You wanna know what’s the difference between the Singapore education system and American education system? I experienced it this morning in MS320 (Popular Culture) class.

Our TA, Ms Randolph was going through the lesson slides, we did some group discussion… About 15 minutes to the end of the class, she asked a question referring to the readings we were supposed to have done before class. Silence, no one volunteered to answer. She realised something was amiss and asked who had done the readings. No one except for maybe one or two put their hands up. That was it. It pissed her off real badly. She said it wasn’t fair that she did her part and we didn’t do our part, she proceeded to shut down the computer and said we were welcome to leave.

If you’re going “Isn’t that good? Class end early lehz,” you really haven’t grown up. I think the whole class felt pretty guilty after that. That’s the difference about the education system here, lecturers aren’t going to spoon-feed you with answers. In Singapore, when the lecturer asks a question and there’s silence, he/she ends up filling that silence with the answer or forcing someone to give the answer. Here, it’s different. You’re expected to participate in class, there’s really no other way to it. The lecturer does his/her part, you fulfill yours as a student.

I went to the informational session and was disappointed to learn that the Disney College Program is not a summer internship program, but a semester program. The catch is I may or may not earn college credit, which means I may end up having to take one more semester (and become a super senior) or cram everything and still graduate on time.

The program sounds really good though it seems to be more suited for students who have not stepped out into the working world. The jobs are mostly lower level stuff like working in restaurants/snack counters, ushers for rides, custodians, wardrobe unit staff etc. But, they say it opens doors to other higher level jobs within Disney or elsewhere. How? You either work your way up in Disney or companies elsewhere would recognise that you have worked with a famous brand…sort of like riding on Disney’s fame.

Still, it sounds really really good. How cool is it to be known to work for Disney? So COOL right? :laugh: Oh and the perks, free admission for all rides plus discounts for other related stuff.

On the other hand, if I forget about this, I can consider an exchange program.

Choices. Choices. Maybe I should go “whine” to people and see what they say…heehee…

I’m screwed. I screwed up my first ADV411 exam.

I had the urge to say to the prof, “I think I know what you meant by ‘students usually don’t do well on the first exam’,” when I went up to hand in my paper.

😥

I haven’t been doing too well in Japanese class too coz I hardly look through the stuff before class. My structure quizzes have been getting a lot of checks (no plus) lately. Especially for the recent material, I’m often highly confused in class about the polite/plain positive/negative forms.

This is what usually happens…

フェン先生: (refers to question 9 on homework sheet) りょうしんによく電話をかけたから、書かないんです。
Me: (thinking inside) Why is it not かける since the behind is in present tense? (thinking…thinking…thinking…not listening)
(Meanwhile, フェン先生 has gone on to ask a question to the class. He is waiting for someone to answer it. My subconscious heard the question.)
フェン先生: プアさん。
Me: (thinking inside) SHIT. モウさん、たすけて!

Yea, I kinda suck at the recent material covered so I really appreciate not being called to answer questions. When I’m not listening, I’m actually trying to figure out something and you can practically see the question marks popping out of my head.

My kiasu-ness proved useful coz I went to my TA’s office hours twice to make sure my story had no major mistakes, I received an A for my first Journalism assignment. :kirakira:

I am trying hard not to slack, but it’s tiring to keep swimming against the current. I’m already behind with my readings and there are exams and major assignments almost every week. I’m wondering whether it’s due to the fact that I’m taking more core courses this semester or it’s just my imagination.

Gone are the days of me actively participating (or maybe acting like a smart aleck) in Japanese class. I hardly even study for my quizzes anymore. Usually I just do it before class nowadays. Which is bad coz the material is getting harder and I’m just confusing myself with all the forms. I thought I had the て-form nailed after Xincai taught me the song, now comes the た-form and what-not. I am going to die…