ATTENTION policy makers: Give students a longer study term (Jim)
Hello people
The object of the heading is the source of problem for the majority of students. Uni is so hectic. A 13 or 14 weeks semester is too short to cover contents of 4 subjects.Under this time constraint, many fellow first yr students including myself are struggling. The school term doesn’t serve the ultimate purpose of uni, learning. We want a change!!
First hand experience
.Right now my brain is clouded with negativeness. I am not upbeat, dont have the driving force to study. Probably this is stress AND It is the result of the hectic activities. I feel rushed during these weeks at uni. The amount of studying for each lecture accumulate higher, even though i am doing my best, spending so much time on study already. My situation is really good, considering i live at home only 50 mins away and i dont have to do any house work, all i need to do is to study. I dont waste time much, watch tv for like 30 mins per day, only go to societies for about 3 hours per week. The point is I HAVE PLENTY OF TIME LEFT TO STUDY. Yet i still can’t get on top of things! I am behind in maths. (one thing positive about uni is that there are so many help available, only the time is crap. ) I am ok with my law and philophy subjects. Though i am feeling depress because of the pressure put on me by the time. THis is common to many other first year students. My friend, Elisa told me she did not sleep for about 2 nights to finish her creative art assignment. The stories go on and go.
why is uni like this?
Extend the school term to make it easier for the students. With the current setting, we cant fully study the subject. For me i am just going to focus on my law subject (it is my major), and do the bare minimum for maths and philosphy because i dont have enough time for them. Even worst, some students may just give up. I understand that shorter terms mean a longer holiday. Students can earn money or go home during that period. but this will compromise the learning. Shorter school term=difficult, stressful study.
i want to study and hf in uni. But the time is not allowing me to do that. How about a policy change for future, longer school terms like high school?
Anyway, i am addressing my mental problem now, lol i talked to my relative, friends and my teachers as well as writing about it on the blog. Soon i will find a solution.
I actaully only found this happened to me in the first few weeks. Anyway, from what I hear even getting a 65 in a subject is hard. No one really ever fully understands everything and generally if you put in the effort you will pass. Believe it or not there are even some people who feel it doesn’t go quickly enough.
Anyway I’m quite happy with the pace at the moment.
Just a small question – how many contact hours do you have?
I’ve found that having 24 contact hours per week I’ve not got so much to do at home. While others have many assesed assignments I can pretty much get familiar with concepts and revise.
Hope your situation gets better!
Welcome to the real world my friend. 😉
Watch this space.
PXW
i’m finding it hard to cope at the moment but probably mainly because of the few days of uni i’ve missed.
ew, catching up is the worst thing ever.
i guess we’ll all get there somehow
seeya round.
The point of university and the education system in general is to separate students according to ability so that students can signal ability to future employers. Giving students more time will increase average grades. If there is too much grade inflation it will be more difficult for employers to separate the good students from the really good students because both may get 100 per cent.
Personally, I could have sworn that the education system was about learning, improving yourself and discovering/honing new skills but there you go.
A university degree behaves like a commodity and as with any other commodity its purpose depends on the user. For example, person A may buy a car for its looks while person B may buy the same type of car of the fuel efficiency. Likewise, some students look for a degree that maximizes the return on their investment while others may place less weight on future income and focus on a university degree that offers learning, self-improvement, enjoyment, and so on. Just as there is no objective purpose of a car because each customer has his or her own unique purpose there is no objective purpose of a university degree because the quality of a degree is defined by the consumer who consumes it.
There would be less value in a University of Melbourne degree that does not discriminate against students based on ability. Furthermore, it would cost the university more. When students are on holidays then that frees up space in the univeristy and the university may (I’m not sure if they do but they could) rent out space in leccture theatres for others to use. So not only does this idea add an extra cost for the univeristy but it also devalues the degree.