Tuesday, June 13, 2006
You've got to love Aparajita...
Incredible female.
Calcutta International School for 4 years... bunch of other schools before.... but finished at CIS... came to Perth... bounced around a bit... finally joined my uni... with Biomedical science.. her overzealous went and met the HOD a number of times to discuss her daughter's "future"... good ol' HOD... saw another person with the same surname and immediately passed the buck... to me...
Then she looks me up... from the phone book! On google... finally traces down my phone number and calls me up.....
We meet.. and meet again... I ask her why she is doing this... she says she wants to study neuroloscience.. and then combine that with her interest in occult and supernatural... and start a business...hmmm...
but I just can't get over the conversation we had yesterday
A: Hey man! I really need your help.
Me: Sure. What's wrong?
A: I only got 52 in my essay in Anatomy.
Me: ok... But you said You did a great job.
A: Clearly not. I think the teacher has it in for me. I will challenge this.
Me: That's strange. I know the guy. He is fairly harmless. How much work did you put in?
A: About 2 days.
Me: Ok.. that's pretty low. Normally they expect you to put in about 2-4 weeks.
A: Yeah. But isn't the quality of work more important than the quantity.
Me: True. You could do the work in a short time and still do well. Tell me. How many references did you put in?
A: 3.
Me: WHAT? You submitted a major essay with 3 references?
A: Isn't quality more important than quantity? I could put in pages of references and they could all be meaningless.
Me: True. But normally you actually have to READ the references and use that material in your essay. That's what the reference list is for. Not for just putting in random references. But ofcourse a few quality refernces are alway better than a ton of rubbish ones. So what kind of references did you put it?
A: Internet sites mostly.
Me: Dear god! You DO know that internet sites do not have any weight whatsoever in a scientific essay? You have to put in proper stuff. Proper printed stuff.
A: I did!
Me: What was it?
A: Encyclopedia Britannica.
Me: You submitted a scientific essay in anatomy with two web references and one reference to an encyclopedia? Lord! You have to reference journals!
A: You mean like... TIME?
Me: No. Not magazines. Science journals.
A: Like "New Scientist"?
Me: Never heard of Nature? Or Science? Or Biological Reviews? The Lancet?
A: No...
Me: Those are journals.. you have to refer them. You have to refer primary material. You have to have atleast a dozen references for a first year essay. Atleast 8 primary articles.
A: Oh man. Shit. They didn't tell us any of this.
Me: What do you mean? That's what the "Foundation unit" is there for. What foundation unit did you do?
A: "Structure thought and reality"
Me: That's a philosophy unit! It's meant for people doing philosophy, education, humanities and shit. Why did you do it? You should have done a science foundation unit.
A: I do what I feel like. And I like philosophy.
Me: Anyway. Too late now. But I bet even the arts people know how to reference and stuff. Surely. They must have taught you some of that in the workshops.
A: I didn't attend the workshops. Just the first two.
Me: Why not? There is a mark for workshop attendance!
A: It's only 8 marks. Screw that. I figured out I was passing anyway. Besides the teacher doesn't like me. He has it in for me.
Me: Well. What are you going to do now? This is exactly what the foundation unit is there for. To learn stuff that you will need the rest of your professional life. It's not there so that you can "pass" it. Infact that's what this entire university is there for. To LEARN!
A: Ah fuck it. I can't be bothered man. I tell you what. Why don't we sit down one day. You teach me this shit.
Me: You want me to teach you all the stuff you were suppsed to learn in the first semester but you didn't?
A: Yeah yeah. Ami toke khaiye debo (I will treat you).
Me: Really? Toke to oyster khawate hobe (you'll have to treat me to oysters). A tutor would charge you $60 and hour.
A: HAHAHAHA. Chal yaar. We'll meet up sometime after you come back. Meantime let me challenge all the results. Whaddya reckon? Will they rule in my favour and increase the marks a little? 15%? Even 10% is enough. Won't ask for anymore. Whaddya say?
hmmm
I tell you... you gotta love her.
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7:27 AM
