To Swarthmore With Love

Classes ("modules" is actually the proper word) here at Queen Mary are divided up into two parts: lectures and seminars/classes. Lectures are exactly what they sound like, the professor talking at you for an hour, and seminars/classes are where the discussion of the reading for that week takes place. Last week I had my first lectures, but I'm having my first seminars this week.

Now, let me begin by saying that this post could go on and on in excruciating detail, but I doubt that even the most elitist ("elitistist"?) of my readers would want to read as much of the mocking that I could write about my first two seminar experiences. Also, even though I've set the privacy settings for this blog such that you can't find it when you Google me, nothing is ever private on the Internet and I don't want to hurt the feelings of anyone here who might read this blog. So, I will restrain myself and write only of the most illustrative comments that I was forced to endure in the two hours of my politics seminars.

First: Comparative Politics of the Middle East. On the reading list for yesterday's seminar, there were only two required readings, but then a lot of stuff under "General Readings". So after finishing the 42 pages of required reading, I did a lot of the general readings and found it to be very interesting and broad-ranging, covering many fields (i.e. anthropology, religion, and politics), opinions (i.e. liberal vs. conservative, etc.), and to include both academic and popular writing. A perfect reading list in my opinion. I thought to myself that surely the professor would inquire as to whether anyone had done any of the general reading, and was looking forward to hearing what the professor had to say about why he picked the particular works he did for the general reading.
The illustrative snapshot of this seminar should answer the question as to whether or not it came in handy that I did the general reading.
Professor: What is the difference between a state and an empire?
Prompt reply from girl sitting to my left: Size.
Mom, if you ask me whether I got a chance to ask the professor about the rationale behind selecting what works he did for the reading list, I will share with you the professor's reply to this girl's answer of "size".
Professor: Spot on!

The reading for my Political Economy of Globalisation class was unfortunately not as interesting, but I think that's mainly because so far I've found all the topics that we've covered so far in class to be review from the Comparative Politics class I took at Swat two years ago. Only difference is that we read the original articles by Huntington, Rostow, Moore, et al. in which they posit the theories that we're reading summaries of for this class.
As if that weren't disappointing enough, the leader of the seminar for the P.E. Globalisation class is not the same professor who lectures (the lecturing professor really is smart) but is rather a raving liberal who allows his personal political opinions to completely bias his teaching and discussion leading. Remember how some Peace and Conflicts Studies class at Swarthmore made it onto some right-wing list of "Most Dangerous Liberal Classes in American Colleges Today" list? If the people who wrote that list had sat in on my seminar today they would have fallen to the ground foaming at the mouth within two minutes.
Anyway, illustrative exchange for Political Economy of Globalisation.
Professor: So can we think of any positive legacies of colonization?
*Silence from students*
Professor: Yeah, not that there are any.
Student with Bizarrely Positive Opinion of Colonization (he said he thought that Britain should have stayed in India): I think I've thought of one. I'm not sure if it's right because -
Professor: Yeah it's probably not but go on then.
Student with Bizarrely Positive Opinion of Colonization: Tourism!

I'll conclude with the mantra that I've been repeating to myself all afternoon: I didn't actually want an academically focused semester anyway. I wanted a break from academics. I came to Queen Mary for many reasons, none of them having nothing to do with academics.

Be careful what you wish for is the only certainty of life I've found besides death and taxes.