6 posts tagged “school”
There is SO MUCH data supporting the saying: "The poor gets poorer, rich gets richer" in America that there is no point in citing any references anymore. In NYC, the socio-economic disparity has gotten so bad that it's prompted Mayor Bloomberg to dub New York a "Specialty City". In line with more tax breaks for big businesses and the rich, Bloomberg's argument is that New York is so special that it shouldn't be subject to the criticisms of inequality and segregation, like rest of the country. The real sad thing is, when he says "New York", he really means "Manhattan", and maybe "Hipster Manhattan", i.e. west Brooklyn. Because the truth is, the rest of NYC really isn't so "special", or wealthy in his eyes.
In the past 15 years, NYC has become more segregated, with more and more rich whites in Manhattan, and the poorer populations, the people of color, as well as immigrants concentrating in the other boroughs. And that trend is segregated, too. The Asians, blacks, and Hispanics all are moving into separate neighborhoods.
Manhattan is like a separate world compared to the other four boroughs of New York City. Welcome to the real playground of the rich:
- In 1990, the richest 20% of manhattanites made 33 times the income of those in the bottom 20%.
- In 2000, the difference was 50 times.
- Has 9/11 changed anything? Nope, the trend continues. In 10 years, Harlem will be a predominantly white neighborhood
"Investment income" used to be called "unearned income" by most
population surveys. But I guess we don't want to hurt the feelings of
the rich by pitting them against the working class. These surveys also
hide the data on the very rich, meaning we really have NO IDEA how much
the top 5 percent of the wealthy really makes. The argument is made on
privacy issues. Okay, but how come nobody worries about privacy for the
poor, because we know EXACTLY how much the poorest of the population
makes. Statistically, the very rich is also less likely to respond to surveys than the very poor. Trust me, it's not that we don't need the info. It's that they don't want you to know!
The next biggest industry in demand in Manhattan is going to be the child-care sector and primary education for the children of the rich. We are seeing almost 100% increase in households with children younger than five AND with over 300,000 annual income in certain areas within Manhattan. Meanwhile, the supply of prestigious pre-k services hasn't risen much, if at all. Competition is fierce. Who's heard of a 3 year old with a talent portfolio? Well, in NYC, you better have one, or NO PRE-SCHOOL FOR YOU! What about paying a Chinese nanny 80K a year to raise your toddlers to be fluent in Mandarin? Man, I'm in the WRONG profession....
Universities know exactly what is going on. The number one goal of all major universities, esepcially the Ivy League, is to EXPAND, EXPAND, EXPAND. Even at a 5% increase in admission, the admission rate is still dropping like dead flies. You don't know what popularity means until you've met an admissions officer. Aiya... maybe I shouldn't have any children... I'll never be able to afford to send them to college. *sigh*
NB: If you are interested in population trends, social changes, and schooling competition, I think I will post more data and analyses on my other blog, as soon as I get to it...
If a total stranger walks into your class, hands you a difficult midterm, barks orders at you for two hours, and then makes off with 50% of your grade for the class, would you at least ask who she is?
Well, about 100 some college students DID NOT.
I cannot believe nobody came up to me after the exam and asked, "Just who the hell are you and where are you going with those exams?" Because I was so waiting to say, "Oh nobody, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night!"
What further amazes me was that some students even came up and asked me questions on the content of the exam. Well, okay, theoreticallyI should know all the answers to the questions. But let's be honest, the last time I looked at any of that information was like eons ago.
Yet, still, no one asked who I was.
There goes my one opportunity for life imitating art.
So I proctored an exam this week. It was a last minute thing, a favor for a poor frantic professor who had to deal with a student fainting in the class during an earlier midterm exam. Believe it or not, this is not a rare occurence. Exam weeks are also accident weeks on campus. Even I had two accidents during my short stint as a proctor. After the exam, one students walked right into a desk and nearly flipped over. Then another student (and I have NO IDEA how he did this) fell toward a chair and literally slid his body through the chair and rolled on to the floor.
There is a reason for that ambulence parked on the quad. During exam week, the students stop eating real food, they stop sleeping, and they are COMPLETELY DISORIENTED.
This is the absolute best time to rob them.
Top 10 Advice to Grade-Conscious Undergraduates
By an impoverished, exploited, and jaded ex-TA (Teaching Assistant)
1) Know the Official Statistics: If grades matter to you, don't go to a school where the average GPA is 2.1. There is a reason for that. The Law of Averages isn't a law for nothing.
2) Sharpen your Ears: Keep up with faculty gossip. I don't care if he's a recent Nobel Laureate. A nasty divorce will mean C's for EVERYONE.
3) Know Thyself: If you are a man of few words, stay away from classes that use essay questions on the exams. The excuse, "But it' is not in my nature to explain my arguments," isn't going to fly.
4) Spatial Comprehension: Know where the TAs sit in the classroom. Honestly, we don't care if you are watching a movie, IMing with friends, or surfing the web during class. But please note that if we are sitting right behind you, we can read everything on your screen. Unless you score >95% on both the midterm and final exam, it will come up in our discussion of grades.
5) Enjoy Life: If you had a long night and plans to snore through class, don't bother coming. Honestly, there are >100 students in the class and we don't really care whether you can make it or not. Don't be alarmed when the TA approaches you during the break and suggests that you sleep in the comfort in your own bed. We are really looking out for your best welfare, as we are paid to do, as well as the interests of your classmates.
