University | Taiwaneers

The Threat of Losing My Treat is not that Great

Michael's Posts, University 1 Response »

Apr 152010

I’m sure we can all relate to my non-native English speaking classmates. Someone who is supposed to know everything, a teacher, does something that you think is wrong but aren’t sure about, so you assume you were wrong in thinking they were wrong, and then you adopt whatever they did, thinking that it must be right. This is their plight.

If I remember correctly it was a teacher who made the mistake originally in a ppt. And now my classmates have been doing it ever since.

This particular error happens all the time because these MCU teachers are always making us do presentations. And, because we are International Business and Management majors the likelihood that this particular mistake will happen is very high; since we are always doing SWOT analyses or Michael Porter’s Five Forces of Competition analyses. So, this word is always rearing it’s H’less head.

And it’s happened so many times and so regularly now that I don’t want to say anything to end it. It’s downright fun to be sitting there watching presentations and see that once again a student wrote “treat” in their ppt instead of “threat.” The amount of times it’s happened now rules out coincidental typos.

It’s the little things people. Am I wrong not to do anything while laughing on the inside at the absurdity of competitive treats?

Anybody else out there in blogland have another of these stories you can share with us? I love me my laughs.

Last Semester of the First Half

Michael's Posts, Our Taipei Life, University 2 Responses »

Mar 142009

Well school has been back in session for a few weeks now. Its strange to realize that at the end of June I’ll have finished two years of my four year degree program. “Time, time, time, see whats become of it…” as Simon & Garfunkel said.

I’m excited for this semester. So far I like all my professors. I feel like I will be challenged by many of the classes without being overwhelmed….yes indeed, that mythical feeling exists.

My schedule:
Mondays: Global Industrial Analysis in the morning and Visual Basic Programming in the afternoon
Tuesdays: International Economics in the morning and Statistics in the afternoon
Wednesdays: A glorious morning of freedom followed by Academic Writing in the afternoon
Thursdays: Physical Education in the morning and Marketing Management in the afternoon
Fridays: Environmental Issues in the morning and International Trade Regulations in the afternoon

As you can see my classes are delving even deeper into my major, International Business & Management. I’m guessing this will be one of the busiest semesters I’ll have here. The classes are getting more demanding but the schedule hasn’t let up, as it will in 3rd and 4th year.

I’ve been elected Vice-Class Leader again and have become a defacto union leader of the MCU International students. I have a lot of respect for union leaders. Balancing the anger of the mob with actually getting things accomplished has been an interesting skill to try and learn. I’ll give you an example.

Last semester we had a class with a very poor teacher. Her English abilities were severely lacking and her classes consisted of really crappy powerpoints that were read to us by her. Her tests consisted of us regurgitating her powerpoints word for word onto a piece of paper from memory. Well none of us liked her. We had several discussions about her with our department’s director. We talked with upper classmen as well who said they couldn’t stand her either. Not that she’s mean or anything, she’s just a crappy teacher. Towards the end of the semester realizing that she was scheduled to teach several of our future classes we took more direct action. Everyone in the class, except one person, signed a petition asking MCU not to have her teach us again for the remainder of our time at Ming Chuan University. We submitted it to the Dean of MCU’s International College. I also emailed the university where this teacher said she got her Ph. D from asking if I could read her dissertation. They told me they had never heard of her before. I then emailed the teacher asking her for a copy of her dissertation or to tell me what name she published under so I could find it myself. She never emailed me back and then right before this new semester was about to begin the teacher emailed our entire class letting us know that she had been reassigned to teach graduate level classes so she wouldn’t be teaching us again this semester. Needless to say I was amazed and happy! I have no idea which of the class’ actions are responsible for this victory but we are sure its a victory! The key now is learning how to duplicate this victory. Most of the “union” work I do at MCU isn’t aimed at actually making my experience better. I’ve realistically set the goal that I want the problems and kinks worked out for the students who come after me. Now there is a new dilemma and I feel like the best thing would be to give a gift back to the administration by not making a big deal about it. Appeasing the wrath of mobs isn’t easy though so we’ll just have to wait and see.

