Archive for the ‘Old Posts about my Dumb Ass Students’ Category

This Came Up at Dinner Tonight

Tuesday, November 24th, 2015

Apparently the Deuce’s roommate sells dope at Big State U.

The Two Minutes of Hate are Directed at Jesuit Dallas

Wednesday, March 11th, 2015

Yeah, he was a knucklehead. He’s 19. It goes with the territory.

I just get a little frustrated that events like this aren’t just dealt with in the usual manner: social shunning, etc. The OU administration did not need to pile on. It may have been a bad idea for them to do so. I think OU president David Boren should have done nothing more than to guaranty the physical safety of all the SAE fraternity brothers, by making a clear public statement to the effect. When the usual braying hounds of the media and the professionally offended asked him what sort of punishment he and the University were going to mete out, he should have said, “I and the administration of the University of Oklahoma will need to do nothing. The wonderful students of this university will handle the issue with more speech and better speech. It is already happening.”

But the Volunteer Auxiliary Thought Police are everywhere. I bet they reside in above average numbers in college/university administration. They have demanded their sacrifice.

A teaching moment is lost.

I get even more frustrated with events like this spilling over into areas that really have a limited connection. Is it reasonable to expect all the graduates of Jesuit Dallas to be excellent young men? Jesuit is a special place, but since it is run by humans and has humans for students, it’s not perfect.

This all hits close to home. The Deuce goes to Jesuit and he has been considering OU.

I know this stink will fade with time. And I would kick that kid’s ass (and the other one) if he was my son, but this should not ruin the lives of 19 year old young men.

Social media sucks and I need to make certain the Ace and the Deuce know that.

Canoe Dogs

Monday, March 9th, 2015

A 35-50lb lab. That is a good idea. Maggie’s Farm.

The breeder.

A little google foo tells me there is another breeder in Oxford.

The Deuce may go to Ole Miss. Maybe I can get a puppy when he invites me to visit on football weekend.

It does look like fun.

We Get Students…

Sunday, February 19th, 2012

I got a call the other day from a woman in another country. Speaking in bad English, she implored me to release her son. That’s how she said it, release him. As though I had the young man in prison or something.

I went to check into the issue and learned the student had been with us for all of 2o days. He was homesick and had his mother call me!

He spoke with a couple of members of the faculty who convinced him to give his trip to the island a go for another month.

I just couldn’t believe the call from the mother. Did she thing I was preventing him from leaving? Did she think I had him locked up somehow? Did she think I monitor the airport? Maybe she thought I had his passport locked up in my office.

He could have just gone to the airport and boarded a plane and left. God knows I’ve thought about it a couple of times. I wouldn’t know he left the island until one of his house mates told us.

The faculty members who talked to this kid did not want to bring him to my office. He’s 24 or 25 years old. The faculty were worried that I would have worn his ass out for being a quitter. I don’t know that I would have been that hard on him, but I would have really made him think about the long term ramifications of his decision.

I know people who have quit things before they’ve failed. Failure is honorable. Quitting, not so much.

Some things never change…

Thursday, February 9th, 2012

Students and their excuses:

Subject: Apology letter for absence.

Respected sir,

I was absent on the 8th of February 2012. The reason being, the previous day I had a small get together at my home which went on till late night; as I was high and tired, because of which I woke up late on the 8th. Hence I could not attend class as well as could not submit my assignment on time, which I had really worked hard for. I am ashamed of my act and have realized my mistake. I undertake that I will not repeat this act again. Kindly accept my apology and excuse me to submit the assignment today.

Thanking you.

With regards,

Xxxxxxx Xxxxxxxx

He was high! Further investigation led to the knowledge that he had consumed a whole three bottles of beer.

It’s been awhile…

Monday, October 17th, 2011

Since I’ve done a “We Get Students” post.

Here at Island U, we provide all of our students with an internship.  Yes, all of them.  We have a very dedicated group of people that line up these internships.  We do screen the students for skills before sending them out on interviews, but if we missed the mark and sent them on an interview that they fail at, we can still find them something.

We have a group of students that came here from another country.  They have told us they were promised part time jobs that would have a salary that is higher than the median monthly wage of the country!

I was struck dumbfounded.

Fortunately this is a small group and we’ll be able to handle them.  I can’t say that I hate to be the one to disappoint them, but I have to laugh at their naivety.

Really, what were they expecting.  According to the CIA World Fact Book, the country Island U is located in is 10 times wealthier on a per capita basis than the country the students came form.

As a business school it is clear we have our challenges in front of us.

I ran my own business for seven plus years…

Wednesday, June 1st, 2011

Now I work at Directional U.  I am in admissions.  Check out the attitude from an e-mail I just received:

Also, if your job is mostly to point people to the website, then I apologize for all of the questions. The website is not organized in a way that makes perusing it easy and time effective for me, so I just thought I would ask an admissions professional to help me with my queries.

This was pulled from an e-mail I received from a prospective student.  This student wants to be admitted to a graduate business program.  She thinks that completing this program will dramatically improve her employment prospects.  With an attitude like that, I should just tell here the truth and tell her to not bother coming here.  She will be wasting her time and money.  If you pull that type of attitude with someone that can make certain you are not admitted to the program, what are they going to be like as an employee?

Some Directional U fun…

Sunday, April 10th, 2011

When we get applications from students they often send us all kinds of certificates and awards they have received in order to burnish their applications.  We aren’t interested in most of it, as like most schools, we want to see grades, test scores, etc.

We had one individual that sent us this certificate:

How about that?  He’s a Certified Expert Penetration Tester.

That’s what she said.

Oh, and in case you were wondering, yes this is a government thing.

Hyperbole and a Half…

Tuesday, April 5th, 2011

I’ve just added Hyperbole and a Half to the blog roll.  I mention her in the post below about the birthday cake as she has a great post on cake.  It’s funny that today’s post is about monsters.  One of my coworkers at Directional U won’t read Hyperbole and a Half because she’s afraid of the drawings.

Maybe if she were to wear a funny hat will reading Hyperbole and a Half she would feel safe and enjoy the stories.  It’s quite possible there is a fire breathing monster in the file cabinet too.  Funny hats ward off the fire breathing monsters and the file gnomes.

We all have these days at work…

Wednesday, January 26th, 2011

And in light of the student below that had an “avoidable circumcision” I went off and did some data analysis.  Here is a snap shot of our current student body:

I don’t remember where I stole that from, but if it’s yours, let me know and I’ll give you proper credit.