Do we have to know this for the test?

As my time here within US higher education is coming to an end, I feel it’s only fitting to talk about my perceptions of it as a system and ultimately what I’ve taken away from the experience. I know that before I came out here, my brother had always said he wished he’d come to school here and in remembering this, I’d have to kind of agree and disagree.

What I’ve really enjoyed here is the non-specialised nature of learning. That’s not to say that’s how I think every school or university should teach, but it definitely offers a fresh approach for students. For instance, here in the US, first and second year students take general education classes on pretty much anything the university offers. After two years of a wide-ranging choice of subjects, these students then decide their major or the subject their degree will be classified through. I don’t know about you, but when I was 17, I didn’t know what I wanted to study for the next three years. I feel that pushing this age up and specialising later is much more accommodating solution.

That’s not to say I agree with it entirely however. One thing I’ve noticed in my time here is the extent to which students are really involved in their learning. Many of my classes for instance, are merely assessed through multiple-choice tests, which is definitely something I have never agreed with as a means of recognising achievement. To me, you shouldn’t be in any university of college environment if you ask the question ‘is this going to be on the test?’ or worse, ‘do we have to know this for the test?’

I got even more frustrated when for an essay, we were told to base our research on a select few academic journals. Now, I don’t know if this says as much about the professor or his/her trust in his/her students. On so many occasions I have felt spoon fed; the concept of a study guide to me, completely defeats the whole point of learning. Does it not just become regurgitation of facts?
Regardless of this, whatever environment I learn in, I’m always going to have quibbles with. I just think at 21, people should know how to write a paper and actually do some independent research, or they shouldn’t be in school…

Other than that, I watched Evil Dead II for the umpteenth time last night and again realised how good a movie it is in every single way. As for my travelling plans, I have decided to head up to Seattle and Portland next week and just see where the wind takes me… Las Vegas after that should be interesting too.

Jonty x

You walked? What's that?

I only have to look around my campus here in Sacramento to see actually how many cars are on the road. What’s worse, is that—seemingly—about 95% of said cars have one passenger; the driver. On top of this, your average tank of petrol or ‘gas’ will set you back a mere $2.30 a gallon. That’s right, a gallon (that's about 26p a litre). Perhaps I have a chip on my shoulder about the—as I see it—socially optimum price of petrol in the UK, but I really think it’s more than that. The diagram below sums it all up pretty well…

And put it this way, I haven’t seen the price of petrol in the UK at 88p a litre since 2006. In fact, I remember last summer petrol being £1.29 ($1.96) a litre. That’s, what, $7.84 a gallon here in the US! So why are UK residents willing to pay such a high price in order to run their cars? Is there less need for a car in the UK? From my experience the answer is yes but what about public transport? Look at this GM ad for instance:

I wonder sometimes, if the infrastructure and availability of public transport in places like Sacramento was improved whether the number of people using it would even change at all? I don’t know if people are just too comfortable in their cars or just too lazy? Perhaps I am too cynical, but there’s no way I could afford to run my car in the UK the way some people do here… I really think people have the wrong attitude when they view buses by the ‘creeps and weirdos’ who supposedly use them. How about this, my solution to getting the US out of its massive debt is to raise fuel tax and use some of that revenue. Haha...

Jonty x

I Want to Believe...

As I am such a hard working and thoughtful scholar, I was discussing with my colleagues the other day the differences between economics and politics. In respect of the 21st century, my father maintains four of his own blogs which, unlike me, he updates daily. He had this to say on the matter: Hard-nosed positive economics focuses on “the how” leaving many of the “why” and “ought” questions unanswered. Oh, now I get it...

For those of you who are utterly fascinated by such a topic, I advise you to read Will Hutton’s article Life may not be fair, but that’s still no excuse for an unjust society.

I have become apathetic in my ability to maintain this blog but that's not to say I'm going to stop altogether--maybe in a couple months. I decided about an hour ago that I'm going to watch the nine season, televised entirety of the X-Files as I feel I never really appreciated how good it is. Whilst doing that, I am looking forward to writing about either Sam Raimi's Evil Dead 2 or Tarantino's Death Proof for my film class; recognising them for their hidden ideology and I might even critique them from a feminist film theory perspective--not that I am such a thing.

This week I also have to decide if I'm going to visit the Grand Canyon or Oregon...

Jonty x