(Revising) Great Expectations

As we all know the end of the academic year is drawing close. With that there has been some talk of the next big CSC event for the summer break: orientation. I've talked about orientation previously, but the resurgent interest in the topic warrants further discussion.

The way I see it, there are two main points of concern regarding orientation: what orientation should be like (design), and why (motivation). In this post, I want to address the second part on motivations, but in terms of the expectations of the freshmen's role in the college.

It seems that many seniors hold the view that the current juniors have 'not done enough' for the college. This is in terms of participation, initiation and leadership in IGs and projects. The truth of this claim is, however, debatable.

Anyway, it is with this view that some seniors that orientation is the cause of/ solution to this problem. The belief is that orientation is an important tool for socializing incoming residents into their expected role: which in this case is to be an enthusiastic, initiated, contributing member of the Tembusu community.

Back to expectations though. I personally think this view to be too strong, and unfair. First, is not fair to compare the current batch of freshmen with the second-years. Yes, it is true that the freshmen do not seem as forthcoming as the current seniors were in their first year. But remember also that the current seniors are the pioneers. It is natural that they had more opportunities and arguably more motivation (because everything was so undefined), thus the seniors took more initiatives and such.

Secondly, and also more importantly, I think it is not necessary for first-years to make big contributions to the college. The freshmen year really should be taken as a time to adapt to uni life away from of home. The flow of uni life is very different from pre-uni schooling, and students need to get a good grounding in how to manage their study life first before worrying about other things. Over-participation in the junior years is a well-known pitfall for many students who stay in the halls, and that is definitely a lesson we can learn from.

In other words, I think it is better for juniors to take their first year to hold back on the 'contributions to the college'. Find your footing first. Do all the necessaries of being a student. Go for lectures. Study. As for the college life, just be involved. Go for Master's Teas, help with setting and cleaning up. Meet and mingle with people. Don't rush to 'contribute'. Settle the basics first. I reckon when those are in place, then students will have the confidence to do all the cool stuff. Take charge, take initiative, give back, etc. It makes sense for the seniors in a college to be leading anyway.

What this means is that the current freshmen aren't off the hook just yet. We'll have to wait for next academic year to see what they come up with. Hopefully they won't disappoint.