Tag Archives: school

Daily Scribble

The process or the result

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I have a friend quited her job and went to study MBA planned for a career change.  Very unfortunately, now she graduate right in the middle of the fiancial crisis.  Jobs opening is drying up everywhere, especially on the traditional MBA related industries.  This year is a very though time for a MBA graduate.  Luckily, although she quited when she went back to school, she is able to get back her old job.  It seems things is not changed at all for her, except she lost a year of salary, the accumulated benefits and got a huge debt for the tuition.

If we are just looking at the result, yes, she seems to be worse off than before.  However, there are many things cannot be quantified with a dollar sign.  Instead of seeing it as a failed attempt of career change, it can be seen as a sabbatical.  My friend always dreamed to study aboard and experience a different country.  That was her last chance to experience the school life full time before she is too old to enjoy that.  The course work she learned in school might not be very useful, but who knows what might come in handy one day.  Most important of all is she had tried to go after her dream.  No matter what is the outcome, she won’t have any regrets.  Maybe when she look back in 10 years, her decision quitting her job to go back to school will have a different perspective.

Daily Scribble

What’s wrong with the undergrad mentality

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Today is the last day of my philosophy class. The professor has office hour after the lecture. I don’t know which essay topic should I choose, so I went to see her. There is a small line up in front of her office. Some students want to check the grades of their exam, some other just like me want to discuss their essay. While waiting in line, I start the conversation with the classmates by asking them how do they think about the course. To my surprise, all three of them think the course is really hard. They did not get a good grade in the exam and not even know how to write a philosophy paper.

I chat with them a little bit more, I found out none of them are philosophy major. They take the course not because they are interested in political philosophy, it is because this course fulfill the requirement for a minor degree or is an elective of a certain a program. To them, this course is just another course, the final essay is one of the many essays due next week. The stop keeping up with reading after the exam, since the material in those chapters won’t get them any grades. They are very surprise when I told them I am taking this course for fun. I guess they wouldn’t believe why someone would eager to take a course that they think is a torture.

I remember I had the same mentality when I was in undergrad. A course is just a mean for an end, an obstacle between myself and graduation. I don’t really care what I learn, all I care about was getting good grade and an honor degree. I wonder does all undergrad think the same way. Students go to university suppose to learn enthusiastically and always aspire for higher knowledge. How come university becomes a system making students to jump throw hoops in order to graduate. It seems that is not the problem of university. I took the same philosophy course as the other undergrad students. I found the course very interesting but the undergrad think it is boring. If nothing is wrong with the university, then something must be wrong with the undergrad students. But what’s wrong with them? I was one of them too!

兩週一聚

兩周一聚：傳統與傳統智慧

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今期兩週一聚由加燦出題目﹐原本的題目水蛇春咁長﹕傳統 & 傳統智慧 / Convention & Conventional Wisdom。為免影響博面排板美觀﹐我把貼子的題目改為﹕傳統與傳統智慧 。原本加燦要求一雞兩吃﹐同一題目中英文各交一篇﹐可惜我恕難從命﹐原因請看篇未注腳。

傳統與傳統智慧
每間學校也有它的獨特傳統﹐我不是指尊師重道或德智體群那些官方傳統﹐而是在學生間世代相傳的不成文規定。我的中學便有一個十分特別的傳統習俗﹐做生日。做生日並不是為同學慶祝生日﹐而是一班同學忽然間圍著其中一位同學﹐很高興地唱生日快樂﹐然後把“壽星仔”按著背脊朝天﹐大伙兒以拳頭相向﹐將不幸被圍的同學打得彭彭作響。做生日的受害者並不只是被圍在中央的同學﹐在外圍的同學手不夠長﹐打不到中央的同學﹐隨便看到那個背脊便打落去。生日會通常不會持續太久﹐每位同學過完手癮後﹐便會一哄而散。

不一定要生日的人才便被做生日﹐當然生日的人一定逃不過被做生日的命運。每一人也有可能是壽星仔﹐選擇基本上帶有隨機性﹐當有有些不幸的同學被選中的機會高些。生日會可以發生在任何時間任何地點﹐轉堂時小息時放午飯時甚至上堂時。最常見的一種生日會在排隊時發生﹐一班同學自發地候守在樓梯口﹐第一位從樓梯下來的同學便自動成為壽星仔﹐而後來從樓梯下來的同學看見有生日會﹐當然會加也快腳步一起加入慶祝。有同學在課室內搞事﹐騷擾一位受歡迎的老師講課﹐我們即場做他生日﹐安撫他後讓老師安心授課。最經典放會考前最後一天﹐我們為一位深不得人心的舊生老師做生日。他幾經爭扎逃出我們班的圍困後﹐他在隔鄰班上最後一節課時﹐害怕再次被做生日﹐還未落堂便奪門而逃。

