The Insanity of Sleepiness

Once in a while everybody has a day or two where they're struggling to get things done. Why? Because they're tired - not tired to the point where they could sleep for a week, but just tired because they've, let's say - stayed up until 2 or 3 a.m. playing video games or reading an exciting book.

And then these people, in their brain-addled states, begin to get wonderful ideas - wonderful beautiful ideas that wouldn't possibly come into the brain of a person who has slept enough. Ideas like thinking it would be a fun prank to drive down the highway in the wrong direction during rush hour.

This was the state of mind I was in one night when I checked my email - and lo and behold there was an email from President Cecil O. Samuelson, President of BYU - Brigham Young University - telling us that if we ever needed anything we could just email him. This is not a good email for someone who's tired to read, especially a tired college student who's sick of school and wants nothing more than to be done with it.

So I got up my guts - and ranted for a long time to President Samuelson. I don't really regret it - but it didn't accomplish anything. I should have just stated, "Why can't we have a general major at BYU?" But no - I had to write something that I thought was funny and informative and witty.

I tell you - emails sent while one is tired should have a huge disclaimer, "Warning - this person was exhausted when he/she wrote this. Any information contained in the email should be read with 5 grains of salt, and either all, none, some, or very little of the information may actually be what the sender intended to portray. They thought it was funny when they wrote it, but now that they've gone back and reread it, they realize that it is crueler than something those two old men that sit up on the balcony on the Muppet Show would say."

And here I am rambling again - because I'm tired. Meanwhile - enjoy the email below that I sent to President Samuelson at 3 a.m.

Oh yeah - his response said something like, "You're a negative fault-finder. We have tons of people graduating. What can I do for you? Read through this 3 pages plus you sent me and then you go think about what you've written, (implied) and never ever send me an email ever again.



Hi President Samuelson,

Thanks for a direct link to you. I'm supposedly a bright young man, received a 3.79 GPA in high school--joked around too much, and scored a 33 on the ACT's. I'm not saying this to impress you in the least, but just to impress upon your mind why my college career is so frustrating to deal with.

Currently I am on Suspension from the University. Why? I really don't know. 4 years ago I had a great GPA--3.74 or so while majoring in Microbiology. I was determined to go to Medical School, and was focused, and knew why I needed good grades to reach that goal. I decided Med School wasn't for me, and since then my GPA has dropped to below a 3.0. I've spent the last 3 or 4 years wandering around without aim, and no end in sight. I choose a major, and I can't stand it. I choose another major, and it's not for me. I go to take an interests test at the career center, and they tell me I like everything, and will pretty much get bored of almost any career. To be frank, I've run out of options. And the most frustrating part of it is that, it seems like there are many people graduating from college who haven't learned a darn thing from any of their classes. I know someone who had no idea who or what Moby Dick was, and they received a Bachelors Degree in Secondary Education I believe. I worked at the TNRB computer lab, helping business students out with their homework. It is very frustrating to see these students getting degrees left and right, when you are stuck behind yourself, but you are the one helping to make it possible for them to graduate.

I currently have 110 credits, and I can't graduate from the University for at least 2 years, because I lack a major. Without a diploma, I can find no decent job, yet to tell you the truth, I feel like I already received the education I need to make it in almost any job out there, minus engineering and other very highly specialized fields.

Now you're going to tell me how a degree is not about earning money. It seems to me that it is a fancy little test you take to earn a license to earn more money. This seems like a negative perspective on education you say. This may be true - but I have spent much time in classes, and feel like the majority of this education I am receiving seems to be busy work of similar sorts. Granted the information occasionally changes, and the difference in information can be useful, but how many little 7 page papers do I have to write to prove that I am well versed in the art of communication via the English language? How much busy work do I have to be assigned to prove that I am capable of completing a task? There have been multiple times when I signed up for a class, only to learn that my friends who had the exact same class but under a different teacher had 1/2 the homework we had to do.

There are many oxymorons presented in the goals of a degree. People say it is about education and not about money. Then you proceed to earn a degree, and every single person out there asks how do you plan to support a family on the program you are in? How do you plan to support YOURSELF even? What is the point of a degree then I ask you.

President Samuelson, I appreciate the University Experience, but I have nothing to prove for it. What are my 110 college earned credits going to do for me? It proves I can't pick a major. Is there no possibility for an 'open major' major? A chance for graduation showing that I am a well rounded individual with a couple of minors for focus? I have no desire to complete these classes, because I see no end in sight. I am on the brink of becoming a permanent Garbage Man for lack of thought of what else I can currently do with my life. Personally, I would love to write. Supposedly I have a gift for it. I write things, and people in my ward love to read them. But right now I have nothing to show that I can write, except for a bunch of flyers I have written up for ward functions. I finally realized that I would love to write for a living, and would be good at doing so, but it feels like it is too late for me to start on that path.

What incenses me about this is the fact that I write up these flyers, 3 to 5 hundred words apiece, in about 1/2 hour, and skim them for grammatical errors. Then I proceed to the Daily Universe, and find blatant errors everywhere, even in headlines for some articles. How much time can it take an editor to read articles and correct these things? Where is the quality in our productions?

