9:15 a.m. - July 14, 2002
On a rainy morning after two nights of not sleeping, I wonder what's wrong?
Another class begins tomorrow, a month-long "super session" that is simply an opportunity for students to squeeze units and not knowledge out of the summer. While my classes are too large to get to know each student, my superficial assumption, based on the quality of the papers assigned, is that these kids don't take education seriously. That's not headline news, but what surprises and even disgusts me is the attitude with which these students, at one of the finest universities, approach their education. The palpable motive to be in school is not intellectual, it is not to get a good job (as if they've yet to learn a degree does not guarantee anything), it is not to please parents; instead, they go to university because they don't know what else to do, almost as if towards the end of the video game a screen appeared titled "Now It's Time To Play College" and off they went.
Perhaps I'm a New Republic elitist, but I feel admitting more and more students into the thousands of colleges and universities throughout the United States is doing our society a disservice by watering down expectations and achievement to the lowest common set of denominators. You hear that a diploma doesn't get you anything, that a college degree doesn't either, and that it's an advanced degree that truly gets your foot in the door; perhaps this is true, but why hasn't anyone asked why this is so? I do not for a minute think it's because there are millions of qualified holders of a B.A.; I think it's because the standards have fallen so low a B.A. is not indicative of intelligence or skill but merely attendance.
::::::::::::::
Friday night went to a movie at Union Station (yeah, there's a theatre at the train station) with Spec and while we were eating our veggie wraps he remarked that there were a lot of Deaf people around signing all around us. It was comforting to me to feel the energy in the air and I explained that it was because of a conference showcasing the arts in DC, the largest gathering of Deaf people from around the world. He said Then this is a good time and he started fingerspelling I love you I love you I love you and then showed me the signs he's been learning.
How can I not feel when presented something like that?
:::::::::::::::
Sliding down the axis like the rain falling outside. I can feel it heavy and hot and I want to go back to bed.
What's wrong with me What's wrong with me What's wrong with me