做生日也有其傳統智慧。生日的正日當然不可以讓同學知道。行落樓梯時也要小心﹐要眼觀八路耳聽四方﹐若果察覺到樓梯底氣氛異樣﹐便應該折反上樓﹐讓其他同學身先士卒。被圍的時每個人的反應不同﹐有些同學會嘗試突圍﹐不過通常也不會成功。有些同學會採取守勢保護自己﹐其實做生日也不是認真地打﹐大伙兒又不是收賣人命。我被圍時則以攻為守﹐隨手找一個同學拉他入圍﹐讓他與我一起分享被慶祝生日。其他同學有兩個背脊做目標﹐落在自己背脊便的拳頭便減少一半。

生日會歷史悠久深入民心 ﹐現在我們在舊同學結婚時﹐仍然會保留這項優良傳統。在飲宴留到最後等大部份親友離去後﹐我們便會舉行這個簡單而隆重的做生日儀式。雖然人老了大家只是循例做樣子扮打﹐但是拍照出來的效果十分有趣。

Footnote: Convention and Conventional Wisdom
Something is wrong with Kempton’s choice of the English title. The translation of 傳統 should be tradition. Convention usually means a big meeting which is not really related to conventional wisdom. I could not figure out the relationship between convention and conventional wisdom, so I could not write anything else except this analysis of the English title.

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下期題目﹕ 怕

Daily Scribble

Demanding professor

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Next semester, my life begins getting back to normal, I am talking another philosophy course. I had class with this professor before, she is really demanding. In her class, she forbid any students using laptop, even for taking notes, because she think anyone with a laptop would be distracted by surfing the web. The course work load was normal, but her lecture expect us to do the reading before coming into class without explaining much background details. I didn’t do very well in that class, but that’s OK, I won’t really care about my grade.

My first class is staring on Monday and the professor already sent out email to the class to assign next week’s reading. I don’t even have time to buy the textbook yet. Luckily the textbook is available online at Google books, so I have to read the two assigned articles on my laptop this week. The work load of this course is not too bad, just two essays on top of the exams. I did introductory political philosophy last year, I thought the intermediate course would be more or less the same. However, I already found I am learning new ideas on the first two essays. The previous course taught about the all the -ism in political philosophy, this course talk about political theories, which is one layer deeper than the -ism.

Daily Scribble

Quest for wisdom

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I didn’t take any part time course at SFU this term because I have to adjust my newly wed life and I to work in India for 3 weeks in October. I am going to resume my studies next term. I can only afford to take one course per term, so I am working very very slowly to my philosophy degree. Next term I am taking intermediate ethic theory and political philosophy. The course is in the area of my study interest. I want to prepare myself well equipped to rebuke intellectual attacks from the both end of the political spectrum.

When I went to the bookstore pick up next term’s textbook, I have a habit of browsing textbooks of other courses, to see is there any interesting course I might want to take in the future. I come across many interesting and useful courses outside of the philosophy major. Philosophy is the mother of all subjects, which gives me a good foundation in making connection from knowledge in different fields. But I have to broaden my knowledge outside of philosophy into related areas if I want to survive in battle for the minds.

I observe that many leftists have a social studies background and many right-wingers have a economics background. I often feel kinda dumb when I read the theories quoted from both side to support their claims. Well, I sort of understand the quoted theories, they appears to be quite convincing in their context. However, without more knowledge on related fields, I can’t tell whether the theory really holds up or it is merely an intellectual bluff. I have identified a few other courses to take in the future if I couldn’t find a philosophy course fits my schedule on that term. Here is the list of core courses for my undergrad degree:

PHIL120 – Introduction to Moral Philosophy (done)
PHIL203 – Metaphysics (done)
PHIL220 – Introduction to Social and Political Philosophy (done)
PHIL242 – Philosophy of Art (done)
PHIL280 – Introduction to Existentialism (done)
PHIL300 – Introduction to Philosophy (done)
PHIL144 – Introduction to the Philosophy of Natural and Social Science
PHIL201 – Epistemology
PHIL240 – Philosophy of Religion
PHIL320 – Social and Political Philosophy
PHIL321 – Moral Issues and Theories
PHIL322 – History of Ethics
PHIL341 – Philosophy of Science
PHIL421 – Ethical Theories
SA250 – Introduction to Sociological Theory
SA350 – Classical Sociological Thought
SA351 – Classical Marxist Thought
SA450 – Advanced Sociological Theory
ECON208 – History of Economic Thought
ECON282 – Game Theory
ECON309 – Introduction to Marxian Economics
ECON402 – Advanced Microeconomic Theory
ECON403 – Advanced Macroeconomic Theory