LETTER: Glad to be graduating
To the editor:
I am a super senior, graduating in May. Lately, I can’t keep myself from smiling and humming the melody to “Pomp and Circumstance” as I walk around campus. Perhaps many seniors can relate.
In my efforts to prepare for graduation, I was asked to complete a “Graduating Student Survey.” I soon discovered that the survey was a great source for comic relief! Allow me to explain why.
The survey got off to a great start, giving students explicit instructions on how to complete the survey successfully. I quote: “To answer the questions, just fill in the ‘m’ that is applicable, e.g., l.” At this point I thought to myself, “What graduating senior hasn’t figured this out yet?” My colleagues and I have filled in more m’s than we’ve eaten pepperoni pizzas since we started attending this university 4+ years ago! However, those who created the survey did so wisely. If I could make an estimate, I’d say that only about 70 percent of college students actually understand the bubble-sheet concept. I have seen hundreds of Scantrons marked with little check marks, X’s, and indiscernible scribbles hardly resembling the simple example shown above. A more thorough surveyor would leave such instructions out and observe to see what percentage of college students have learned how to color within the lines by the time they receive their diploma!
As I continued to complete the survey, filling in every m appropriately, I came to question 16 which reads, “What degree are you are receiving?” Did you read that closely? It’s a little redundant and repetitive. If only the blank next to that line had been long enough for me to write, “Well, I was thinkin’ about majorin’ in English, but them grammar classes was tough, so I done switched to business!”
All joking aside, I am happy to know that college graduates sometimes make mistakes, because I don’t see how my degree could possibly qualify me for perfection. All my thanks and appreciation to Utah State University, its faculty, staff, and students, for a great education. Go Aggies!
Randee Hawkes