In other news my Chinese is improving. I’m learning new words and remembering them. My neurons seem to be getting along better with Chinese and I’m starting to really enjoy practicing words with friends and classmates. Recent additions to my vocabulary include: Toilet, I think, Please speak slowly, Fat, Skinny, Mean person, Looks like. To reinforce them into my memory I’m constantly asking classmates if they want to go to the bathroom or asking them if they think so-and-so looks like an elephant. Its fun!

Unfortunately I have had my last, at least for the present, tutoring session with my exceptionally excellent student Joshua. I began tutoring him in English back when we lived in Taoyuan and we’ve been meeting once a week for the last 14 months not counting when I was home for summer break. Its a bummer to lose the income. He has become a good friend and we’ve said we’ll keep in touch.

Now I’m going to go work on editing some more of our Korean vacation video!

Academia

Michael's Posts, University 4 Responses »

Jan 052009

I am finishing my third semester as a full-time university student. It has taken a year and a half for me just to enter what I feel is academic-mode. Thats not to say I am really applying myself in school or anything like that. This semester in fact I feel that I have largely been on auto-pilot in terms of school related learning. I’m talking about that mode which includes a desire to read, observe, learn, and discover coupled with an overall sense that there are things to know and desire to know them.

This school semester has been an aid in that though. My mythology class, upon reflection, seems to have been a major force in catapulting me into academic-mode. Starting this summer and continuing up to the present my desire to read has returned after a long absence. I’ve never been a voracious reader but I remember back in high school enjoying reading and learning through books.

However, while in the professional arena I think I lost that enjoyment and became intrigued and fixated on succeeding at whatever job I had. I saw books not as something to wind down with after work but as objects of education. Therefore I did not turn to them, even fiction, and instead used tv, movies, and video games (marginally) for distraction time. In fact during that professional period I tried to read and found it very difficult. My mind would race and wander halfway through a page making “reading” time a seeming waste as I seemed to gain nothing except frustration over not being able to focus. I did read a fair bit of news during that period though. The sensational, fast-paced, current-event-urgency style of western main-stream journalism made reading news an important task. It was not only easy to read but could be focused on since my goal-oriented mind included it in the tasks I needed to complete to be successful in my job. I was keeping up with the times and loving it.

Last year I had an hour-long commute, one-way to school. This fostered a breakthrough for me that came in the form of Robert Ludlum’s The Bourne Identity which I found in the MCU library and used to fritter away the commute. I found myself reading a book and enjoying it! Not only that but I could focus on it and would look forward to the next opportunity to read in it. In a word, it was wonderful! If this seems strange to you remember that my view of books, which has largely remained unchanged, are that they are educational tools. Even though it was trashy fiction I felt so productive reading it which was coupled with the fact that I enjoyed the story too. Emily and I returned home for the summer and the 4 or 5 (I forget) books that I had started over the past few years without finishing got read through. Not only that but after finishing them I started and finished other books! I kept thinking ‘this is so great! I can read and focus on what I’m reading and actually learn and get joy from it!’

Towards the end of the summer I devised a system: To continue enjoying reading I would limit the educational tool type books to every other at the most and include a fair bit of easy fiction so as not to forget that reading is fun. So far this system has worked and I have continued reading books. I don’t really read that much news anymore though.

Because of this renewed enjoyment of reading coupled with lessons God is teaching me I feel as though I am entering academic-mode. I feel like my “de-tox” from professional-mode is on the closing end for the present with the ratio increasing into academic side with each passing day.

It is easy to see why people never leave academic-mode. Since it is the mode of childhood (at least the mode that modern western society says should be of childhood) now it seems very natural to me to want to continue in it for a lifetime. Something that never appealed to me before. My professional-mode desire to accomplish has been replaced quite adequately with my academic-mode desire to understand.