Esoterica

An Open Letter

West — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 05:17:29 +0000

I have not died, nor have I become a recluse in the many months since I last posted to this blog. I have, however, not been posting as I had agreed to before this academic term. This troubles me greatly.

To be straightforward, I would like to apologize for failing to fulfill my commitment to this organization. I realize that many prospective students look to this blog as a resource for what to expect in their next year; I am well aware that I have not provided such. I deeply regret this. However, I have earned some wisdom from my first year that I shall now offer freely:

Please do remember that university is, in more ways than the academic, a learning process. I have experienced many things this first year: some of which I loved, some I hated, and others I felt indifference and apathy towards. This blog, unfortunately, fell within the latest category. It is unfortunate that we will find that our experiences with some endeavors do not meet our expectations, but there is also the other side of the phenomenon: some activities we dread will be great discoveries for the rest of our lives. Don’t be afraid to try things and, conversely, don’t be afraid to drop things you find aren’t for you. Remember: life is short, so spend it doing what you love, but first find what this passion is.

I, personally, am still searching for my calling. I know that I will find it eventually, just as I know that you, my reader, will as well. I wish you luck with this journey and hope you will enjoy the post-secondary experience.

Julian

I’m still alive

West — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 03:11:52 +0000

Where have I been? What have I been doing? These things, perhaps soon, I shall elucidate. However, the important fact now is that I am, indeed, alive and am, undoubtedly, still at UBC.

A Thought-Provoking Question

West — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 02:38:30 +0000

A Danger of the Educated

West — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 02:40:02 +0000

Too many times have I passed through the Vanier Commonsblock, fresh from a late-night/early-morning exploration of the collegiate social scene, only to find the study lounges packed. On a Friday night I find this scene sickening. Please realize: we all have midterms, yet we only have this time of our lives once. Overlooking said will undoubtedly lead to regrets.

“Concerns” – the Conclusion

West — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 17:22:40 +0000

This saga has finally ended.

I am pleased to inform you all that the professor took into account the worries of myself and others and has instituted a policy to help mitigate a loss of marks due to this unexpected section (assuming that we ace our final two exams, which I believe is a fair concession). I did, in fact, talk to him in person just last class and apologized for my aggressive writing. He, as I hope all are able to do, took this in stride and in fact thanked me for bringing my concerns to his attention. Everyone won here, folks, and I hope that this shows that not all professors are inapproachable and unwilling to change. If you strongly feel that something is wrong be sure to let your prof know.

“Concerns” – An Olive Branch

West — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 18:07:59 +0000

Dr. [removed],

Obviously I am not a sedentary individual. I have often earned the name “firebrand”, a fact which you can now ratify. Due to my hotblooded nature, it is not uncommon for me to ruffle feathers or (in some cases) wage an outright assault on an individual. I fear that I may have let my pugnacity get the best of me in this exchange, something I apologize profusely for. However, not all is lost: observe that two good things have come from this exchange.

The first is that I have registered my discontent about the format in question (this was my primary goal and I think that I accomplished it). The second is that we have had an exchange where both of us have been forced to think and consider the other’s argument. This instance of mutualism is uncommon in a world where people seem content to simply accept things as they are and never question why things have to be a certain way; UBC is a place of mind. I wholeheartedly thank you for this opportunity, and I hope that you, too, have gotten some amount of amusement from my spirited writing. I did try to apply some of the concepts we learned in class to my second letter, albeit in an unconventional way…perhaps you will get some chuckles from this.

Thank you for keeping an open mind while corresponding with me, and I certainly will be prepared for the formats on the next exam.

Sincerely,

Julian

“Concerns” – My Second Letter

West — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 05:02:55 +0000

Dr. [removed],

To begin, I would like to thank you for taking the time and effort to read my email and answer it in a comprehensive way. This attention is commendable. However, I believe that there are some observations as a student and fellow scholar that could be useful in the perfection of your course.

Allow me to begin by acknowledging that yes, I am in high school no more. However, I would like to remind you that my classmates and I are mere months removed from said. We are, by and large, unaccustomed to the ways of university examinations and for some this will be their first test in this new environment. Consider “easing” students into the less intuitive nature of your exams. If you do not, I fear that you shall receive artificial curving.

By artificial curving I mean that the results on the test will not be solely based on how well a student knows the subject matter and mental processes but, rather, a number of extraneous factors which have no salience to the course (from a Baconian perspective see this as a violation of the scientific method: multiple unrelated variables being present in an experiment meant to test only some expected ones). An excellent example of this phenomenon is the marking of penmanship in a mathematics. Does a misspelled word in any way affect the truth of the mathematical proof a student has painstakingly devised? No. So why should a student who is learning advanced differential equations be penalized for a messy letter?

I believe that biology 121 is a course which is designed to teach introductory knowledge to ecology, genetics, and evolution. If this is the case, then why should people such as myself suffer due to our youthful ignorance? Can I successfully challenge the discussed format of question? Without a doubt. However, I am fresh from an environment where change was gradual and uncommon. If your goal is to truly test our knowledge of biology you must work within the bounds of our condition.

