audit?

Monash is going to be audited by some professional body or the other, and they need students to give feedback. Good feedback. So students from every faculty have to join, particularly the IT and engineering students, so yeah, you can see where I come in.

It was during my first database lecture when they came in (they = I’m not really sure who they are either, but I do know they’re in charge of gathering the students) to explain to us and get us to join. I’m pretty sure none of us were very enthusiastic to go (hey it’d mean cutting our lunch hour short, and we were getting pretty hungry as is) see the Pro-Vice Chancellor (which is what PVC stands for in this context.. I don’t even know why they didn’t think that the acronym is identical to that pipe material) to hold a mock run of the actual ‘discussion session’ the auditors were gonna make us go through and be briefed further regarding this. To my horror, the lecturer just randomly picked out ‘our’ half of the class. Furthermore, it was either him or one of them (probably the guy) mumbled something about gender equality which was utter crap if you ask me.

The thing that struck me as coincidental was the fact that I just handed in 2 layouts for monga articles yesterday, and one of them was about the PVC herself. I just didn’t expect to actually meet her in person that soon. o__o Listening to her talk reminds me of the listening comprehension tests I had last year during SAM in ESL. Amusing and requires some effort to understand.

We thought we could make a break for it and avoid interrogation after lecture but I guess they were prepared for tackling potential escapees. One of them (the lady) came in 5 mins before the lecture ended so we were just herded to the small albeit freezing meeting room nearby on the same floor. I didn’t realize she was standing outside waiting for us when I loudly exclaimed, “Gender balance my ass lah!” I didn’t see her until I walked past her and turned around when I heard Jordan laughing behind me. Malu sial. XP To see other students there gave me this feeling that there’s gonna be some awkward silences should the discussion begin, and I was right. Originally all of us were hesitant (and I think most of us didn’t really know how to begin) but we gradually warmed up and responded to her questions. Well at least the business students were having a whale of a time and most of us IT students kept mum since I can tell we’re not exactly in the best position to answer.

I mean, I know us; we don’t exactly pay attention to the place we’re studying in (except for some things that we need to use like the computer labs and its equipment) and more to what we’re studying and student life. To us, we don’t use much of the uni facilities (I mean like the counseling unit, for example.) nor do we think much of them. So most of the discussion came from all four corners of the table (all the business students) and the middle (which was us) was listening more than providing the required feedback (except for my huge mouth which wanted to have a say in something so t hat it would appear as though we actually know what’s going on, which we mostly didn’t, I’m afraid XP)

For sure I know zz and Jordan regarded this more of an English comprehension exam than anything else; heck, some of the terms were even alien to me (don’t give me that look, please) simply because I was struggling to put them in context. I found out later (after the whole ordeal) that Jordan and zz found the terms incomprehensible, but when they finally figured out what the discussion was about (by listening to the response of the others) and wanted to respond in turn, the rest would have moved on to the next topic, dousing the intention. I don’t blame them actually; as far as their first language is concerned it sure as hell isn’t English. But hey, I salute the fact that they’re actually trying, that’s the most important.

Naturally, I could tell that our pathetic response wasn’t exactly what they wanted (d-u-h, we’re the only people who were asked to stay behind while the rest were allowed to free themselves of the freezer). And so they tried again with a shorter session to see what we can do; maybe the others were drowning us out or whatever reason that they’re trying to attribute to our silence. She even went, “I would like you all to try discussing; I mean the rest of you except for maybe you.” (well she called me by name, not that it matters here; *gasp* she can remember! I was totally bowled over; I’m used to people asking me for a name to call when they forget, especially when they’ve only met me for less than an hour) はい、はい、わかったよ！Well, in response to her statement, I sort of laughed inwardly. I’m not trying to be evil, just that I can imagine what was running through their minds then; “ヤベ だぜ！” and for some reason, I found it funny. I supposed I ‘saved’ myself by booking a place on the sacrificial altar, but I just thought to ‘save’ them I’d try to help them along, so that this session wouldn’t be a repeat of the earlier one. Again, with just us that made the atmosphere in the room even more tense (did I mention colder?) until, well, Alvin decided to just heck it all and be himself, which I guess was what eased the tension somewhat – at least Calvin was forced to respond too to come to his comrade’s aid.

“Well, I suppose it isn’t really a big deal, since for classes like programming we don’t really… er, speak in English anyway” – Calvin,2006 (on the ‘mini-debate’ on English language standards during the earlier Q&A session)

I personally liked that one, sure made us all laugh. Blardy guy make us IT people sound like nerds for real =___=

“Sometimes, you know, when we don’t really understand what the teacher’s teaching…you know, like blur blur like that…” – Alvin, 2006 (on the classes and the quality of education – or something of the sort anyway~ So typical of the local Chinese, don’t you think? XD)

I don’t really give 2 hoots of what she thinks of us, it’s so trying to be someone you cannot be... so I think I was being pretty brutally honest since I don’t really recall giving any positive comments. In short, I don’t think either discussion really managed to put the uni in a nice, pretty light like she expected us to, since most of the discussion revolved around some unglamorous stuff. But I agree with the guy next to me;

“I think this is what most of the students are thinking, to be frank.”