The Vicious life cycle of a rhodent
If you have been under the pressure of being “mashed” by so many assignments during the week and have resorted to excessive alcohol ,to get away from that pressure, during the weekends, then you are the typical “rhodent” living the typical “viscous life cycle”. Being a typical rhodent myself,I know the feeling after a week of excessive workload and partying. It feels as if a truck ran over me paralysing every muscle in my body.
The root cause for the “wild party animal” tag that only the Rhodes University first year students have especially the B.A students, is not because of the alcohol but due to the excessive work that the Humanities department here burdens students with compared to other universities . When I interviewed a first year Bachelor of Arts student, Bhavesh Ram, from the University of Witwatersrand regarding the workload for B.A students in their university, I found out that they don’t have compulsory tutorials and they only have one or two assignments a term. That work leads to excessive drinking and which in turn causes many students to let go of their moral values and end up doing something they will be ashamed of the next morning.
My journalism lecturer Sim Kyazze knows that the Humanities department has a bad reputation for the workload but he thinks it’s important for everyone to know that it’s not like that. According to him,it’s the students complain because they just don’t want to work. In my opinion, that’s not true because what lecturers don’t see the stressful students working in the Jac labs till 4 am in the morning working on a linguistic assignment just after they have finished writing a profile comment for journalism and still have to study for a sociology test that counts 25% of their year mark.
At the end of five days of innumerable assignments and compulsory tutorial workpoints, I would also say what Ryan Haynes, first year B.A student said in his facebook status, “Fuck work, I am getting drunk tonight…”.
On a Friday, students are seen walking up the Prince Alfred street with bottles of vodka for a “massive” night. Among those students, there are first years like Kelly Styane who don’t enjoy drinking but end up getting drunk on the weekends since there is no other form of entertainment in Grahamstown. But as Roxanne says “Binge-drinking is an activity many first years engage in but not many acknowledge the vicious consequences that it induces”. While many end up in a stranger’s bed the morning after a “massive” night, many end up injuring themselves. So is it not true that the workload is lowering the moral standards of the first years at Rhodes University?
Like a merry-go-round ,this vicious cycle of work to alcohol to “walk of shame” or bumpy forehead continues week after week.The only thing that can disturb this cycle is the realization by the Humanities department that students really need a “BREAK” .we can only learn from our mistakes and grow as better human beings if we have the time to think about what we have done in the past nine months.
By-Ayushi ChhabraAshness
The Vicious life cycle of a Rhodent
Friday, October 17, 2008 | Posted by Ashness at 9:43 AM
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2 comments:
I tend to disagree all the more slightly. My impression is that the high work load enforced by the department is meant to do the contrary. It is meant to prepare the student for a future as a moral and professional worker, that has a high work ethic and adds value to whatever firm might employ them.
Also, Rhodes has been under alot of pressure lately because the employer market has raised questins about the standard and quality of our graduates. As a response , and also to create graduates that do not struglle as much in fittin into the work environment (an arduous and difficuly conversion from student life), as well as to avoid a situation where Rhodes graduates are viewed as being below par, I tend to agree with the notion that heavy work-loads should be enforced.
This is by no means a judgement on the matter, I am simply expressing my view of the situation. But you have raised a few interesting points. One is always pleased to find that there are others that look beyond the mere veil of the corporeal and venture to determine the things that lie beyond.
Although I should hardly presume to speak for her, I would think that the most obvious objection Ashness could make to Anonymous's contention is that it views quality as synonymous with quantity. Piling on the workload does not guarantee a prime academic yield; in my own case, I can quite confidently say, it has done just the opposite.
Cock
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