College Here, College There, Education Everywhere!

Are you for REAL right now?

First Lecture Series: Introductions

Subtitle: how to think about the course and your own subject position

     These first few lectures were tackled by the dynamic duo, Rowin and Claire, the former being a ridiculously-goodlooking half-Indian, half-Black actor/comedian and the latter being a spunky, slightly chunky, dark-haired, fair-skinned actress/dancer. While their discussions felt elementary to me, it helped frame the course as a tool for self-examination. The instructors continually stressed the idea that they wanted the students to think for themselves and argue their views (even if their views do not represent the majority's), something they seemed dissuaded from in high school and the lower grades.

     Something I have to remember here is that while my exposure and contact-education is valuable, it is also wildly skewed. As Rowin reminded the class, we are the elite and the exception; only 2% of South Africans attend University. Hence, to give more students the grade-point-average-opportunity to go (whether they can afford it in the end or not), many schools have lowered their pass rates for high school or given out A's when they are not really earned. It sounds bad when I say it like that, but, from my experience, we have a lot of the same issues in the States. The quality of public education differs vastly from state-to-state in my own country as well: an “A” in a West Virginian high school certainly isn't the same as an “A” in a Californian one. Heck, and “A” in Alameda County, California isn't equivalent to the “A's” given out in the next county over. There are just too many variables, too many students, too many standards, and too many exceptions to make any kind of true consistency, or so it seems.
     Rowin and Claire focused heavily on the class's understanding of one's subject position, the combination of factors that affect how you read and understand a text.  Most of these factors are outside of your control and include characteristics such as age, race, ethnicity, cultural background, geographic origin, political alignment, fiscal security, level of education, etc.  To demonstrate the importance of this idea, and to keep people on their toes, Rowin went around the room pointing at people and asking, "Who are you?"  With a classroom as diverse as ours, there was no shortage of interesting answers (and attitudes!). He said, "You there, in the blue shirt, who are you?" to the boy seated next to me.  Blue-shirt-boy began speaking slowly, "I am... new to dis cahntry.  Everyting is strange, I've never left home before.  Now... I am at university, I'm sitting next to a white girl?!" Here, Rowin stops him saying, "Oh no [finger wag included], not just any white girl, a foreign white girl!"  At which the entire class, myself included, laughed hysterically for a good two minutes...

     Also during these lectures, I made some of my first, consistent friends (“consistent” as in, I see them more than once for a friendly chat, haha). Ladies: Angelique, Sherilyn, and Sam[antha] are the girls I sit with in class and, coicidentally, we also have the same “tut” group; “tut” is short for “tutorial” and is most easily relatable to the “discussion sections” of the U.S. college system. I plan to write up some not-too-revealing bios at a later time, so bear with me here; patience padawan.

You were the chosen one!

Second Lecture Series: The Trickster Figure in Zulu and Greek/Roman Classic Fables

Subtitle: manifestations of power in narratives—examining the hero and the anti-hero

     As I understand it so far, three professors will be divvying up the teaching for this segment, but so far I have only had one: Elke Steinmeyer. And her name provides an accurate image of the woman herself: an older, blonde, staunchly German lady with a very thick accent. From what I've seen so far, she's an avid reader and writer on the subject of Zulu fables and modern Zulu literature, and is also well-versed in Greek and Roman mythologies. Much like a course in the states, we are each given a manual (a “course reader” in the States) with excerpts and selected readings; this is easily the largest one I've ever had! I still have to buy my books as well, since we're also dissecting two full novels in addition to the readings. So far, many of the readings have been taken from full works by literary scholar Noverino N. Canonici—if I'm not mistaken, he's still associated with the university here and I'd love to meet him if I get the chance. He's been writing since the 80's and really knows his stuff. I love the way he's able to examine huge bodies of work and still draw decipherable, clear patterns, motifs, and themes from among them.

     This past Thursday (February 23) I turned in my first homework assignment during my “tut.” We spent a lot of our period discussing the excerpt the homework was based on from Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart. Hannah, my sort of TA, is an absolute doll and I couldn't ask for anyone better. She's actually a completely certified professor who's been contracted to lead the tutorial for this course and a few others. I loved her little anecdote of an introduction about her daughter, half-German (her side), half-Zulu (her husband's side). She told her, “Mum, I want hair like yours;” she inherited her father's curly, African hair instead. Her curiosity roused, she then began to tell us about a documentary she saw called Good Hair, as told by Chris Rock. Definitely something I plan to check out in the near future!

