old enough to remember when it was the whites who were for apartheid, and the blacks who were against it.
I doubt it’s Chem Eng and Computer Robotics majors that are making these complaints, for some reason.
It’s not. The middle child is graduating this week from a reasonably well-respected STEM university. It has suffered none of the lunacies which afflict other U.S. post-secondary institutions of learning. Perhaps the reason can be discerned when one looks at the list of majors for graduates this term here. Note the relative lack of “liberal arts” programs.
Coincidence?
“We demand free psychiatrists!”
[ Rubs chin. ]
Hm. It’s almost as if there were a clue in there somewhere.
“Is it just me, or were the tour guides wearing red and silver stripper glitter?”
Yes, yes, they were. Nobody ever said Alabama or Auburn were the best academic schools (Alabama is tied with Mizzou in present rankings, so middle of the road), but the subject raised was football…
Meanwhile, back on topic, from the article, it appears these nitwits want 8 hours each of work, sleep, and farting off.
If an average semester is 15 credit hours, that translates, generally, to 5 one hour classes that meet three days a week each M-F, or a whopping 15 hours/week with their butts in a chair, which leaves them 153 hours to complete assignments, sleep, and protest.
Besides, aside from a narcoleptic, what sort of a sorry excuse of a college student needs 8 hours of sleep ?
I doubt it’s Chem Eng and Computer Robotics majors that are making these complaints, for some reason.
The list of signatories features quite a few “solidarity committees,” “liberal arts” undergraduates, students of Spanish and digital media, unspecified “community members,” and lots of people, perhaps a majority, who chose not to share their field of would-be expertise; but it does also include students of maths, computing and mechanical engineering, etc. So maybe it’s more a case of students who were encouraged to reach beyond their grasp, and who perhaps aren’t entirely suited to tertiary education, both in terms of temperament and wherewithal.
I doubt it’s Chem Eng and Computer Robotics majors that are making these complaints, for some reason.
We STEM majors could have made such complaints about the many extremely demanding classes we had to take, such as Organic Chemistry I and II, Advanced Differential Equations, Quantum Mechanics, and so on, but we knew that demanding course work was the key to successful careers. And we solved the problem of not enough time in the day by rounding out our semester’s course list with something from the humanities that placed little demand on our time or our brains. /snark
They say all science is physics and all physics is math.
Well I say all modern bitching (including politics) is just trying to get something for nothing. See how often demand _X_ boils down to simply wanting something without paying/saving/sacrificing/delaying/producing something in return.
Also, having attended the great discount southern football factory that is FSU I can attest that it is possible to both enjoy the fantastic gridiron culture with it’s attending bounty of fun co-eds AND achieve a useful degree that allows one a comfortable office job from which one can write blog comments.
it appears these nitwits want 8 hours each of work, sleep, and farting off.
The real world is going to be a bit of shock then.
bit of a shock.
Preview is my friend.
C’mon, Jen. Get it together.
lol
Socialists wanting others to serve them for nothing. News at Ten.
it appears these nitwits want 8 hours each of work, sleep, and farting off.
Wasn’t that part of the demands of late-19th Century Socialist parties and labor unions? The difference between then and now, of course, is that there is an immense difference between 12 to 16 hours of hard labor and 12 to 16 hours of sitting in classrooms and libraries–not to mention that these protesting students do not really lack time for recreation and rest (except for the “affirmative action” students who should have gone to less demanding schools) and that kids can handle these sorts of long hours far better than older men can handle long hours of hard labor. It’s all Luxury Socialism for spoiled brats.
All Western socialism is a product of Western wealth creation. It’s simply the spoiled rich kid syndrome writ large. How do the SJW’s put it? “When you are accustomed to privilege equality* feels like oppression.”
*Or wealth, or easy standard of living, or low crime, or the softest and kindest environment the world has ever known, etc
How do the SJW’s put it? “When you are accustomed to privilege equality* feels like oppression.”
How does our host put it? “Lefties project.” 🙂
Keep off the internet and drive over your smart phone. That’ll free up time.
I haven’t touched a computer for years, and it’s liberating I can tell you.
I haven’t touched a computer for years,
Um…
I haven’t touched a computer for years
His secretary is so very bored with typing blog comments via dictation.
