Monday, May 9, 2011

Finals week can kiss my ass (by anon)

Finals week is a joke in and of itself. Finals week = the most frustrating, aggravating, stressful two weeks every year! Let me start off with sharing my beliefs on finals and why they are absolutely ridiculous. As a student, you have now worked your entire butt off for the last 4 months. You have been (hopefully) going to class, jotting down notes, and writing bullshit research papers (which I don’t understand, the research is already done...just go read it!) which have all just now consumed around 120 days of your precious youth. Now, we have the professors. The universities dearest faculty members who have also spent countless hours in the library as well preparing for their careers in the wonderful field of education. Sadly,  it seems most have forgotten the struggles they were too faced with, as last few weeks of each semester winded down. I cannot even begin to contemplate the thought process most my professors had while creating the syllabus and assignment schedule. They couldn’t have thought to split up the different units/topics into separate sections to prepare different tests throughout the semester? Nope...instead we will just have a giant exam worth the majority of the grade at the END of the next four months, as thee students should be able to retain 100% of the material covered throughout this course. To throw one more obstacle into the equation, we have the oh-so beloved move-out day. Where college students resemble chickens running around with their heads cut off, scrambling to pack up their belongings or couch surf until their new lease begins. Student: “You are telling me I have to be out the day of my last final?” Landlord: “Yes, we have to clean your house in time for the next people to move in.” Terrific! Thank you for all the consideration after I have now padded the inside of your pocket for the last two years due to the cost of your overpriced rent (not to mention the security deposit I probably won’t see at least half of) in this dump of house, that is in violation of at least a half a dozen codes due to your carelessness and poor landlord mentalities. But yeah, “sure I will go ahead and pack all my stuff up” in between all the last minute final cram-study sessions and my newly induced sleep schedule, I like to refer to as power naps. So here's to you... “CHEERS” to the generations before us who continue to make things close to impossible and live as though they were never a young adults. Don’t worry about us...we will just keep on, keepin’ on.

13 comments:

  1. "You have been (hopefully) going to class, jotting down notes, and writing bullshit research papers (which I don’t understand, the research is already done...just go read it!)"
    First of all, poor you. It must be really hard

    "To throw one more obstacle into the equation, we have the oh-so beloved move-out day."
    Do you want to hear how my finals have been going?

    My rent was late because I had a banking issue. The banking issue caused other issues. My internet gets shut off because I have to pay my own bills in my own off-campus house. Alliant Energy called me and told me they were going to shut off my utilities today unless I paid all of my past-due winter bills. I made it happen and tonight, by the power of me, I have power and internet. All this while studying for senior finals, getting prepped for grad school and researching FOR THE SAKE OF RESEARCH because it NEEDS to happen. If your text book editors and the researchers died, what would you learn?

    I can see that you do not value education, nor the obvious privilege that you have for being able to obtain it.

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  2. Millions of college students across the land are going through the same ordeal. We went through it and survived, albeit a little nuts, but its the rite of passage. You are free to avoid it if it is too much for you to handle. The best medicine however is to learn to love it.

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  3. Finals week reminds me of why I work.

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  4. Anon 5:06, lighten up. Just because that person isn't struggling with your struggles doesn't mean there's nothing to gripe about. Finals week is hard. I have 3 finals tomorrow right in a row. I don't get why you say the person doesn't care about education either. That would be a big uneducated guess on your part if you ask me. Have a drink and relax a bit before you chew someone's head off for no reason.

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  5. Yikes. I can see how finals week by itself is frustrating - but it's something every college student must expect and anticipate, and the worst one can do is NOT think that it's going to be hard. You HAVE to expect the worst for finals - and since the syllabi you get have everything laid out in advance, it's not like you don't have the resources to plan your semester out, if you feel like the load you're facing will be too hard to handle once the semester dwindles down. In other words, you have to plan for that stuff.

