CME 200: IBScrewed repost

[kyrasantae]

http://www.livejournal.com/users/kyrasantae/113204.html
I've posted this just about everywhere, but here it is for you IBScrewed-ers.

First term: 25.6 credits
Second term: 21.8 credits
(We calculate credits differently - [lecture hours]+(1/2)[lab and/or seminar hours])

(You read that right, I get a field trip for CME 265 next term.)

Practically all of my friends got a day after residence move-in to settle down before orientation and/or classes, but I didn't because of CME 200. >:-E

It was just a day that covered some graduate student perspectives of what it's like to work in the field after their degree, a couple of presentations on the Materials and Petrochemical industries in Alberta. We had to hand in a copy of our résumés at the beginning of the class (8AM!) and then (again) some graduated and practising students gave us feedback on them (my résumé sucks so the only advice I got was to put more points describing my jobs under each listing - dude, there's only so many responsibilities when you're doing a McD's style job and you're 1 of about 5 employees - hint: they typically want you to write down your "achievements" on the job rather than your responsibilities and sure as hell I don't have any of those) We have to hand in a "revised" copy of our résumés in a couple of weeks.

After that we got free food for lunch, and then an overview of the courses I'm supposed to take for my degree (yeah the only classes we have a choice in taking are 2 arts electives (I did Sociology 100 last year and doing Philosophy 101 this year), 3 technical electives (I start taking those next year), 1 English course (most students take English 199, rather than the literature-based English 101 or 102), and one "ITS" (Impact of Technology on Society) elective (in my case, SOC 366) which, according to my sheet of allowed electives, *has* to be SOC 366 for my particular degree.

There was also a presentation on finding technical journals and information online using the library system.

After that we got an assignment to write a ~4 page paper on one of a given list of topics. These topics (for Materials Engineers anyway) were different materials industries (eg. steel making, biomaterials, mining materials, etc.). The paper has to be about how materials are used/significant in those industries, the economic impact of the industry in Alberta, what major multinational companies are in the industry and where they are based/where their plants are and why (i.e. are they in Alberta / Canada? Why/why not?), and how long has the industry been active in Alberta and when did it start to generate an "important" economic impact.


I hate economics. I hate Alberta-centrism.

I swear, THIS is why everyone hates Alberta. It's not just because we're wealthy and suck up to the USA. It seems like we don't just develop this ego independently, the school system literally fosters it. Why can't I write my paper on industries in Finland? That's where I want to be and that's what matters to me.

The chemical engineers got a different set of topics for their assignment. I think they just have to write about the (chemical) process behind something. One of the topics was the fermentation of tea, and I really really wanted to do that one. Well, actually, I'm sure they'd ask for the economic impact of tea in Alberta. (uh....)

What a waste of my $151.24. And my day.


Man oh man I've been ranting. I better post this rant in my LJ.

Edit: On my assignment sheet it says "it is expected that the report will be grammatically correct with correct spelling." No shit, Sherlock - or are you yourselves victims of the "Engineers suck at English" stereotype?

Comments

[forgottenlord.livejournal.com]

Ah, it logged me out!

Anyways, you go out to Waterloo or UofT, they'll be asking about Ontario industries. Go down to Vancouver, they'll be talking about BC. Go to Seattle, they'll be going on and on about Washington Industries, or Houston will do Texas or London will be talking about Britain. We are region-centric. Look at how much of our social studies curriculum (throughout Junior and Senior High) is ra-ra Canada! And the funny part is that our teachers were trying to get us to be more Internationalist in nature, while the curriculum is designed to foster nationalism.

Why do you think no one ever taught about Finland?

-------------------------------------

If you so felt like taking the time to do it, you might be able to ask the teachers if you could possibly do it on Finland. I can't say how good your success will be - and I have a suspicion the most you'll get is the right to do Finland in addendum to the regional considerations.

[kyrasantae.livejournal.com]

It didn't log you out. I logged you out that time I was making edits on my late night Lister rambling posts.

It's the region-centric part that bothers me. I wouldn't have a problem if it was just Canada-centric, after all, as you mentioned, high school SS is like that.

Thing is, why us? Why don't the other disciplines have to do this? It's as if, somehow, being in a heavily oil-and-gas related discipline means that you are obligated to be a) interested in oil-and-gas, and b) rah-rah-Alberta. For example, why can't be we rah-rah-Saudi Arabia or something? (Aside from sensitive political views, that is.)

[forgottenlord.livejournal.com]

This is where Klein and conservative logic fall apart when it comes to education. The reason that so far they've held back on supporting more money for post secondary is that they want Universities to look for partnerships with private industry.

CME dep't has a very easy time achieving this goal - and this could be one of the effects of it. That said, it is possible that this is just a program going in across the board. You'll have to ask Henry about it at a later point whether he got a similar thing in his ECE 200 class.

[hihlordjp.livejournal.com]

Hello there! I'm that random stranger who asked about your avatar. Sorry for the delayed reply (swamped with projects, papers and what not, hehe) Thanks for answering my question... I'd rather not burden you by asking you to upload the original picture (I feel that's a little too much). Thanks, though. :D