I might appear to be rambling, but I am trying to put down all of my thoughts on my university experience in as concise a manner as possible. People say that the purpose of a University is to foster independent thought. I have found it to be the opposite. People are brainwashed into cliched terms and answers much of the time. They rigidly accept what their professor gives them, memorize it, and spit it right back out at them. It’s like they don't even take the time to digest the food. In many cases they don't even taste it and respond to the information they are learning. Just take a bit in their mouths, say, "Oh you're right" and proceed on further. Professors often seem to expect a certain answer from you in an essay, or answers to the test. One of my professors even went so far as to dictate the conclusion we were supposed to arrive at for our essays. Perhaps I am writing about these topics because I am merely angry and impassioned about this. But to a large extent I expected to find College to be somewhat more challenging than high school. Rather it seems to be a place where high school type answers are expected, only on a much larger volume. Is it not possible for something to be done to regulate what material Professors teach in their classes? The Professors seem to be treated like High Royalty. Our society is becoming ruled by a hierarchy of little clubs that determine who should join them and who shouldn't. You major in one thing, and you are expected to know certain code words and use these code words often in order to graduate in that major. I am not talking about highly specialized words such as SNRNP, or other biology terms, but rather in the business school, they are taught to use large words that are mind numbing, and have no feeling behind them. Words like paradigm, facilitate, and other words that you have to use to sound like a business man. How are we supposed to change the world for the better if the University only reinforces the cliched stereotypes that are out there? It not only reinforces us to use them, it almost coerces us to do so.

Please don't respond to this email by telling me that 'this is how the game works, and you need to learn to play the game'. The rules of the game stink. The rules of the game have been gradually developed over the years by supposed Intellectuals who have become stagnant in many ways. The rules of the game are loved by many, because they love following it, and if you love something you refuse to change it. They might not have started out loving the rules, but the rules were already there, they didn't make them, how can they change them? The professors love the rules. They treat the rules like they are Immutable Laws of Existence that can never be broken. Yet these are institutions set in place by mankind.

I guess my main point is that, I feel constrained by the University. And I feel trapped by it. Not only by the programs, but with some of the methods of dealing with grades. Some of my friends in other universities have 75% of the semester to back out of classes. During winter of 2003 and winter of 2004, I think I would have dropped out of my classes in the beginning of March if this were possible. I thought it wasn't possible, until I was talking with another student who had dropped all of her classes in March without receiving any demerits on her overall GPA. I just wish there were more clarity on the programs and policies. Believe me, if I had known I could drop those classes instead of destroying my GPA even further, I would have done so. If I would have known about it I would have. But in all of the University Catalogs it says, 'Cannot drop past this date' so why should I have even bothered to try? It seemed like a final sentence of doom, and I accepted it. If I had known that something could have been done about it, I would have done so. It's too late now though, the semester is come and gone.

And another thing. The Daily Universe mentioned that there was a class offered which taught people to speed read, and retain almost everything they read. Why aren't we taught this as Freshman? If this is such a great study tool, why isn't everybody taught it? It sounds like a huge advantage, and I wish I would have had it sooner.

All these things may seem negative. This happens in surveys. If I find something positive, I don't feel like it needs to be corrected, so why mention it? I am frustrated to have come so close to graduation, and yet not have it. I am frustrated to be so close to having a stamp of approval saying that I have skills, yet not have that little piece of paper. What can you do for me President Samuelson? There are others like me out there - supposedly intelligent people who just can't figure out what they want to do in college, and are now damned in their secular progression because of that quality.

I hope this makes sense. I have no idea what this is going to accomplish, but at least I can get my feelings down in some form or another.

Thank you for your time President Samuelson,

Christian T. Farmer

Here is a copy of a flyer--hopefully it makes you laugh.

Sledding Saturday

Time: 11:00 a.m. Saturday, January 17th
Place: Cinnamon Tree Lounge
What to Wear: Lots of Layers of Clothing
Refreshments: hot beverages and snacks, lounge, 1:00 p.m.
Ideas for Sleds: If you do not have a sled, be creative. We taped trash bags to our upper bodies and arms and it worked well, and also kept us nice and toasty. Try other things too

Okay everyone, it is time for us to go out and enjoy the wonderful pleasantries that are only available this time of the year. “So”, you reply, ‘Yes, it is indeed time for the superbowl.” I’m not talking about the superbowl you ninnies!! There is more to winter than just professional football players going head to head, with a truly brilliant display of strategy, speed, strength, and agility. I’m talking about enjoying the wonders of mother nature, the marvelous fact that snow has much less friction than grass, and thus allows us to slide down it at wonderfully fun speeds, and yet it is also soft, and thus allows us to crash without causing much damage and pain to our physical bodies. It’s a wonderful sensation which cannot possibly be described here, and must be experienced in person in order to comprehend. Sledding began as a tribal rite of passage in the ancient land of Sweden. When young men came of age, they needed to prove their virility by wearing only a loincloth, and sliding down a 3 mile tall mountain on their back side in the middle of January. Those that were too fearful to do this were held in great contempt, banished from the tribe, and forced to live a nomadic existence for the rest of their lives. To celebrate this wonderful tradition, we will be doing similar things. Though we greatly care about preserving the integrity of this event, we will not be sliding down a 3 mile tall mountain, nor will anyone be wearing only loincloths. In place of a loincloth, please wear all of the following: pants, shirts, jackets, hats, and your choice of gloves or mittens. We look forward to seeing you there in celebration of this wonderful, extremely authentic and not at all made up cultural ritual!!