tutes

last friday was the twelfth and final tutorial sessions, and with that they handed in their final essays, and i've been spending the weekend a bit marking, just so i could finish it here and don't have to bring those stacks up with me to europe. 

i was also surprised they turned up to class; given there was nothing left to discuss, other than a general where-do-you-see-the-international-system-heading wrap-up, and these kids would probably have another 4-5 essays due that day but yet done. sometimes i do sympathise with them, they spend half their youth trying to get into uni, then spend the entire time in uni wondering if it's all been worth it, while trying to juggle part-time jobs and living on their own (many aussie kids are very independent in that they move out and work to pay for their own living expenses). that's on top of the required school work of attending lectures, tutorials, doing their readings, writing essays, preparing for exams, all in a short span of 12 weeks, and how much can any student learn in such constrained situations is not hard to see. through the weeks i've come to get used to cynical responses and expressions, and the overall deteriorating academic standards as a consequence of an increasingly corporatised and monetised and utilitarian curriculum and education will have wider adverse effects on a society. if only what sells is important then it's no wonder libraries are burning all around us. the time that is necessary to read, reflect, and write cannot be bought - but like books, it can be borrowed, and returned, recharged, for the better. the last twelve weeks have also been yet another reminder that teaching is not just another job; that teachers (and tutors) play a critical role; that impressionable young lives and their futures are at stake.