Hello once again... today I was passing through the living room, when I saw something I had left lying around for quite some time, my graduation certificate still rolled up inside its packaging tube. The print on the tube suggests that it had been left there for almost an entire month. While this may be yet another damning sign that I need to clean up after myself a lot more often, I was thinking of something else. (Though as I type this, my room is in a state of waste, with old newspapers and other randoms fighting me for my personal space... hey, you can never exactly kill the mess off, it just comes back stronger than before)
This certificate is supposed to be the cumulation of the past three years I spent at uni. It might mean more if I didn't have to go back next year, I suppose. But how do you quantify years of education with an overlong grad ceremony and a scroll of paper? At this point I should point out I didn't bother going to this year's grad. To me, it seemed unnecessary when I have to go back for another one when I finish up. It kind of takes away from the occasion that you would get when you graduate for good, a finality of sorts if nothing else. Though I have heard good things about it from friends that did go, so maybe I'm missing the novelty of the occasion.
It would be nice if they gave us a certificate for not showing up for class whenever we had other assignments, or indeed better things to do instead... I'm sure I've earned some sort of minor degree in card gaming techniques somewhere along the path. A degree in general student laziness might not be completely inappropriate, now that I think of it. The art of time management is another trait that should be acknowledged, or at least the art of completing a 40% assignment the night before it is due. There are so many things a graduation certificate cannot truly convey, all the memories, all the lessons learnt.
Working full time this year has really opened my eyes so to speak, and it's been really good to take a break after so many years of study. Still, it'll be good to go back there when my time is up here. Do I suddenly detect a yearning for my former slacker student life?
Just one more thing before I develop carpel tunnel from all this typing. At a friend's 21st this week (wish I had some pics to insert at this point...), someone reminded me that the uni we are due to return to may be a lot different to the one we left. The propaganda machine for Melbourne Uni's new course structure, the Melbourne Model, has gone into full swing in recent times, with an array of ads in both print and TV bombarding us with nonsensical random images of bright blue skies and various other feel good imagery telling us that the future of education is here, and that we should all walk towards the light if we are super high achievers to receive a healthy bribe... or have lots of cash in the first place. I know they have told us existing students that our courses will still be taught as promised when we first enrolled, but with the final structure still undecided, we are very much in the dark. Hopefully we will know a bit more before the end of the year, but I imagine there will be a fair few people that will make their voices heard if Melbourne goes back on its promise.
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