16.1.09

The morbid prospect of those with similar ideals to, well, this.

There are three type of people in this world.
In order to demonstrate these three specific types, and to clarify them for someone that is fortunately residing outside of my, ahem, mind, I will use examples from my Bio 100 class.

(My reason for choosing this specific class is of no particular consequence-- except for the fact that it is a general education course in which one is placed in a "learning environment" filled with 300 other students. The amount of people found in such a class allows one, such as myself, to observe different types of people, therefore making significant statistical observations about them, even considering the fact that it is merely observational. (That was for you, Kate.))

Person #1: This person sits in the same seat most every day. This seat is located 4 or fewer rows from the front. They never arrive late to class, and often arrive up to 15 minutes early. They do 100% of the reading for each class period, and always turn in their homework on time. Most of the time, these people are the ones that answer the professor's questions, and laugh at the professor's poorly delivered jokes. However, some of these students merely keep silent during class, and rather choose absorb information. They flock to one another, and form small, bonded friendships with the other front-of-the-class sitters. When the professor announces an iClicker quiz, they spend the allotted amount of time discussing or pondering the quiz.

(If you are reading this blog and do not know what an iClicker is, don't be ashamed, it is really of no consequence. An iClicker is a device a little smaller than a TV remote that students use to lock in answers on electronic quizzes given in class. It has 5 answer buttons (A-E) and a power button on the interface. Pretty simple, no? Somehow though, extortionism continues to seep through our legal system, because retailers sell these cheap, somewhat ridiculous devices for $40+ dollars. I feel as though these retailers are taking advantage of Steve Job's ability to market items based solely on the name. (e.g. iPod vs. iClicker) Somehow, putting the letter "i" (lowercase, of course) in front of the word "Clicker" makes the product not only more marketable, but worth more as well. And don't even get me started on the "iClicker covers" that are available for purchase in the bookstore. "Personalize your iClicker to YOUR personality!" I mean, really? Really?!)


Person #2: This person is perpetually apathetic to education of unimportance (or rather, that which they deem unimportant). They often arrive late to class, if they even come at all. They never rush, but rather, swagger to a seat, one probably located in the back of the classroom. Most often, the jokes that make the entire class laugh come from this person. They rarely do the readings, and sometimes do the homework; and yet, somehow, they manage to pass the class. During iClicker quizzes, they most likely will pick the most humorous answer, and then proceed to chill, or discuss football, yesterday's episode of the office, or the professor's horrible taste in ties with their neighbor.

Person #3: This person is mostly apathetic to the seat that they sit in, as long as they can find one. They are often found out of breath rushing to class, speed-skimming the the reading assignment, or scrambling to finish the last few problems on the homework. This person cares about school, but is simply too involved in a majority of other things to be person #1. However, they often long to be person number one, and if given the opportunity, they will act as though they are that person. Person #3 frequently forgets to bring their iClicker to class, but in the rare circumstance that they do remember, they often personify those in the nearest vicinity: they will either discuss the quiz at hand, or feign apathy and, consequently, proceed to chill.


I'm pretty sure I have been all of these people at one point or another; which, is to say, these people aren't these people for good. Sr year of high school, I was most definitely person #3-- Rarely did I attend class, rarely did I arrive to classes (that I did attend) on time, rarely did I do the homework assignment, and I regularly "proceeded to chill."

Freshman year of college I was absolutely person #2. I was far too occupied by things of a social nature to prepare/prioritize my schooling. I realized the great opportunity my schooling was, so I was therefore unable to be person #3 anymore, but I was far too distracted by other things/in bad habits from my years as person #3 to be person #1.

Sophomore year of college, I am person #1. I am a chronic front-row-sitter who is always prepared for class, gets good grades, answers questions, and discusses the iClicker quiz during the allotted amount of time.



A few days ago, (in BIO 100) I saved some friends a seat. These are friends of mine OUTSIDE of class. I arrived to class approximately 10 minutes early, plenty of time to save some good seats up front. After waiting for a painful amount of time (approx. 8.5 minutes), and turning down multiple people who wanted to sit in these particular seats, my friends arrived. I motioned to the seats as if to say, "Come sit by me! We might as well learn together!" I got a small little smile, and a polite declination. My friend then motioned to the seats lined up in the back and prompted me to join. I also, politely declined.


I guess there is something similar within all three people, though.
None of them like to be taken out of their element.



P.S. My Dad enlightened me to something about my blog that could possibly be confusing to my faithful readers. For those of you who analyze my titles, and attempt to figure out why I name certain posts the things I do: Stop. It might detract from my mysteriousness (pfffftt) to tell you this, but because I am a loving... erm... blogger... Oh jeez.
My post titles (frequently) mean absolutely nothing. The things I write as my titles often are the first words that pop into my head. Yesterday my dad read my post "Locke and Demosthenes" and approached me about the lacking philosophical aspect of the post entitled such. I explained to him, somewhat abashedly, that the title did not actually have anything to do with the post at large; rather, I just so happened to be on a Ender's Game kick while writing that post, and the first thing that popped into my head were the names of those two philosophers.

And now, not only have I exposed my extreme nerdiness to you, (as if I hadn't already done that in this post by my explanation of people and which of those categories I belong to) but I have also revealed one of the secrets of my ever-broadening, dull, life-writing. And so, for better or for worse, I say to you, farewell, blogettes. Until we meet again.



3 comments:

kendra and jeffrey said...

Sometimes I wish I was as cool as you, which also means as nerdy as you. (although you don't seems nerdy; you are secret nerdy!)

I think I am a mix between number 1 and 2, but more on the 1 side.

Carrie said...

iClicker covers?




WOW.

Katie said...

freak-
i saved someone a seat the other day and they were so dumb and didn't sit there.
bleh