CÝƝǀCȋʂɱ

Has anyone else noticed how little high school actually prepares you for the “real world” ?  There are several points where I feel high school failed me in particular, and the more I reflect, the more I find.  For your sake, my sake, and my keyboard’s sake, I’ll keep it to only a few points.

I am currently in a seminar class that focuses on how to get a job (specifically for my major).  As much as I complain about attending this class (I still swear it’s just an excuse for my advisor to ramble on, uninterrupted, for an hour) this class has saved me in the career world.  The first major task that we were faced with was to write a resume.  Before that moment, the only resume I had created was a faint idea left over from the career portions of the high school curriculum.  The resume they had me prepare was unorganized, unsymmetrical, condensed, and ineffective.  Through multiple handouts and lectures, my teacher stressed the correct layout of the document, and my resulting product was a completely different style from that original draft I had prepared.  This came up again when a friend who has never had any experience outside of that high school resume lesson asked me to help him with his own resume.  I saw the same disorder and obvious lack of resume-knowledge that I had displayed initially.  I re-looked at the “portfolio” that some teacher long ago had told me to never lose; “One day this will be what gets you a job!”  If I was to follow the ideas that I was given in that portfolio, I do not believe I would be offered any decent job.

High school never gave me any study skills.  Back in those days I was tested on the actual knowledge and facts.  As soon as I got into college, I realized that facts were not enough; it was what you could then DO with those facts.  Logic and word games became the norm, and I had absolutely no idea how to study beyond memorizing facts.  I still struggle to find the best way to study, and I’ve almost completed my third year thus-far.  Beyond study skills, lectures are a completely different world than the high school classroom setting.  Teachers were more approchable, and I actually walked away from a class with notes that made sense to me when I looked back at them later.  I can’t recall how many times I’ve walked away from a lecture and looked back at my notes a week later only to feel like I have no idea why I had written something.  The one thing I did learn was to stop trying to write only what the teacher has put up for me to read, and to try to listen and write down their actual sentences.

And my last point for the night:  Remember that time in high school where you forgot your homework, or did poorly on a test, and you sweet talked your teacher into an extension, or a re-test?  Now remember that time in college when that happened.  Wait…what?  Oh right.  It probably didn’t happen in the latter scenario.  I had many teachers in high school who knew who I was, and who let many things slide.  Not so much in college.  And extra credit?  I’m not sure that exists anymore.

Overall…college is it’s own world.  It’s when we’re playing with boundaries and learning who we are.  We’re learning we’re not as smart as we thought we were, and we’re fighting to just get by most of the time.  It’s enough to deal with all of that by itself.  I could have done with a little more preparation, high school.  Pretending that the world is roses and gum drops only got me through those years of my life; now it’s harsh love and cynicism.

-Alyson

A sanctuary versus a zoo.  Yes, my dear readers, there is a difference.  Both are places that house animals and take care of them, but I am sick of hearing the word ‘zoo’ being associated as a lower quality life for an animal than a sanctuary.  In light of current debates about the housing of pachyderms (namely, elephants) in zoos, I shall focus on the elephants quality of life in both a sanctuary and a zoo.

To begin with, space is a major issue.  It is true that most zoos lack enough space to give an elephant a decent amount of roaming room.  Sanctuaries usually one-up zoos in this regard, providing a much broader enclosure for the animal.  Zoos are obviously open to the public for educational and entertainment purposes, while sanctuaries are private, or open in very limited terms.  Animals typically are not bred in a sanctuary following the idea that it is a place for it to live out its life.

Another major difference is funding.  Zoos are provided with hard-earned accreditation, strict standards, and funding from taxes, benefactors, governmental, etc.  They are equipped to have  constant veterinary staff, the best balanced diets, and many supplies.  Sanctuaries vary in their funding and capabilities, but most are privately funded and based on the generosity of others.  Some are better than others, but I happen to know someone who once worked in a pretty good sanctuary.  They often were forced to feed their animals vegetables and fruit that were starting to rot (cutting off the bad spots), because they were donated by a grocery store, and donations are all they had to run on.  Better sanctuaries obviously would have better funding.  Elephants in captivity have many problems they face.  They live long lives, and can have foot problems and behavioral problems, and intelligence means they need a lot of stimulation.

There is always the constant fight between keeping animals in captivity versus the wild.  I’m sure most of us agree the wild is better, but how plausible is that when we are taking away what is considered ‘the wild’ for many different species of animals?  All I’m asking is that before you place a sanctuary on a higher pedestal than a zoological society, please remember a few facts:  know about the sanctuary and the funding/health care it has available, and know the standards it lives by.  Yes: Zoos have their flaws too.  Remember that, also.

But please don’t blame the keepers.  Both sanctuaries and zoos have animals taken care of by caring people who have devoted their lives to animals.  Don’t undermine their efforts by writing them off because of the name of where they work.  Know something about the actual place and policies before passing judgment and throwing stones.  They just might throw stones back at you for not providing them enough funding, for not taking care of the animals yourselves, or for not stepping in and stopping the destruction of the environment.  In today’s world we understand the idea of placing the blame on a scapegoat.  Don’t be that person; actually know the issue and take action.

And don’t get me started on PETA.

Happy new year, everyone!

-Alyson

When I passed the third grade, I also passed the stage of my life where tattletales were rewarded for giving information about every little problem in either their life, or the lives of those around them. I was instead taught to confront issues myself, and only take them further if I personally could not deal with that issue. The mature way to deal with a conflict was to talk it out with the immediate source, either with or without a mediator. I even was elected a mediator at my elementary school in order to help others deal with their problems. As I grew, the problems grew more serious, the mediators grew more scarce, and my words grew more important. I quickly learned that if I spoke up, usually a miscommunication was both brought into the light, and dealt with.

For years I was taught to practice this method. I was also taught to actually speak my mind, and that supervisors at work were arbitrary mediators. A supervisor is someone who will listen to concerns while keeping you on track. I have trouble understanding the world I am in right now where everything I’ve been told is to speak my mind in a professional way, but all of a sudden I am smacked in the face with a superior who does not care if my opinion is correct…the only reason I am not allowed to speak it is to avoid insulting someone. Wait, what? I am supposed to maintain a facade of professional respect with someone who completely messed up in a situation and will not admit it or take responsibility for it, all because they are above me on the political ladder and I don’t want to…insult them? Create waves between departments? Point out a flaw in their character?

I seem to be stuck on the concept of pretending someone did not make a mistake that had serious side-effects. I’m told to shut my mouth, smile, and then trust the person in the same situation the next time it arises. Personally, if they are not told they did something wrong, what is to keep them from committing the same mistake a second time? Instead, I can ‘write a letter’ that may or may not be passed from one rung of the ladder to the next one up, and that I have no idea if it ever was even read and considered.

I did just that, but now what? I sit and wait, and simmer in my frustrations. When I am told that an issue that is really grinding on my last nerve is never to be talked about again and should be pushed under the carpet, I have trouble plastering a mannequin smile onto my face (ps…mannequins rarely have a smile…or a face…) and giving up. I wasn’t raised a quitter.

But alas, corporate America owns the ladder, and maybe if I do manage a closed mouth smile and a few well-timed politically correct responses I can move up a few rungs and lead a better life. Then again, maybe the view isn’t always better from the top.

-Alyson