::The GEM registration system does it again!!!
Ok, here we go again, my "semestral" complaint about the GEM registration system.
As you have realised, I failed to get one of the GEMs that I needed to fufil my requirement and now I am fucking angry.
The complaints:
1) It started late.
If you say it's supposed to start at 10:00, for God's sake, start it at 10:00. Don't go start it at 10:10 or whatever leaving us going wtf? for the first five minutes and wondering whether the browser settings are incorrect and logging in multiple times or whatever, thus wasting precious minutes that they could have spent in "out-racing" the competition.
2) It is grossly unfair to the 2nd year students who have to take 2 GEMs.
2nd-year semester 2 students are supposed to choose two GEMs. Ok, fine. Unfortunately that also means that in the initial rush, they managed to get their first GEM. Then, when they swoop in for their second GEM, wham. Bam. Nothing left.
Leaving the poor student to either take the lesson at some funny time slot or take some lesson they have no interest in or do what I did and skip the second one altogether.
3) It forces students to take subjects that they have absolutely no interest in whatsoever.
We are required to take one GEM from each category (Arts and Humanities, Business, Science and Technology) and one additional one from any category. Unfortunately, that also means that a student which has totally no interest in a certain category (for example, business) will still be forced to take a GEM from that category. Even though I agree that there may still be some GEMs in that category that may not be so focused towards business, many non-"business-minded" people like him will have the same idea. In this case, it will result in a war of the fastest mouse clicks and the losers will have to endure a GEM that positively bores them to death for a whole semester.
4) It assumes that students have no life outside school, ie. they are free every afternoon on days when school ends early
Ok, I noticed that there are some interesting and unusual lessons and most of them take place on either Wednesday and Friday.
Unfortunately, I also noticed that some people (like me) have external commitments on Wednesday and Friday afternoons (well, because they're the only free afternoons I have outside normal lessons!).
Therefore, we are forced to abandon our hopes of taking a large number of more unusual GEMs that we may be curious about. Then, we are forced to fight over a small pool of Monday and Tuesday morning GEMs, which is no easy feat considering that some GEM categories (eg. the Arts and Humanities one) hold most of their lessons on Wednesday and Friday morning.
5) Some lessons are only held in certain locations, making people who come from certain schools which are at the other end of the campus unable to take that certain lesson without transport of their own.
I think that kind of explains itself. Anyway, I'm not going to elaborate cause I have to go prepare for my bike lesson.
Hopefully, this won't be a problem for me the next time I choose my GEM (and you guys all know what that means!) but unfortunately, it'll still be a problem for many many people.
---
Faced with such a inefficient and problematic system, it is no wonder that some students either throw up their hands in frustration and skip choosing a GEM altogether or take a GEM that they have no interest in and end up skipping all the lessons and doing just well enough so that they don't need to take it again.
The GEM website says:
"The objective of having general elective modules is to broaden your educational experience by:
Ultimately, we, the students, lose out.
As you have realised, I failed to get one of the GEMs that I needed to fufil my requirement and now I am fucking angry.
The complaints:
1) It started late.
If you say it's supposed to start at 10:00, for God's sake, start it at 10:00. Don't go start it at 10:10 or whatever leaving us going wtf? for the first five minutes and wondering whether the browser settings are incorrect and logging in multiple times or whatever, thus wasting precious minutes that they could have spent in "out-racing" the competition.
2) It is grossly unfair to the 2nd year students who have to take 2 GEMs.
2nd-year semester 2 students are supposed to choose two GEMs. Ok, fine. Unfortunately that also means that in the initial rush, they managed to get their first GEM. Then, when they swoop in for their second GEM, wham. Bam. Nothing left.
Leaving the poor student to either take the lesson at some funny time slot or take some lesson they have no interest in or do what I did and skip the second one altogether.
3) It forces students to take subjects that they have absolutely no interest in whatsoever.
We are required to take one GEM from each category (Arts and Humanities, Business, Science and Technology) and one additional one from any category. Unfortunately, that also means that a student which has totally no interest in a certain category (for example, business) will still be forced to take a GEM from that category. Even though I agree that there may still be some GEMs in that category that may not be so focused towards business, many non-"business-minded" people like him will have the same idea. In this case, it will result in a war of the fastest mouse clicks and the losers will have to endure a GEM that positively bores them to death for a whole semester.
4) It assumes that students have no life outside school, ie. they are free every afternoon on days when school ends early
Ok, I noticed that there are some interesting and unusual lessons and most of them take place on either Wednesday and Friday.
Unfortunately, I also noticed that some people (like me) have external commitments on Wednesday and Friday afternoons (well, because they're the only free afternoons I have outside normal lessons!).
Therefore, we are forced to abandon our hopes of taking a large number of more unusual GEMs that we may be curious about. Then, we are forced to fight over a small pool of Monday and Tuesday morning GEMs, which is no easy feat considering that some GEM categories (eg. the Arts and Humanities one) hold most of their lessons on Wednesday and Friday morning.
5) Some lessons are only held in certain locations, making people who come from certain schools which are at the other end of the campus unable to take that certain lesson without transport of their own.
I think that kind of explains itself. Anyway, I'm not going to elaborate cause I have to go prepare for my bike lesson.
Hopefully, this won't be a problem for me the next time I choose my GEM (and you guys all know what that means!) but unfortunately, it'll still be a problem for many many people.
---
Faced with such a inefficient and problematic system, it is no wonder that some students either throw up their hands in frustration and skip choosing a GEM altogether or take a GEM that they have no interest in and end up skipping all the lessons and doing just well enough so that they don't need to take it again.
The GEM website says:
"The objective of having general elective modules is to broaden your educational experience by:
-
requiring you to take modules outside the field of study, and
-
providing you with opportunities for interacting with students with different perspectives, backgrounds and areas of study."
Ultimately, we, the students, lose out.
