Thursday, February 23, 2012

Soal Absensi Kuliah

Let's Go Bison! 
FARGO-JAZZMUHAMMAD - Yang cukup menghantui mahasiswa di Indo adalah absensi. Kebanyakan mahasiswa di Indo masuk karena tak mau failed. Satu hal yang menentukannya, lagi-lagi: absensi.

Kalau di Paramadina, absensi disediakan melalui selembar kertas yang berisi nama-nama mahasiswa yang mendaftar pada kelas itu. Di awal, atau seringkali di akhir kelas, mereka menandatanganinya sebagai bukti kehadiran.

Umumnya, syarat agar tidak failed di Indo adalah kehadiran yang harus mencapai 75%-80%. Di Paramadina, biasanya kalau sudah tak masuk lebih dari 4 kali, maka you get kicked out!

Di US, sistem pendidikan tingginya memiliki perbedaan yang cukup signifikan. Baiklah, beberapa telah aku tuliskan sebelumnya, tapi kali ini khusus untuk absensi.

Di US, mahasiswa tak diharuskan mengisi lembar absensi. Mau masuk silakan, mau tak masuk silakan juga. Tapi yang, bagiku, aneh adalah masih banyak saja yang masuk kuliah. Apalagi hampir tak ada yang datang terlambat.

Saturday, February 18, 2012

What Am I Doing Here? (Part 2)

crazy Bison fan!
(inforum.com)
How they live their lives
Then the second purpose I am studying in the US is I want to know how people live their lives. No matter what, the US is not Indonesia, China, or India. Not even Europe. The US is the US. Since it has been a few months since I’ve been studying in this country, I’ve seen a lot of differences. It’s a lot different from what we have in Indonesia.

In general, people are so nice here. Their way of lives could be defined as individualism or specific culture. It doesn’t mean that they do not care about others. They like helping others, though.

What I’ve seen here, individualism means that their appreciation to individual work is really high. Generally they don’t want to intervene others’ lives or choices no matter what. As long as it is not bothering them, it’s fine. Here, I very seldom hear about people say something bad to somebody else’s ways to do something.

“Just do what you want. Don’t bother me, or you can otherwise get in trouble.”

Sunday, February 12, 2012

What Am I Doing Here? (Part 1)

Manhattan Broadway! 
If somebody asks me, what are your goals studying here in the US? I just have a couple answers for this past Fall and Spring semester. First, I really want to learn the language more, which is English. Second, I want to know how people live outside my country.

It’s about English
The first reason might be seen as a simple thing. If you guys think so, it is just fine. But, I think it’s a lot more than that.

Well, people know what others want through a language. See what people are doing when they work at, say, fast food restaurants. They carry out what the customers say to order. There is such a mutual understanding between both so they would feel satisfied each other.

Further than that, see what our teachers are doing in our class. See, they are talking and talking. It is the way people send their knowledge to others. They educate us through their languages and that’s why students can become more and more knowledgeable.

When our teachers are talking about something, you think it is usually fun, right? Not! It is boring very often. Well, but suck it up bud! All right, this part is joke. Don’t really mind about it.

Thursday, February 9, 2012

Antara Nama, Jurusan, dan Angkatan

My Professor and I
(Dakota Tribal History Class)
FARGO-JAZZ MUHAMMAD - Kalau kuliah di Indo, ketika ada orientasi, para orientator atau senior yang mengorientasi pasti akan berkenalan satu per satu. Nah, ketika mereka mengenalkan dirinya, tiga hal yang mereka katakan adalah nama, jurusan, dan angkatan.

Hal ini semacam norma yang tak terlulis yang harus dipatuhi. Nama akan menunjukkan bagaimana ia ingin dipanggil, disapa, dan dikenali. Kebanyakan memakai nama asli, tapi tak sedikit juga yang menggunakan nama samaran yang sangat berbeda dengan nama aslinya. Katanya biar keren.

Hal kedua adalah jurusan. Itu yang akan menunjukkan apa yang ia pelajari di kampus. Di beberapa kampus, jurusan menunjukkan kasta. Orang kelas macam apa dia itu.

Khususnya di kampus-kampus negeri, kasta ini nampak terlihat. Kalau ada yang bilang, “Kedokteran”, para junior langsung diam, sedikit berbisik, “Anak ini pintar.” Kalau ada yang bilang, “Teknik Elektro”, maka mereka berbisik, “Oh, ia jenius!” Demikian juga untuk jurusan-jurusan yang dianggap keren: Hukum atau Kedokteran Gigi.

Tapi kalau ada yang bilang “Penyakit Tanaman” atau “Agrikultur”, yang mendengar berbisik-bisik, “Ngapain kuliah itu?”

Aku tak bermaksud membanding-bandingkan. Tetapi itulah kenyataan yang terjadi di Indonesia. Satu jurusan didewakan, satu lainnya dianggap barang rongsokan. Satu diburu banyak orang, yang lain kekurangan mahasiswa. Sah-sah saja sih. Aku hanya merasa aneh saja.