     Something of interest I ran into while typing up my homework... that my German professor, Elke, used the phrase “pretence and dishonesty” to describe one of the common negative characteristics of trickster figures, as recounted by Canonici. So later, I'm at home, being the good kid, doing my homework when I go to type “pretence” and stop myself... Pretence? Isn't it more like “pretense?” This prompted me to open two new tabs, one for each spelling. The s-version brought up a variety of definitions, basically all talking about deceit and other forms of deception. The c-version first gave me some sort of legal definition but, upon further investigation, also listed that it was the “chiefly British” spelling of pretense.**

good grief

>>More about school?

     I've been working furiously, along with Carina, to organise rideshare/carpool/thingies for lifts to and from UKZN (have I mentioned before now how in South Africa, like the rest of the world, they say “zed” instead of “zee” for “Z”? It's all fine and dandy until you try and say a phrase like “x, y, and... oh... Nevermind.” Awkward!). For now, I've got Tuesdays figured out and Thursday afternoons. I pretty much have given up on Fridays (I only have a 45 minute period that day and it takes at least half an hour to get there, and that's without traffic. And by the way, there's always traffic >.< ). Getting there Thursday may work out with someone else, but for now, Carina just takes me down in the afternoon and I get a ride home with my Tuesday ride.

     And whom is this mysterious Tuesday-lady you might ask? Her name is Tracey. She and her daughter, Kirsty, live just up the road from us, which is fabulous. Kirsty goes to a specialized college of graphic design in North Durban and is constantly sketching or cooking; she eventually wanted to go into character design for video games (which, if I'm remembering correctly, is exactly what my best-friend from pre-school, Bron, wants to do). Tracey works as a financial planner/consultant at one of the banks and has an office in Westville (ten minutes from UKZN) and another office in Kloof (ten minutes from home). All in all, it's a peachy situation that I hope blossoms into a cheery friendship.

furious-furry-fury-friendship-high-five!!

     Now, to touch briefly on my last post—you know, the one that you finished reading and started pulling your hair out—I feel like I failed to explain something there that may give the administration at the school a zillionth of an excuse as to why they had so much trouble processing my application(s). On the books, not only am I an international student, but I'm also listed with “NDP” next to my name: non-degree programme. What does that even mean?

     South African Universities, per the previous post, operate a bit differently than their American counterparts. Upon graduating high school (which ends at about age eighteen, but is a five year institution), students either take a year off (the gap year option is much more common here) or continue on to “varsity”—the general abbreviation for university apparently? Even though, you know, the word “varsity” isn't actually in the word university. Besides the point, I suppose. As my friend Benjy would say, “details, Lily, details,” whilst shaking his head waggishly. Anyways, once students decide on a varsity, they are immediately asked to choose which degree they would like to work towards. Don't be fooled; it's not like those American universities where they simply ask you to pre-declare your major. To make this a bit more tangible, a fair majority of my lady friends here are studying law. So, instead of doing a pre-law degree or majoring in political science or international relations as one might do in the States, these girls are simply completing a law degree program. There's no such thing as law school here. On a broader scale, because students already, theoretically, know their future careers, there are no GE requirements or liberal arts curricula for the student body.

     Some people, most likely my engineering friends from UCSD, are reading this and going, “Why don't we do this in the States?! Friggin' literacy and history requirements ruining my finish-in-four plan!!!” But, on the other hand, one could argue that these students aren't getting a well-rounded education, especially when you consider the fact that most of the high schools have heavily inflated pass rates so that more students have the option of attending university. Even at the university level, a 50% is considered passing.

UCSD College Scenario

Dude: OMFG?!  I'm failing physics, I got a 2 out of 7 on our last test!

Dude's Smart Friend: Dude, relax.  Remember the gazillion point curve?

Dude:

** I apologize most sincerely for the absurd amount of quotation marks in this paragraph...and in the rest of the post... Maybe it doesn't look that way, but it just felt like I was typing a LOT of quotes so, yeah. Just thought I'd cover myself preemptively on that one :]