This place is clearing out fast. One day before Thanksgiving and the students here at Sac State are scattering off to home - where ever that may be this year. Primarily a commuter campus, many do not have far to go, but virtually all will be somewhere other than here. Most, undergraduate and graduate alike, are feeling the semester-end crunch. And most, like myself, will soon be enjoying one last day of freedom before school, with all its various and sundry deadlines, demands our full attention. This is the calm before the storm.
As the homestretch rapidly approaches, there are now a few moments to reflect. This has been an interesting, frustrating, stimulating, eye-opening and exciting semester. It has been nothing like anything I have experienced before. It’s not just the rigors of being a student, college or otherwise. I have had that experience in spades, although grad school is like college on steroids. And it’s not the semester end crunch or the mind-expanding experience that education brings (again, super-sized, but the same). It’s a cultural difference. The relationship with my professors is far different than any I’ve had at any other level of education.
Although we are not exactly peers, the student/professor dynamic feels more like that of indoctrination. They are preparing us. The time available for students and the interest they show in our progress is like nothing I’ve ever seen before. We are attempting to do what they have done and they are sincerely interested in our success. I have been told that our application process was rigorous; we were carefully vetted based upon our qualifications, yes, but also our desire, our aspirations and other perhaps intangible elements that led them to believe that we will make it. We have been adopted.
Not exactly peers - not yet anyway…
3 comments:
It's 9pm in Boston and the school has finally gone to sleep for a few days-prior to the final deterioration phase. At 3000 miles away my experience is the same as yours. My antennae are picking up a strange characteristic that differentiates the student from the peer in a typological fashion. I observe (it might just be me, and I'm willing to accept that) that when the "student" becomes the "peer" in the relationship you describe they (the student in the context you describe)seem to lose something and gain another for the metamorphosis to become complete-Lose "Entitlement" and Gain "Humility."
-Theoloyia
Gaining respect from profs for your intent to follow the footsteps helps the ability for you to do so...
Hope your Turkey Day was a fun family time for you after so much intense work!
i hope you had a good holiday
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