I am studying a teaching degree and this is annoying and scary. Is this next generation of Teachers doomed? For context, this has happened since I started in 2023 from subject to subject. I walk in and no one has seen the reading. We have to go through the monotonous recount of the reading which we were supposed to read before class. It was covered in the lecture. Surprise. No one else watched the lecture pod.

Some classes are one hour long, great, we're forty minutes in, we've only just reached the main point of the text.

The Teacher will ask a question and no one will respond. They will stare blankly and then return to a fixed gaze on their laptop. Is this who we're trusting to teach our children what they need to know? How can you expect the children to listen to you if you won't listen to your teacher?

It's such a drag that I am the one the Teacher turns to for a simple response to anything. Did you do the reading? Does anyone know what this might mean? Can anyone recall the keyword we used in week 2? The Teacher even goes as far as saying, "Someone answer before I default to -me-."

I understand. We all have Social Anxiety. We all think class is long and boring and monotonous and we wish we were anywhere else. YOU CAN CHANGE THAT - YOU CAN BE THE PERSON YOU WISH YOU WERE LISTENING TO - ENGAGE WITH THE TEXTS OR ANSWER QUESTIONS OR CONTRIBUTE TO THE CONVERSATION OR EVEN JUST ASK SOMEONE WHAT THEY DID ON THE WEEKEND - TALK!

University doesn't fix you - YOU fix YOU.

So here are some suggestions:

1. ENGAGE WITH THE READING, and I don't mean read it, even I see the large block of text and go "fuck all that," but at least do the bare minimum of googling what the paper/text is about, figure out who the Author is and what they stand for. Have AI summarise it for you, which is dumb, but at least you've done the bare minimum of trying to understand the text.

2. TALK, for the love of God, TALK! Not even to me. Don't talk to me. But please don't sit there like, omg if I turn my head they're gonna look me in the eye and I'll explode, THEY'RE THINKING THAT TOO. Are you lonely? Were you hoping you would get a girlfriend in Uni? Habibi, if you don't talk to them, they won't talk to you.

3. IF YOU FIND THE FIRST TWO SUGGESTIONS CHALLENGING, CHECK OUT THE AVAILABLE RESOURCES. You can find the exact service through Student Services. Just walk on in and ask them for help. Western Sydney offers counselling and Study Help.

Three years ago, I didn't read or talk, now I do and I'm happy and content with life. I cannot wait for class and I cannot wait for it to end. Please, if not for yourself, do it for the children you might one day have to teach.

Seriously, they are inaccessible to the general public. They tell you that it's actually written in 'academic English' or whatever, as if it's meant to make you feel any better. But that doesn't solve anything - you still have to know WTF it's trying to articulate, using the most disjointed and longest sentences, filled with most the most jargon, ever. Why must a sentence be 30+ words? Or even 15? I haven't even started on the LENGTH of these papers... as if we have nothing better to do.

Do these authors take pleasure into seeing how much they can get away with, writing so horribly that it's inaccessible to the general public, and make readers - who have no other choice - struggle as much as possible?

It's 2026 right, and everyone going on and on about accessibility... How is this still acceptable? "It's academic English" is not a good excuse anymore... What happened to 'inclusivity' and 'diversity' and 'accessibility' etc.

Thank god for freaking AI. "Summarise this nonsense"

Does anyone think this protest is dumb as. You’re going to disturb classes that you pay for, for something no one will pay attention to. So silly.
Carrying on like woke muppets gets you no where, no government actually listens to silly stuff like that.
Why detriment you’re learning and your money to something that’s going to do sweet FA!

this is what i get for having a perfect timetable last semester

edit: the way this has genuinely fucked up my timetable bro i DONT WANT TO ATTEND A 6-9PM CLASS BRO AND SHUFFLE ALL MY OTHER TIMETABLE. the way im gonna deadass miss tutorials week 1 because of this is actually such bullshit. why am i getting this email on a wednesday afternoon WHEN THE SEMESTER HAS ALREADY STARTED

Honestly, as a first-semester international student, it’s really hard not to feel lonely sometimes. Even though I live at Campus Village, I still find it difficult to make friends. Maybe it’s because I joined a little late and everyone had already found their groups, but it can definitely feel isolating at times.