His secretary is so very bored with typing blog comments via dictation.
I’ve always said this place has a classy readership.
Um…
I have no idea how my comment got onto your pages. And of course I haven’t read your laudable opinions in years. I’m currently in the basement refinishing some furniture, not an electronic device in site.
not an electronic device in site
😀
I don’t know if it’s been covered here, but the Julian Von Able affair is astounding.
Dare not speak your rational mind for the press has become a full-on inquisition.
https://twitter.com/VonAbele
Note the relative lack of “liberal arts” programs.
Coincidence?
Liberal arts, proper liberal arts, are a blessing, not a curse.
Unfortunately, they are few and far between, most having been either co-opted by, or replaced with, grievance mongering.
The first thing I did was search for the word “Studies”, and the only one listed was “Multidisciplinary Studies”.
While my alma matter’s web site sadly resembles the class XKCD cartoon here, even a cursory glance sees that the Humanities department has the word “gender” or “lesbian” in roughly one third of the course names (up from zero per cent 30 years ago), and even the English department has replaced those boring old white guys like Shakespeare and Chaucer with “Writing of Women of Colour over the Ages – A Lesbian Perspective”.
Yeah, I can see why people who take this would (a) have time on their hands, and (b) be driven to distraction. I mean, it’s not like they are learning anything useful, or developing a marketable skill.
I’m currently in the basement refinishing some furniture, not an electronic device in site.
Except your Google pacemaker sold by Amazon…
His secretary is so very bored with typing blog comments via dictation.
I actually had a boss, an executive, who responded to email that way.
Mind, this was in 1991, when keyboards still had a stigma. Typewriters were for clerical workers, and once you reached a certain level you simply did not have one on your desk, it was beneath your status.
This led to considerable problems introducing computerization, as executive acceptance was, um, low.
My exec boss, in his early sixties, was actually very forward thinking. He not only had an email account, anyone in the company could send things to him! This was 1991, in a company with 50,000+ employees, were communicating with executives directly simply was not done, so this was revolutionary.
Every day, his secretary (who had a networked PC) would log into his account, print off his email (usually only about 20-30 a day… it was a simpler time), and leave them in his inbox. He would read them, make notes in the margins to collect his thoughts, then call her in, and he would dictate his responses, which she would then type on her PC and send out his replies.
While he never actually had a computer himself, he had an email account and you could communicate with him using it, which actually put him about five years ahead of the other executives who explicitly refused to have an email address in the first place.
I’ve always said this place has a classy readership.
Uh, thank yuh, thank yuh vurry much.
My exec boss, in his early sixties, was actually very forward thinking. He not only had an email account, anyone in the company could send things to him! This was 1991, in a company with 50,000+ employees, were communicating with executives directly simply was not done, so this was revolutionary.
I remember around that time in a documentary on Bill Gates or Steve Jobs or someone like that, the words-talker remarked on such a thing, about how in-touch this made him. I remember thinking to myself, doesn’t every CEO or such have a phone on their desks? But of course a secretary runs interference on that device. Why should one think that such a thing would ever happen with email?
but the Julian Von Able affair is astounding.
Is there a good third-party description of the facts in this story? I see his rebuttal on that twitter feed but then tons of criticism of him. The top google hit on him is from TheRoot, of all places. Don’t see much else beyond media pile-ons.
We STEM majors could have made such complaints about the many extremely demanding classes we had to take, such as Organic Chemistry I and II, Advanced Differential Equations, Quantum Mechanics, and so on…
If you are too stupid not to be able to arrange your classes so that they are all between 1000 and 1500 Tuesday through Friday, you are too stupid to be in college.
When I was taking my Physics degree, every class beyond the introductory stuff consisted of a single section, taught by one of a handful of professors. Unfortunately for us undergraduates, several of these professors were early risers, who felt that 0800 was practically mid-morning, and why should anyone complain about attending class at such an hour on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays?
Now I’m struggling to determine whether I’m one of the righteous STEM heroes, or an idiot too stupid to attend college in the first place. (I’m going to lean on my formal training, and say that I am both simultaneously, at least until somebody observes me directly.)
Right, that’s that bugger done.
Time for a glass of red.