Oh my hair mary full of grace. This is going to be one of those blogs that I just type so incredibly fucking fast that I only can hope that my fingers can keep up. Today is Transfer orientation and enrollment date. For classes that start for Fall 2010. As in two business days. Yeah. Two days. what's open, you may ask? well, from what i can report: intro to geophysics. That's what happens when we have a jillion students, who enrolled in june and then we had the other jillion and half who have already enrolled. i had 7 students who signed in with art or some form of it this morning @ registration with our Deans Office. Between 9 am and now (3ish), 12 students have wobbled their way over to Willard Hall, all in pursuit of earning an ART DEGREE! Oh wow! who wants a cookie?! Let me break this down in bite sized pieces.
CLASSES START ON MONDAY. THERE IS NOTHING OPEN. YOUR TRANSFER CLASSES FROM GREENLAND, ICELAND, NORWAY, OR THE MIDDLE OF BFE COMMUNITY COLLEGE ARE NOT EVALUATED BECAUSE, OH MY GOD, NO ONE FROM GREENLAND, ICELAND, NORWAY, OR THE MIDDLE OF BFE COMMUNITY COLLEGE COMES TO KANSAS STATE. I DON'T CARE HOW GOOD OUR BAND IS (and they're pretty fn awesome). IF YOU DECIDED IN THE LAST MONTH TO ATTEND A FOUR YEAR PRESTIGIOUS STATE UNIVERSITY AT A TIME WHEN TUITION IS THE HIGHEST IT HAS EVER BEEN, DO NOT COMPLAIN ABOUT THE AVAILABILITY OF CLASSES.
This brings to mind a thought that I honestly wish the powers that be would consider: capping enrollment OR (what a concept) hiring more faculty to accommodate the bumrush of students K-State has experienced! Raises have not been issued to the faculty the past three years and I'm not living in no fairy tale where the payment doesn't affect my general cranky/frustrated mood and general desire to go above and beyond the call of advising duty. Sorry to be Captain Obvious, but I am not alone in this idea.
The value of a degree is extremley dimished when an university accept studetns whose transfer GPAs are below 2.0. C's and D's get degrees-> remember that phrase that you joke about at 2 am at a frat party when you had class @ 9.30 that same morning? Yeah, that's very funny to an academic advisor who sees everything full circle. I have students who just want to "get" a degree; not earn. They want to "get" one. I will say loudly and to anyone: You do NOT need a degree to find happiness or success in life. Shocker. You better be damn sure before you sign up for a chunk of debt that this is what you want to assist you in finding happiness. Society has it ingrained in our heads (and admissions) that this is what will make you happy. A degree is our fountain of youth. Bullshit.
I have to preface that I am close friends with many of those who work in Admissions Offices on this campus. I feel for them, because just like I feel pressure from my superiors, they are feeling pressure. Numbers Numbers numbers. The more we have, the better we look and sound to other universities and alums across the nation. There is a phrase that the smartest man in my world (Joe B) who only earned an associates from Hutchinson Community College would say:
Quality over quantity.
I would take 50 amazing, solid, motivated, determined, pro-active freshman over 100 wishy-washy kids whose parents do their living and talking.
I don't care what color their money is. The universities are taking the way of big business; we are no longer educating our students, but educating them on the calculated interest on their student loans. The only aspect of my kids' lives that I honestly care about is their happiness. I know it appears that I hate my job. I hate my car. I hate the color purple. And I hate the fact I spent 50 bucks on the Incredible Bra.
However, the exact opposite is true. I love my job and I do love my car (well, not really at all.... but it runs, so I love it) and the color purple gives me chills (in a beautiful way). And the Incredible is amazing; you should try it out. Unless you're a creepy male; in that case, keep your paw's off my Incredible.
Get excited, because tomorrow is New Student O&E and I promise another fun filled blog full of unicorns and paint canvases and brutal honest truth.
