The deadline to add or drop a course here at Nanyang was yesterday. Despite all of my efforts to get into an Chinese language introductory course, the Student Services Centre would not have it! Apparently for each of the language courses they only allow 3-4 exchange students in per semester. But Audrey, the lady at the SSC who I spoke to on more than one occasion, mentioned that the professors of the courses wish to have a diverse group of individuals attempting a new language together. Lets do some math here.
If there are 40 students in each lecture and if there are 8 different lecture series each week (for Chinese) that means that there are a total of 320 students attempting to get a grasp on the 4 tones associated with Mandarin at once. I am assuming Audrey meant 4 students per lecture series and not overall, therefore there are 4x8=32 exchange student spots for a Chinese language course (ie. 10%).
Some statistics from the NTU international students website:
There are over 19,100 undergraduate students currently at NTU.
There are 300 exchange students here on average from 25 different countries.
More than 3000 international students from 40 different countries.
So, this means that there are 19,100 - 3000 - 300 = 15,800 students who are national students. Since Singapore has been independant from Malaysia since 1956 and you only need to live in S'pore for 8 years before becoming a permanent resident - all full time students should be PR's of Singapore. Now, assuming that since the official languages of S'pore are Mandarin, Malay and English, most PR's will have a general knowledge of all three. Since the introduction to Chinese course is designed for people with no previous knowledge of the language, most of these students will be exempt. Lets be generous and assume that 10% of the PR's actually have zero knowledge of Mandarin and are eligible, leaving 15,800 x 10% = 1580
Also, some international students and exchange students will know mandarin, say 75% do not so 75% x 3300 = 2475.
Total eligible = 2475+1580 = 4055.
Okay so how about the number of those who are interested? Maybe an average of 10%? This could be a terrible estimate but regardless, the math goes on.
10% x 4055 = 405.5 *round up since there is no such thing as a half person (shut it Seany, your opinion doesn't count) = 406 interested and eligible
Allright now to my point. If there are 50 eligible exchange students (a reasonable estimate considering the amount of interest) wishing to take Mandarin, that makes up 50 / 320 * 100 = 15.6% of the interested students while only 32 / 320 * 100 = 10% actually get in!! ALSO, about 80-90% of the exchange students are only here for one semester and it may be our only chance to study Mandarin while immersed in a semi-Mandarin speaking country. International Students and Full time PR's have the full 4 years opportunity to fit in this course.
WHY LIMIT US EXCHANGE STUDENTS TO ONLY 4 IN A LECTURE WHEN WE CLEARLY ADD DIVERSITY AND HAVE SHOWN THE MOST INTEREST AND DESIRE TO LEARN?!
boggles my mind...
Anyways! So since I will not be taking a Mandarin course this semester I have a new plan. Follow me as I take you on a journey through my next 3 months of education:
Course #1: History of Singapore. 2 hrs lecture, 1 hr tutorial/ week
Course #2: Chemical Processes. 3 hrs lecture, 1 hr tutorial / week
Course #3: Environmental Management. 2hrs lecture, 1 hr tutorial / week
Thats it... NICE!
Obviously this doesn't fit into my Waterloo course plan, so I am going to take my last work term off (Fall09) and spend it in Waterloo catching up on courses and labs that I am missing this semester. That's right, a full year on the Waterloo campus. Big stuff... I know. This is good though, I can put together an Ultimate Frisbee team for two semesters in a row!!! There is always an upside.
You may be saying, "Hey Matt, aren't you going to have a lot of spare time this semester?" Well... Yes reader, I will. But don't you worry, aside from typing a lot of random crap in my blog like I am doing now, I will spend limited amounts of time on the computer. I plan to get back into shape by swimming and gymming often. I also plan to pick up a "do-it yourself" Spanish language for dummies book and hopefully learn that!!! I will also be renting out the music room as often as I can to practice drumming, and I will master "Piano Man" and "Hey Jude" on the harmonica. Any other suggestions? Hopefully, because obviously I am stretching my imagination here.
Okay, enough for today. I am in the middle of planning an unbelievable trip for 2 weeks in mid September but I will get to that another day. I will leave you with something AWESOME! Enjoy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHUuqsSCn5g
Today's Spin: Working Class Hero - John Lennon
No comments:
Post a Comment