6) Know what NOT To Read: Believe me, there is no way we can cover all 500
pages of the assigned readings in the 2 hour class. Talk to the TA,
talk to the prof, or students who took the class last year. Don't
ask: What can I get away with not reading? Instead, ask: What do you
think is the most important concept I should look for in the readings?
Then skim.
7) Dress for Success: Thanks for coming to Office Hours. However, a bikini top and a short skirt where the TA can't look at you without seeing your thong is a cause for alarm. Correlatively, decking yourself from head to toe in Pradas, LVs, and Manolo Blahniks is also not going to help your plea for a higher grade. Remember TA salaries qualify us for welfare support.
8) Demonstrate Soft Skills: I once had a student who did well in class, yet didn't always get the high scores. She was always very friendly and respectable in and out of class. She demonstrated attentiveness and effort, and was very professional in all her correspondences. If my little cousin was going to college in New York instead of another state, I would haves set him up on a blind date with her. This girl is going to do very well in life. Needless to say I made sure she got a good grade in the class.
9) Know who your Trump Cards are, and when to play them: This is typically saved for the more savvy students who know how to navigate the system, so I can't really disclose trade secrets. But just remember that there is always a way around the system.
10) Turn prestige into Social Capital: The professor has tenure and does not give a damn if your father is the president or CEO of XYZ, or if you attended a VIP event last night at the Met with [insert famous names here]. But your TAs do! You are our one link to the outside world and we LOVE juicy gossip!
10a) Turn success into Social Capital: I once had a student who demonstrated zero ability for analytical thinking and conceptual comprehension. Never mind her failing exam, but I was seriously worried for her intellectual development. But the prof sat me down and broke it to me gently: She has just been offered 50K starting salary plus bonus at a famous multi-national investment banking firm. Well, who am I to stand in the way of someone's success or the decay of corporate America? Passing grade it is!
Here are some awesome comics from PhD, Pile Higher and Deeper, the graduate student comic strip by Jorge Cham:
Wait, just read their graphic usage agreement.. too complicated. (I'm getting my PhD, I specialize in laziness.) So below are the links to the two awesome graphs instead of me putting them up here. (If you search for Jorge Cham or "i am screwed" in my tag pool you can see them in my photo collection. I think I can get away with that one....) I hope you are just a tad bit less lazy than me. So here are the links:
Graduate Student Weekly Output Level Analysis
Overall Motivation Level by Years of Study
I am so screwed...
When I finished doing time as a temporary paying object at the UofC, I thought I was one of the few lucky ones that was able to escape the residual effects of reinstitutionalization. I did not hold the human race in bitter contempt, I wasn't left to pick up the pieces of a shattered ego, and I didn't develop one of those arrested development style - I am an unloved genius trapped in the loony bin - complexes. No. Aside from lack of social skills and an unhealthy idealistic naiveté, I thought I was just fine.
But now as I struggle to write my dissertation, certain behaviors ritualized and internalized in those years have really come back to haunt me. I have painfully came to recognize how difficult it is to really free yourself from the imprints of your past.
What behavior am I talking about here? Chronic Binge Writing Disorder, a type of post-college bipolar traumatic stress syndrome.
Based on a series of participant-observer case studies by yours truly, Chronic Binge Writing Disorder is characterized by a cycle consisting of 5 stages, identified by the acronym DREAD:
- Deadline - A deadline is established where a difficult task needs to be accomplished,
- Readiness - Must research every single reference ever written on the subject. There is ALWAYS one more book to get before you begin,
- Escape - Extensive period of procrastination & avoidance, usually accompanied by dread & self hatred,
- Adrenaline - Euphoria achieved by an intense but short period of crisis management and productivity,
- Depression - High wears off, sinks to a manic depressive state due to mental & physical exhaustion.
So basically, when suffering from Binge Writing Disorder, your life oscillates between deep depression and extreme elation. Completely out of control. You never know what you might do to yourself when you are at your lowest, and it takes a toll not only on your self perception, but body as well.
Honestly, Binge Writing Disorder is totally manageable in certain cases. I still remember one quarter during my junior year, it was finals week and I had an important paper due for Game Theory class. Our grade was going to be based entirely on this paper. What did I do? The night before it was due, I went out partying with a bunch of my friends (couldn't miss it, it was a farewell party), came home at 3am, started writing at 4am, finished at 5pm the next day, and got an "A" in the class.
Yeah, when you are young, doing those 15-20 page papers through the process of binge writing is totally doable. But now, as I am trying to write my 300+ page dissertation, it is turning into a total, absolute, complete nightmare.
9/19: content edited
I've decided to step out into the light and work part time in a real job instead of being a TA and torture undergrads this semester. I've always enjoyed observing the sadistic dynamic between profs and students, but alas, all good things must come to an end.
It's kind of sad to end my streak of never having worked a real job in my life. Com'on, the Real World is WAY too over rated! Refraining from assimilation by the petite bourgeoisie has always been a badge of honor for me. Unfortunately, Academia isn't exactly utopia either. When one finally accepts that all evils are evils and are therefore incomparable, suddenly Hell doesn't seem to be that bad of a place afterall.
Even though I don't officially start working for a while, I've been hitting the office quite regularly already. I gave the Secretary quite a scare because she thought she screw up the dates, but after I explained that I was just there on my own recognizance, she now just thinks I'm crazy. *sigh* I guess you can take the girl out of grad school, but you can't take grad school out of the girl.
Good Bye, Neverland. You have been good to me.
