Jane Austen and weeding out the freshmen

"I do not want people to be agreeable, as it saves me the trouble of liking them."
-- Jane Austen

I was reading Emma by Jane Austen when I remembered something... And, I know it's almost Christmas. And I shouldn't be analyzing life, right now anyways. But, I'm obliged to do so. With this blog as my witness, I will analyze first year statistics and social patterns. I will take what I've learned in... enlightening discussions with teacher figures about the nature of this first year sweep. Yes. The weeding, as it's better called. So... cut me some slack. I'm going to be a mini-analyst, minus any Freudian assumptions.

I hate to be the bearer of obvious news (Captain Obvious, in layman's terms), but I gathered the impression that these exams were not (and have never been) a measure of one's intelligence. Oh no. Exams at U of T are not based on knowledge or intelligence, but are means of dividing the strong from the weak. Of course, intelligence doesn't have to play a part in this process. Let me use a term that BIO150 has already established: natural selection.

Like Austen's quote, our natural abilities, seen and shown, will help the "higher ups" decide whether or not we're worth keeping. They either like us (uber-genius children), or hate us (your average Joe). Depending on where we land, these exams will select against or for us, our kind.

Those of us who survive will thrive, multiply brain cells and continue to dominate down the road. Those of us who falter will be on the borderline of negative selection; we'll be processed and drained out of the batch, strained and sifted out of the creme de la creme. Then there are those that have already been sifted and drained, strained and beaten to a pulp; they're awaiting the compost, or possibly being reconsidered for the de-glazed sauce (you know, the stuff at the bottom of the pan that's scrubbed off with sherry and turned into a sauce for later?). That's only if you're lucky. Keyword is lucky.

A lot of success includes a good sum of luck. The same rule applies to success at this university, not necessarily in the social aspects of it, but in beating the system. You can't really beat the marking system or the administrative properties given and found, but you can evade it here and there. Life will occasionally do its business of dropping dollops of luck. And luck is, by far, the next-best tool (next to work ethic) against this godforsaken marking system.

They don't stop as you age; they don't realize their wrongs, as numbers dwindle. No, they just soften up, based on their motives. The marking system is only as hard as it is now because of Operation Garden Weeds, which, in my opinion, refers to the process of weeding and sifting out the people who are, and don't quote me, "just lucky to be here" from the "truly gifted and welcomed" students. Once you're in, they slow down a bit. They realize you might just be gifted and wonderful; they slow down their tactics, regain composure and watch you. Then they wait for the right moment to attack. Like predators, they stalk you and wait for you to show a sign of weakness. At this point, past the first year mark, is when you ought to be on your guard.

Until then, you're still in first year. So you're still allowed to have that minute amount of naivety, but you ought to compose yourself soon. My idiot card will only last me so long; soon enough, they'll take that from me, like they would in a card-game of War, and I'll only be left with low digits and one trump card.

Play it safe. Play it smart.
First year is a battlefield. A game to the higher-ups, maybe.
Exams are the weeding process. The mine-field. A game of War.
Hold your cards close and play the right cards, at the right times.
And maybe, maybe you'll eventually luck-out and win.
Or evade the system. Or both.