It has been a busy couple of weeks lately, presentations, reports and exams came and went, just a short week or so before school officially ends. On Monday, I went to talk to my lecturer about the possibility of taking my exam on the 14th of November earlier. After telling him my reasons, he was very understanding to my cause. He suggests that I can take my paper on the morning of the 12th, thereafter make my way to the airport. I am very grateful to him for his kindness and graciousness, given that he will need to make special arrangements for me to be supervised by someone else during that morning, as he is based in another campus.
Today, I went to school to see the course conveynor for another course. Earlier in the semester, we had a report assignment, where we had to analyse a specific tourism industry sector. My tutor failed more than half the class, me included. He first suspected me of plagiarism, for which came out negative after I sent him a soft copy of the assignment to be scanned by the plagiarism software. He did not leave much comments in my report, except that I did not support many of my statements, and that my recommendations did not come from the analysis.
Overall, I felt that I have been unfairly assessed, for which I went to have a chat with him. I stated my point that it being an analysis paper, I should be allow to use my own words to analyse the sector, and also showed him instances of statements being referenced. I also showed him evidences where my recommendations were mentioned in the analysis, but he refused to reconsider the report. I am not saying that he is totally in the wrong, I agree with him that the report can be better supported, but given the content of the report, I feel it should not have garnered a fail grade.
Saying that, the tutor is not exactly in the running for tutor-of-the-year calibre. Going for his tutorial classes, he's contributions have always been minimal. Instead of giving constructive criticisms, he will prefer to get us into groups to discuss about something, thereafter chatting with a few of the students. There were times when he said certain comments about a certain race, which we felt were rather uncalled for. Never in my four semesters have I experienced such an incompetent (harsh, I know) tutor. To further show his (lack of) competency, he came in drunk to assess one of my friend's presentation last semester.
All in all, it is water under the bridge, I have spoken to the conveynor and showed him evidences of my tutor's criticisms, and he feels that my case is justified. He will be re-marking my report personally. Having said that, I harbour no hard feelings towards my tutor, he did what he felt was right, and we discussed about it in a civilized manner. I can understand it can be quite stressful when there are so many assignments to mark in a short span of time, and I bear no grudge towards him.
Perhaps these two scenarios are a test of my fighting spirit, before I go out into the working world. It is good to learn that persistence can lead to better things, and that is an imortant lesson in life. Thank you universe for the opportunities. Carpe Diem!
Seize the Day
John Erwin Boak
Do it now and don't tarry lest it be too late
Sometimes it's not wise for the right time to wait
Because your plans could be ruined by fate
If you do it now you would feel really great
Smell the pretty flowers, listen to birds singing so gay
Enjoy the beauty of nature give yourself time to play
Remember on this earth we can't forever stay
So I tell you now is the time, go ahead and seize the day
That is right! Go ahead and seize the day. Thabks for reading the poem and using it on your blog it feels good to know thatthe poem is getting its message across to swell people like yourself.
God bless!
John E
Posted by: John Erwin Boak | 04/05/2009 at 03:58 AM