Thesis catastrophe
One of the toughest hurdles of a student in the university or college is finishing a very grueling task - the undergraduate thesis. Before I took the pre-courses to this book, I told myself that I was going to marry my thesis and indeed, I did.
Day in and day out, I could not stop thinking about my thesis. During my spare time, I would go on the web to search for additional literature to my study which was about social media reporting. That or I would lock myself inside our Center for Media Education a.k.a. the thesis room and just type and type and type until I felt like the words to our magical book was perfect. I was lucky enough to have shared the task with two of my classmates. We were even luckier that we were given one year to finish the whole book, hard-bound and stiff.
Last week, three students from a state university cried foul over their research professor who wanted a thesis to be finished within a week. Since the task seemed impossible, they were not able to submit the requirements which rendered them a "No grade" or NG on their report cards. When they were able to complete this, the professor still did not release their grades. It has been five months now and the students are worried that the NG would affect their academic standing, much more their scholarship in the university.
As media reports settled in, it was said that the other party fled from the facing interviews as if guilt has been proven. Up to date we do not know the reason the professor has been withholding the students' grades.
Doing research or completing a thesis, is not done overnight. It is a process that needs to be carefully done and studied. A person who opts to venture into research must be keen and observing before research instruments are implemented such as experiments and surveys. It does not even stop there. The researcher has to tally the results and interpret it for easy reading. Then the whole research is presented before a panel. It is then defended before it is graded. Now, how could all these processes be fit within a week? Unless professors want paid topics off some quack street, then it is obviously an impossible feat.
While we were doing our thesis, the one year seemed too short for the topic that we chose. The time frame given was one of our limiting factors that hindered us into doing a more extensive research. We wanted to look at other angles that caused social media reporting by ordinary citizens but resources and time were not just enough.
If we want our students to be globally competitive, then they must know the heart and core of research. Undergraduate studies in our neighboring countries such as Singapore and Thailand have topics that are challenging but doable. We must not settle for thesis topics that are just done by a copy paste.
As for the students who are facing so much pressure into having their grades released by their professor, I could only wish that they have been spared by such untoward incident. An undergraduate life only happens once and they are meant to enjoy it while learning - not face sleepless nights thinking if they are a graduate with complete grades or otherwise.
They could only complain as much as they can but as long as the other party does not concede, the battle still goes on. But as long as it is not over, the call continues that it would not happen again to other students.
Going back to our thesis, we happily defended it with a flat score. I would not have traded my research experience with anything else. It was a mixture of tears, blood, sweat and laughter plus weekly milk tea that served as our buffer beverage whenever the ideas run out.
Completing a thesis is not a catastrophe. It is the epitome of finishing college. I gladly did mine, as well as my classmates did. I wish every college student out there would experience the same too.
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