Goodness, with all of the things that are wrong with this university's administration, I could write a book. Here's a few of my latest issues:
-I went to a classroom to find no class. I walked to the department to find out what happened. The professor said, "oh we changed the room to upstairs". So why didn't you change the bloody timetable, so that people will stop going to the wrong classroom?
-There weren't enough syllabi (plural of syllabus) for each student in my class, so people were acting like animals, snatching them from the pile. How about giving professors a photocopying budget?
-The microphones for the professors rarely work. How am I supposed to hear them in a class of 300 in the back row?
-I went to the bookstore to find none of my listed readings for sale. Now I have to go to the library to compete with hundreds of other students for the books. Since there's only a few copies of each reading in the library, only a few of the students can read them in time for class. Also, with so few sources, doing a proper essay is impossible, so all of the grades are based on the final exam. Here's a thought, why not stock the bookstore with useful books so that kids can get a decent education?
-I went to the Balme Library (perhaps the most beautiful building on campus) to take out some books, since I couldn't buy them. It was 4:30. I went to the librarian to ask if I could take it out. He said I need a library card. Could I get one? No, not today. Come back tomorrow. Well could I photocopy the relevant chapters? No, the photocopying room is closed for today. How about this, make my cutting-edge student ID card my library card and keep the photocopying room open later, so that students could use it?
-I have a class on Friday nights from 5:30-7:30. The students don't like it, the prof doesn't like it, so why not change it to a more hospitable time? Because some professor who was supposed to teach the class was a lawyer and preferred teaching night classes, so he set it for that time. Can we change it? No, because the department doesn't allow that.
I can't even remember the other things that drove me crazy in the last week. The bureaucracy at the University (and in Ghanaian society in general) is so incomprehensible that you really have to do it your damned self to create change. I'm currently working on the History class, trying to get it changed to Wednesday, or at least before dark.
Anyways, this weekend is going to kick ass. There's going to be a big anti-poverty concert on Saturday and the biggest football match of the year on Sunday in Kumasi. And we bought bus tickets for 5AM that day. Kick. Ass.
4 comments:
HAHA, this is the funniest post by far because it reminds me the most of Trinidad. Mike, you will have to learn to understand that people in other countries do as they please, nothing may make sense to you, but it does it them.
Take Tobago, there are only a few gas stations on the whole island, and one of them shuts down for an hour around 5 0'clock, why? So that the workers can watch ‘Young and Restless’. They lose hundreds of dollars during this hour, but they don’t care.
Most people may consider the workers lazy, or say they lack work ethics, but others just say their taking advantage of life and not being brought down by work and society. It makes life hell when you’re trying to get stuff done, but you gotta recognize that it’s their system and as messed up and chaotic as it may be, that’s just the way it is.
Dear Mike,
Rosie has asked me to convey the message that she finds the term 'Kick Ass' both offensive and degrading. She feels 'Kick goat' to be far more descriptive. Of course Cindy Lou has issues with that...
Love,
Y.M.
Ah, its amazing how people from almost any culture will stop their lives for the Y&R. Take my nonna for example, and all of her little Italian lady friends.
- Angela
Maleaha - it's true, that's just the way they live life... even when they walk, they walk slowly! If they enjoy it, then fine, but don't come crying to me when they can't compete economically on an international scale!
Mom - don't censor me!!
Angie - I miss eating pasta.
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