To apply this to the matter at hand, I will tell you that the mean mark from the aforementioned section of the exam will be low. Unfortunately, this will not be because students forgot what phenomenon MacArthur’s Warblers demonstrate. No, this will be because you have provided a succession event to a population whose disturbance regime has been historically non-existent. You are, in effect, subjecting a population to a(n academic) survival pressure that it has never experienced before and, in all honesty, has had very little time to adapt to. Remember, evolution is a long process occurring over countless generations, not overnight. Darwin professed survival of the fittest, but then so did Jean-Baptiste Lamark, the only difference being the scale of time. Need I remind you who was wrong? Wean students onto the harder formats; this is part of your duty as a first-year professor.

I apologize if I appear insolent in my correspondence yet I am of the mind that, as a human being, I have a duty to express my concerns if I feel them to be legitimate. Again, thank you for taking the time to consider my ideas.

I look forward to your class,

Julian

“Concerns” – The Professor’s Response

West — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 04:16:35 +0000

I was requested to remove this post, which I have now done. It should be obvious, however, what the gist of the response was based on both my first and second letters.

Concerns About Biology 121

West — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 21:10:51 +0000

Today, at the completion of the biology midterm exam I found that I had made a large error which had nothing to do with my command of the course material. I have summarily included a copy of the letter I subsequently sent to my professor regarding my concerns with the course. Please comment if this is relevant to you.

Dr. [removed],

It has come to my realization that the “multiple choice” section of the midterm exam does not follow the standard format of most exams. I realize that you had expressly stated that students were to read the instructions provided with the exam in order to complete it competently, and clearly I did not do so. I am not writing to you in order to whine about marks which I “should have” received but, rather, to express my concerns with this method.

I believe that the format that the exam took was not conducive to illustrating my actual command of the material. Consider that the vast majority of the students in a science class will have taken countless exams where the “multiple choice” section is one wherein only one right answer per question is provided. Coming from this background, it is unsurprising that (most probably) a visible minority of students (including myself) will immediately interpret a section formatted as such as following the standard multiple choice procedure. In truth, I assumed that your call to “read the instructions” meant to read the cover closely, which I did. After doing so I quickly moved on to the “multiple choice” section, assuming the instructions to be standard fare. This brings me to my second point.

To be blunt, we are not in a logic class. I understand that the skills of reasoning and observation should be cultivated in those who study science, but these very skills should not be required to simply understand the question format. This used method was never covered in class and, due to my class schedule, I was unable to make the study session yesterday. The aim of a science class should be to empirically test the knowledge of the student in the field in which he is taking the class, and said student should never be obstructed from providing his knowledge by some wordplay at the beginning of the exam. To restate: questions should be straightforward in how they should be appropriately answered. I shall expand on this with my third point.

I am no stranger to internationally recognized standardized exams. In both the SAT (98th percentile) and the AP (National AP scholar, including a 5 in Biology) exams I have been met with considerable success. I attribute this success to having been given the tools to succeed by the proctors. To explain, every section was explained at the outset of the exam: how questions are to be answered in order to receive marks. By removing such ambiguity I was able to accurately and confidently display my knowledge of the subject matter at hand and consequently achieve a mark I felt was reflective of my command of the material. Please consider reiterating the format of this first section before the next exam you give as, I will assure you, this will allow students to much more accurately display their knowledge.

Again, I am not fishing for marks. I simply believe that I was barred from displaying my full knowledge of the topics at hand by a method which has nothing to do with my knowledge of Biology. I am more than willing to discuss this matter with you in person should you find my case to be confusing as I believe that it is imperative that this issue be remedied.

Please consider what I have written,

Julian West

On a Higher Order

West — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 18:32:04 +0000

Throughout history people have attributed the events of the world to some higher order. Whether it be some deity or force (such as karma) the faith in such a controlling influence has been fairly constant. As a disciple of empirical knowledge, I should eschew any such belief. I don’t.

I am not associated with any established religion, nor do I have any intentions of ever joining the ranks of said. No, the rituals and baseline theology of these are greatly unappealing to myself. However, this does not mean that I have no belief in a greater plan; a clockwork that I, as a cog, am gratefully a part of.

Consider the definition of an ecosystem: the interaction of the biotic (living) and abiotic (non-living) components of an environment. These interactions, naturally, are omnipresent and often imperceptible, some happening on such a small scale that they are routinely overlooked. Imagine the universe as one ecosystem. As a part of this universal ecosystem, I am both the product of and the initiator of an infinite number of interactions.

In this model, the incidence of “luck” is simply the confluence of many interactions the beneficiary was unaware of, as all other events are (all with differing levels of awareness of the participants). This ideology does not depend upon the existence of some external creator but, rather, the god-out-of-the-masses (the sum-total direction of all these interactions).

As a one-time nihilist I found the world to be a vastly unappealing and meaningless entity, as all events were random and, ultimately, without purpose. However, when I explored the theory of the universal ecosystem I found comfort in knowing that I am a part of the universe, one who is affecting others just as they affect me, and in more ways than I can possibly comprehend.

On my level of consciousness I am simply an individual who tries to do his best in his environment. From a greater distance, however, I am just a single thread in a boundless tapestry only increasing in beauty and complexity.