Semester 111

First week of classes are done and over and I'm starting to fall behind on the blog with the second week almost done and over. The schedule for this semester I thought would roughly be the same as last semester, but with me taking on the Post Graduate Students Association (PGSA) as President and subsequently Bond University Students Association (BUSA), I've added a bit more to my plate. Not to worry though, everything is under control.

This semester I am taking Chinese 2, Media and Crime and Social Research in Criminology. Chinese is a bit more the same but more or less expanding on grammar and tone. Our professor's style of teaching is spoken first and then worry about the written later on. Which makes sense. As a child you learned to speak first well before you were taught to write. So I feel this will be another successful semester of it. I've also done some thinking in regards to pursuing a Chinese degree, but that's for another day...

Media and Crime is also an interesting class. The idea behind the class to watch the way media reports on crimes and news and events associated with those crimes. We first looked into Dennis Ferguson, and while many Australians may feel the man will forever be guilty, the idea that the media has continually hunted this man down all throughout his life is what we focused on. As part of our final project we are looking at a media outlet of any type of researching the variable effects it has on society. I think for our presentation we are looking at the relative differences between what is shown in the popular American show Criminal Minds and how it differentiates to that of reality.

Lastly, I am enrolled in Social Research. More or less your typical mean, median and mode class in which you go out, conduct a survey and then scholastically (I use that loosely) write about the results. We start next week and I am still debating what my research will be based upon but I'm looking at three topics: The correlation between those who speak 2+ languages and their grades, the concept of the CSI effect on society or integrating social networking into cheating on significant others and how far can one go before being condemned as 'cheating'. So interesting topics and I have a week to decide.

Other then that, school is well under way! Almost into week 3 already... Sad day today as it was Australia Day (Australia's 4th of July) AND A PUBLIC HOLIDAY yet we still had class. How messed up is that? Not to mention many services on campus were not even operating. Yet students have to still go to class? Come on now....

Cheers and 再见！

-H

Classes

First week of classes are over and done with. And man has it flown by!

As an international student, I am required to be enrolled in 30 credits each semester, to be done at 120 credits (4 semesters). But to me, it seems like I can be done in 3 semesters if I really wanted too... ...but why rush it?

I have three classes: Chinese on Monday and Friday morning (10-12), Epistemology on Monday (4-6) and Wednesday (4-5) and Criminology Wednesday (11-1) and Thursday (11-12). It seems like a full load, but I am typically done early, the reading is light, and I feel I could squeeze in one more class. But in an effort to not overwhelm myself, I have told myself to just adhere to what I got. Not to mention my Chinese class is only 7 people and Criminology class on Thursday is only 4! So it’s very one on one training, far better than any Biology 101 class could have done at WSU (with what? 500 students?)

I love Chinese, not only because I am learning a new set language that I hope I can take with me when I visit China on holiday, but because it’s a whole new world to me. You’ve seen these characters all your life everywhere on buildings, in menus and even tattooed on people and now you can finally understand them (or at least hoping that it’s Chinese and not Japanese or Korean). The time goes by quick and I anxiously await class on Friday to come around.

Epistemology is a whole different story. Professor Chipman is a bit old and his teaching style is very dry and straightforward, I also find it odd that he never looks AT you, but more or less towards the ground or ABOVE you. Not only that, but this class closely resembles Philosophy 201 (Logic) that I took at WSU. The class teaches you to question knowledge as well as question skeptics. So you get these STUPID formulas that I ABSOLUTELY hate as follows:

1. All men are mortal 1. All a are b

2. Socrates is a man 2. c is a

3. Therefore, Socrates is mortal 3. Therefore, c is b

I hated these sort of questions and formulas because quite frankly, I could never understand them. It looks simple from the above example I posted, but anyone who took Logic can tell you it’s much harder than that. So I hope a 2^nd time around I do get it, ha. The class also has a tutorial session which is a smaller group size that Chipman meets with once a week to go over the lecture, quizzes and papers coming up to prepare us for them. Kind of like Biology 101, where you had this class of 500 people but labs of 20 or so, to go over what you learned, etc.

And lastly, criminology is about the same as it was at WSU. Our main class is comprised of about 50 or so people, both undergraduates and post-grads. Then the post-grads, consisting of 4 of us including myself and the professor, meet once a week to go over the lecture, and any other post-grad assignments. I enjoy Professor Lincoln because she formulates the class based upon how WE want to learn and take away from the class. Taking a more dynamic approach to teaching, we cut the final exam in place of doing weekly case studies to present to the others. That way, it’s not a “sit and timed” final exam where you are crunching from memory but instead a learning experience throughout the course. Not to mention, she made an excellent point saying “You pay $100 a day for your education here, might as well get the most out of it”.

So yea, three classes, all relatively easy I hope, and only one final exam. So I expect to graduate with honours here in no time! Suck it WSU!

Cheers!

-H