The joke about the title here is that the blogs I used to write at the beginning of September were always called “Back To School Edition” when I used to post on GameTrailers back in the day.
So Uni is coming back up and I suddenly realise how much I haven’t done, at the same time impressed that I did anything at all. At the very least, MGC got a new coat of paint so I don’t have to worry about that for a while. And I recently jumped back into programming by starting to get into C++. With practice I should be able to get up to a competent level with it before I start classes again.
In regards to the Summer Report… Well lets not discuss that. It’s fairly obvious. Maybe next year things may work out better.
This does bring me to my next point of interest, I might rename the “Gaming Den” to the “Media Extravaganza” so I can cover more than just games. I’ve been watching almost too much anime, movies, and TV shows recently I it might be worth jotting down my thoughts on some things. Then again, I do talk a fair amount about that stuff in the MGCast. So you can hear me blabber on about it there should I decide against my idea.
Now with the laundry list taken care of, I feel like I should write something meaningful.
..Ha! Meaningful.
I’m not going to beat around the bush here, the last academic year reminded me just how much I hate the education system in England. This ridiculous structure of “Rush through your coursework and then ‘cram, cram, cram!’ for the exams”, ultimately tiring-out anybody who goes through that Hell and making them turn away from their subject entirely.
I’m a huge fan of the BTEC system, which is to take a subject, break the modules down, then break the key learning objectives into specific assignments. No exams. And strictly speaking, no milestone deadlines. Just make sure everything is complete by the end of the year/course. It lessens the stress significantly, and also opens up self-learning opportunities. BTEC assignments are usually handed out at the beginning of the year, so you can work through them as you learn. OK, it is probably a tab more spoon-fed in terms of getting the work, but you still have to practice and teach yourselves core skills, and it is keeping you occupied throughout the year. Currently, it’s taken several weeks before receiving the coursework, often from many subjects at once. At least getting them at the start could give me more time to plan ahead several months and take care of the less pressuring tasks first.
Maybe I’m just complaining here. Although exam are a whole barrel of issues themselves. But I won’t bother over-explaining that. Simply put; how could anyone possibly think that being sat in an uncomfortable chair for two hours, trying to remember a whole years worth of information to fill out a sheet of paper in complete silence; is even remotely accurate to how an actual work environment is? School/University are the only places where you would be put into a situation like that, and it’s fucking torture. It is unnecessary stress being brought onto a person for almost no good reason. Why do we still use this archaic fucking standard of judging a person’s skill when it’s plainly obvious that it is inaccurate?
Sorry, but I felt I had to say it at least once. Maybe we should take a page out of Finland’s book. Their system is excellent and well-proven.
Anyway, that’ll do for now. Maybe next week I’ll do a gaming write-up and such. I just got Rayman and I have a bunch of other games to talk about. Also, MGCast will be this weekend. Later.
-Adam