Out from the crowd ...and proud!

The English language is great, but...

There are some times when people just say completely the wrong thing. This can often have unintended consequences. I will explain this in more detail when I give specific examples. It is normally because the person has used an entirely inappropriate word for the situation but can also be down to a misunderstanding.

The first of these problems can be best explained by a time when I wasn't exactly thinking rationally. I would have been alright with being accused of being irrational as that was true. However, I was accused of being deluded. This made me think that those accusing me were not aware that I knew exactly what I was doing, was perfectly capable of making an informed decision, and was completely in acceptance of the consequences of said decision. I was actually perfectly competent in the whole decision making process so it offended me that I got accused of being deluded by those I was with. The choice of words was really not appropriate considering that this was at one of the lowest points of my life (hence the lack of rationality).

The second of these problems can be best explained by two separate things I was told when I tried to switch courses. A friend even informs me that one of these, if interpreted as I did, is a form of discrimination. I have, however, had quite an insight into the world of academics and I do not like what I have seen.

When I had the flu, about half way through term 2, my personal tutor decided to help me with my course switch by negotiating with the politics department that I could drop out for the rest of the year to regain my health. She forwarded the reply to me to keep me updated on how the negotiation was going. One sentence really stood out above all the rest - "we do not accept transfers on welfare grounds". Keep that in mind as it will come in again later after I have explained the potential discrimination.

This was earlier than when I was informed that welfare is not a valid reason to switch courses (when, in my mind, it is a very good reason). I was speaking to the department when I was informed that I could transfer in October if I passed my first year. That was not all I had to do though. I was informed that I could not transfer if I was depressed. I wasn't so informed them of this straight away. I quickly worked out that the reason for this policy was mainly to make the department look good and not so much for the welfare of the students. I may have completely misinterpreted this but I understood the policy of not allowing people to transfer if they were depressed as "we don't want anyone in our department if they're going to kill themselves within the first week of their course because it looks bad for the department".

Since applying to transfer, I have come to the conclusion that the politics department do not have a conscience. I see it as though (and this is purely from interpretation of what I have been told this year) they see us as merely statistics and not so much as people. If someone had hit rock bottom on a course that they really hated and their only hope was switching to politics, I know I would not be able to stick to departmental policy. How could anyone live with themselves having turned this person away (as my interpretation of the politics department's admissions policy would suggest would happen in this situation)?

I guess it's a bit worrying that I still want to study in this department. They do not seem concerned about welfare to me. Originally, my transfer wasn't so much about welfare issues, just that I hated my course and it was making me miserable. This has since put me through hell and I did get to the point where being able to study something I was passionate about from October was pretty much all I had left to live for. I feel that if I had left it any later before I decided to switch then one of the two issues (either that I wanted to switch on welfare grounds or that my original course had made me depressed) would have meant that I would not have been able to switch courses and would have dropped out completely and ended up working in McDonalds.

I guess I'm just glad that I didn't take any of this too seriously. I've interpreted all these times that someone has said completely the wrong thing to me and been offended by the meanings but I know that there is normally a reason for such a breakdown in communication.

posted by Average guy on the street @ 6:41 pm