Feed my mind!

You want my opinion? On any”common belief about first year”?

Hmm… well how about the one thing that I know is plaguing a large majority of JMS1 students: the Journalism department.

“I’m just sooo over journ! I mean, I came to Rhodes to study JMS and now I actually couldn’t care less about getting into journ2!” is a not an uncommon sentiment among students.
But why is this? I came to Rhodes, burning in anticipation of having the freedom to study what I was interested in. And I was not disappointed. Not initially anyway. Rod Amner’s Introduction to News course really got me revved up. I consumed newspapers like never before and even tuned into SAFm. Suddenly the world was opening up; I was studying at the best journalism department in the country and I was going to become a true, hardcore journalist.

Yea right! At the moment, the thought of enduring another three years at a department that seems to think it houses the second coming is not really on the top of my “want to do” list.

Fact is, I'm bored.

Now I know that university in not supposed to be a circus (hmm…), but if it’s not here that we learn the deadline-tight-rope-dance and the ability to draw a bunny out of a hat, where are we supposed to learn? School did help, a little, but not enough to prepare us for the real stage; the “real world”, where there are no dress rehearsals and backup stage hands. As graduates, we are expected to be fully qualified magicians, able to skilfully work at the speed of light, maintaining a practiced balance between work and play. Out there, if you don't have at least one ace up your sleeve, you’re done.

Instead, more than a month into my final JMS1 course, I have five pages of lecture notes. To someone who is accustomed to taking a minimum of three per lecture (jotting down fact helps me remember) this is highly concerning. And threats of being sent to the front row if I quietly voice my irritation does nothing for my optimism for the course. Sure, the concept of blogging is a fantastic one, and I’m generally satisfied with the assignments. But the lectures… now that’s another issue entirely.

A JMS1 student vehemently vehemently states “that all lectures for first year Journalism and Media Studies students should be compulsory”. If that were the case, I think I’d almost willingly lose my DP. What I find even more disconcerting is the fact that I know that I do not speak for only myself. The idea of learning more about journalists and the blogosphere was initially very exciting. But within a week all I felt was irritation. I sat (and still do) in lectures, waiting for the hat trick – for our lecturers to be transformed from the highly patronising – and sometimes seemingly incompetent - into inspiring fellow journalists. They have much to offer, no doubt, but somehow something is lacking.

One of the core concepts that I will take away from my Drama 1 course this year is the idea of always raising the stakes, always pushing the boundaries. I want, no, I need to sit on the edge of my seat, pen in hand ready for the next invaluable point. This simply is not happening.

The “How to start your blog” lecture was almost physically painful. To me, spending an entire lecture going through something that should take any literate person a matter of minutes is a gross waste of time. And letter writing? Definitely helpful – to those still school.

Most students are paying between R60 – R75 per lecture. In light of this, and my meagre pages of lecture notes, I really don’t feel that I’m getting my money’s worth. I fully support the core concept of the course, but just not how it is being presented.

I’m not saying that the course should be impossibly difficult or unrealistically demanding. But it would be nice if our two ring masters would stop appearing to think that we know nothing. I didn’t endure 12 years of school just to be retaught what I could have managed with before hitting high school.