Running notes on Uniform Sierra Papa

I got tired. Not too unexpectedly.

Coming to terms with reality, I now realise how foolish it was to think that just these few years here are sufficient to do any lasting change.

But as a stepping back and look at the things that I've done and the things that others have done.

Through the MC, interconnections have been formed between previous un-met USP students. SUITE has continued to connect students with ideas, making connections of a different quality (not higher or lower). The alumni has also been involved in the current student cohort, so that's nice.

I don't think there's any fundamental difference about what different groups of people want to do at USP. All want to see a USP that is better than the one they had, in terms of the sense of community that people want nurtured...

As for myself, I feel a sense of reality of the task that I had set out to do. I now begin to realise that different people expect different things for USP, and depending on their experience, they may or may not have those expectations fulfilled, and that in turn, could determine how much they want to contribute to it.

There are obviously, people on the utilitarian, economic side of things, who see the value of a USP branding on their CV of greater value than the costs of a more rigorous academic programme. That is understandable. My hope that this people could be convinced otherwise, that there is value in exchanging thoughts and ideas might not really work.

The belief still boils down to a few things: what do people want, expect to get, from USP? And how do they see themselves as participants, members of the programme? Do they see themselves as 'members' - going through the curriculum, enjoying, and participating piecemeal (not a bad thing) in some programmes? Or could they view themselves as active shapers of their own experience in USP, empowered by the social and cultural capital they accrue through friends and lessons?

Piecemeal and active shapers represent opposite points on a spectrum on perceptions about USP. I guess I was too hopeful in expecting how many people could switch from the piecemeal side to the active shaper side.

So, having been sobered by this reality, what's next? I don't know. Getting people to be convinced, and to act out the belief that they can be active shapers of their own experience will be really tough, almost like evangelising people to a religion. Things like the Writing Programme have already created a common understanding of what USP is predicated on, and so the task need not be established from scratch.

The other thing to note is that the notion of community is dynamic - it is fragmented in certain places, but cohesive in others. The key point is in the interconnections between different groups to facilitate the exchange of ideas and experiences, and different people can come in through different areas, though the USC is expected to do the heavy lifting here in this regard. That people form cliques is a truism - how to connect those cliques - that is non-trivial.

People at different points in their undergraduate career perform different roles - again another truism, but I wonder if this flux of social position at USP is also part of the entire experience. A freshman is different from Y2 is different from Y3 and Y4. The factor of seniority is not insignificant here, and has to take into consideration how seniority affects community building. What could be done, for example, to bridge say, Y1 with Y3 and Y4, given that Y3s are absent for exchange?

At the very heart, I wonder if I'm asking this question: what would make a student do something other than studying? What would make a student go beyond comfort zones, to hang out with others...?

hmm.. hmm...