Mandatory or Optional?
As an undergraduate student at the University of Alberta, we are required to achieve a minimum of 6 credits in junior English. Should this be mandated or should this be optional? Had you asked me this at the beginning of my education I would have said that it was unnecessary, in fact I would have gone so far as to say it is a cash grab (as I feel so many things are) at the university. However, as I have progressed through my course work I have not only rediscovered my love of literature but have decided to make English my minor. The act of researching and connecting ideas makes me feel as though I am an explorer; it is a valuable skill to have as everything we do is expressed in language in one form or another.
My first university course was a Comparative Literature class. Truth be told, a large part of me enrolled in Comparative Literature because I had been wrongly informed that the courses were equivalent to a junior English class and could be used instead. I was also greatly amused with the prefix “CLit” and yes I do ask myself at times if I am 13 years old or 31. I was so new to the university that I thought the “352” portion of “CLit 352” meant the room number. I was shocked to discover that my first university class after 11 years out of high school was a 3rd year course.
I feel I have to justify my eleven years out of high school. During my APT, a student in my English 30-1 class asked me my age. He laughed that a 31 year old would still be in university and muttered under his breath that he never wants to be “that old”. Obviously, I must have some sort of deficiency and perhaps I do.
You see, I have always been restless. I want it all and I want it all right now. Not in the sense of material goods but I hunger for experiences. I want to know it all, see it all and understand it all right now. This has lead me to purchase a lot of plane tickets, move too many times and to value my portability almost to the point that I still am unsure if I am capable of staying.
When I did finally go back to post secondary education, it was on my own terms. I studied for two years, began and finished my apprenticeship. I am now a red seal pastry chef and because of Alberta Education's initiative to place trades people into the classrooms, I have had the honor of being 1 of 19 people in Alberta who has received an astounding grant to studying education. As a result, I have a full time teaching position next year.
So, what I am trying to say is that without all of these experiences I would not have been the right person to receive this grant. There is nothing I could have done to plan this outcome. All of the countries, the jobs and the training had a reason. Even though I didn’t know it at the time. They are now stories, perspectives and skills that I have of which Alberta Education would like in the classrooms. Well... maybe not the stories.
It is the process that is important. Even if you do not see the utility of a junior English class right now, it will be worth its weight in the future. At times we can not see the big picture until we have a chance to step away and recognize its effects.
Rutherford
The air is still and heavy
Feet shuffling between the rows
The weight of what I haven’t thought of
stacked precariously in my arms.
I like to imagine my meager weight means anything
to those worn marble stairs
Each step I take,
my soles cradled like familiar bodies
we have begun to understand our fit.
Is this important?
In here, everything is important.
Each step leaves its weight behind
Like the marble stairs
it adds up.
