School is opportunity; a privilege, so they say. There is a hierarchical caste structure of power in play, running from high school, to college, undergrad, Master's work, and for some, the PhD (you know, the one where everyone has to call you "Dr.", even though you can't really do anything).
The entrance process into this illustrious system can be unusual: I will explain how it works. Applicants receive admission and are automatically offered scholarship bonuses and teaching opportunities, which are great, but which will take up all of their time and leave little opportunity for further aquisition of Earth monies (debt, weeeeeeee). Once accepted into the halls of graduate academia, a short seminar is held describing the opportunities that graduates have, hinting suggestively at the fact that the entire educational process, coupled with government funding and essentially the FUTURE OF OUR SOCIO-CULTURAL CLIMATE, rests on the shoulders and brains of all those who decided to attend the seminar (the ones who skipped the seminar clearly must be devoid of such responsibilities). Everyone is excited! So there you are, mashed together, a maw of eager grads raring to plunge head-first into classrooms laden with responsibility, and young students looking forward to the wisdom you are intended to bestow upon them...like sponges tossed into some mighty river...hmmm, and they do seem blithely unaware of your previous status of 'prospective burger-flipper' or 'Halo grand pubah'. The seminar closes with a declaration that graduate school offers something that almost no other experience can provide - the opportunity to completely reinvent oneself. And provided that this is seen as a good thing (although 'Halo grand pubah' sounds devilishly important), this opportunity is one that demands a conscious focus to incorporate.
The entrance process into this illustrious system can be unusual: I will explain how it works. Applicants receive admission and are automatically offered scholarship bonuses and teaching opportunities, which are great, but which will take up all of their time and leave little opportunity for further aquisition of Earth monies (debt, weeeeeeee). Once accepted into the halls of graduate academia, a short seminar is held describing the opportunities that graduates have, hinting suggestively at the fact that the entire educational process, coupled with government funding and essentially the FUTURE OF OUR SOCIO-CULTURAL CLIMATE, rests on the shoulders and brains of all those who decided to attend the seminar (the ones who skipped the seminar clearly must be devoid of such responsibilities). Everyone is excited! So there you are, mashed together, a maw of eager grads raring to plunge head-first into classrooms laden with responsibility, and young students looking forward to the wisdom you are intended to bestow upon them...like sponges tossed into some mighty river...hmmm, and they do seem blithely unaware of your previous status of 'prospective burger-flipper' or 'Halo grand pubah'. The seminar closes with a declaration that graduate school offers something that almost no other experience can provide - the opportunity to completely reinvent oneself. And provided that this is seen as a good thing (although 'Halo grand pubah' sounds devilishly important), this opportunity is one that demands a conscious focus to incorporate.
