Friday, September 1, 2006

The Freshmen

Working at a university, I can only say that The Freshmen is stunningly true.

On the first day of class he asks them a question. "What would you be doing if you were not in College?" They reply that they would be working in a retail store, construction, or at the paper mill in their hometown. "So you would be working 40 hours a week? Is that correct?" he says. They answer in the affirmative. He then goes on to guarantee that if they will work a 40-hour week in college, they will be successful. He asks them to "work" in their academic pursuits 8 hours a day, five days a week, with evenings and weekends off. The 40 hours must be spent either in class or in study time. He explains that if they would get up at 7 a.m., eat breakfast, and either attend class or study from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., with an hour off for lunch, they would have every evening off to socialize. They would also have their weekends free. He knows that this will work. He also knows that they won't take his advice.

Cultural Implications of Respect for Law

Interesting article on rules and rule breaking in the Moscow Times.


Put simply, Russians are used to not making a connection between breaches of rules and laws and their tragic consequences. Breaking the rules has long been a flourishing subculture that can be witnessed everywhere you turn.


The Moscow Times requires a pay subscription to read their content (sucks), but you can read more excerpts at Tom McMahon's blog. Ignore the 4-block world thing, the content is below that.