Monday, December 3, 2007

"That Really Grinds My Gears!"

I was recently watching "Family Guy," and it was the episode where Peter becomes a news anchor in which he has a special every night "That Really Grinds My Gears!" In his special, he rants and raves about what is really bothering him, and his viewing audience, always ready to give the finger to their superiors and random annoyances, loves the special. That got me thinking about what really "grinds my gears." Right now, it is more than a random annoyance. It is something that no student should ever have to deal with when resulting from the plans of their superiors...DISORGANIZATION.

The architecture department, headed by our new fearless leader...our new chair (who sometimes makes me think he could not lead himself out of a paper bag)...has started a new series of critiques in which the entire school is doing their final reviews at the exact same time. The theory is that it will allow the entire school to collaborate with one another and really know what is going on. My problem is not with the theory. I think it could be very successful if executed well. However, that is not the case here.

The big problem is that the entire thing is incredibly disorganized. This resulted from the procrastination by the superiors to decide on the details and inform the students/professors, so that they knew what was going on. A final review deadline cannot be pushed up a week in the last two weeks of school. However, that is what has been done. Students have been bum rushing to the finish line and having to finish the race in half the time it would normally take. Can you imagine telling an Ethiopian the day he gets off the plane to run the Boston Marathon that he is going to have to run it twice as fast or else fail?! It would not be so bad if studio were not worth six hours of credit. This makes the difference between an A and a B and especially a C an incredible amount of weight!

Students have been put to the point where the pressure almost forces them to crack. You would not believe how many girls I have had to let cry on my shoulder this week because they cannot handle the stress. Guys have been throwing things and screaming at the top of their lungs out of frustration and rage at the whole ordeal. All I can say is that it is amazing what we students are forced to put up with in order to better make an attempt at approaching our career path. We are the ones paying for this, right?

Not only this, but I am forced to vent about this in my blog and not to someone who could do something about it because of my fear of the possible reprocussions. Whatever happened to safe outlets for discontent? All I know is THAT REALLY GRINDS MY GEARS!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

That explains a lot! I noticed all my Arch majors were suddenly very stressed, but I didn't realize this was going on. I wish I could help, but I guess I can just listen (read) for now. I hope the stress is already over now. If not, remember to do something that helps you relax when those gears start grinding. It really makes a difference, and taking care of your nerves is just as important as finishing projects... trust me. (I learned the hard way by working through stress and getting 2 herniated discs last year.) Take care, K!