    As far as the move-out thing goes, that sucks, and I know of several others who are renting from a company that actually forces students to leave their apartment BEFORE finals are actually over, which is entirely bullshit for any landlord to do who is leasing out primarily to students. And coincidentally - the place is a shit hole too, and the security deposit is as good as gone. However terrible a landlord may be, however, it is still your responsibility to make sure whoever you're leasing from actually takes care of the place and gives you a good time to move out. So as far as those problems go, I must say you are mostly at fault (like they say, "buyer beware"). When I moved here, I looked at several different places from a few different leasers, and it was frustrating going around and trying to find the best deal, but I managed to not let myself get screwed over - it just took some time and effort, which involved a lot of phone calls, e-mails, and running around.

    Big responsibilities come with being a college student, particularly if you're on your own with little or no help from anyone else. Good thing college is only four years (for most of us) which means only 8 series of finals. And after college, you might find that you have the same amount of or even more responsibilities, so you might just have to get used to the work and stress, as you could be subjected to it for a long long time. You just have to tough it out, and as anon 5:23 said, "learn to love it", and in my own words - embrace it! (Or just say fuck it, and manage your life just working a job that doesn't require a college degree, as many people do).

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  6. Anon 6:12, I think you missed my point as well.
    Verbalizing disgust with regard to student's and tenant's rights rarely gets anywhere with the absence of action.
    Original post Anon: If you are enraged enough, make something happen.

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  7. Anon 5:06-
    Part of the reason I wrote that post was to speak out about the frustrations that most college students face in their academic career. I have not once met a college student who was giddy about finals week, so I thought that my post was something most college students would relate to. My main point was that finals week has a lot packed into it and I find it to be very stressful. According to your post, I would have thought you would agree with me on what a stressful time it is. Also, I obviously have my own opinions on research papers, but as far as I am concerned most students don’t skip home when one is assigned. I wanted to address the situation in which you seem worried about. I am going to go ahead and make a bold assumption that every textbook editor and researcher is not going to die by the time my college career is over. Also, I wanted to clarify some of your rather insulting and snarky comments. I obviously value my education or I would not have been putting forth effort into writing extra credit posts to assure that I get an A in the class. Furthermore, as stated above I am one who values education, I believe it is beneficial to be aware of all aspects of my life (i.e. my bank account and living expenses). In order to alleviate the stress of all your senior finals, it would’ve been my suggestion to have paid your bills before your power is about to be turned off. After all is said and done, I hope next time you bite your tongue before you make such bold accusations. Good luck on your finals! :)

    P.S. As far as the landlord goes, I have taken steps to avoid being in this scenario again. However, I am not the first person to have a shitty landlord.

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  8. One cannot pay bills when there is no money and heating assistance is not offered to students. Also, as far as student's rights, students who aren't covered by their mommy and daddy's insurance fail to have health coverage. They end up getting sicker and sicker and poverty perpetuates.

    Writers and researchers are dying or they are caught up in old ideologies and are perpetuating those in academia. Something has to change unless you're fine with what's being taught. Either way, research is dying.

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  9. Anon 7:59, what are you talking about? Research is dying? What research are you talking about? You feeling alright?

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  10. Anon 7:59, I would advise you do a little RESEARCH of your own before posting such ridiculous comments that hold no substance.

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  11. In life, learn to roll with the punch! Do the rope a dope if you have to. As Rocky Balboa said, no one ever hit him harder than life. Finals is nothing. You will soon graduate and it will all be behind you, but there may be some things you may never be able to put behind you Instead of focusing on how bad you got it with finals, think of how good you have it. It is all a matter of perspective. I assume you are young and in good health. There are millions of people in the world who would gladly trade places with you. You have no idea how much you are blessed. Do you ever stop and thank your professors at the end of the term? I suspect not. We are much too busy focusing on how bad we got it. I woke up this morning knowing that there are thousands of other people in the world who did not. In short, be thankful you get to spend another day on this wonderful planet and live everyday as if it is your last because one day you will be right. Now get those finals done and smile and please thank your profs as you head out the door.

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  12. Anon 6:30, nicely said.

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  13. Anon 6:30- Here, here!

    Original poster- Get a grip. Your problems are so easily solved in the grand scheme of things that you have no reason to be whiney. Perhaps none of us is giddy at finals time but the mass of us manage to press through to the other side.

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