Yes... but where will it GET you?

Okay, so I haven't updated recently. Big whoop it's not like anyone reads this thing. Well, just in case some bored Inuit is sitting in his DSL equipped igloo and stumbles across my ill informed views and was actually upset that I haven't posted in a while, here's another one.

Something you may or may not know about me- I am currently completing year 12. I did a few "sciency" subjects last year (if you can call English, Psychology and the easiest level of maths "sciency") which left this year clear for subjects I feel I am more suited for - "Artsy" stuff.

One of my bestest buddies in the whole world, however, wishes to get into medicine. Which is fine, I stand in awe of her to tell you the truth. She needs and ENTER in the high 90's, and as a result has no social life to speak of. Well, she had no real social life to begin with but that's beside the point really. There's a bet running at the moment offering two to one odds that she will be this year's Dux. The point is she will one day be "Dr. Best-friend-of-Lou-Singer-Mind" and to get there she is doing all science subjects, and the mandatory English, and one class with me - French- which I am doing for the love of the language and she is doing for the high mark up.

So one day Doc (like how I slipped that cool nickname in there for you? We've never called her that. And if shes reading she may or may not have figured out already that I'm writing about her. Either way, I'm not giving any more clues!!) and I are sitting around during one of the rare lunches where I don't have a performing arts commitment to attend to, or she doesn't have an extra lunchtime SAC (stands for school assessed coursework....that led to a bit of confusion at my place when I had my first one for Literature and said to my father over breakfast "I have a lit sack") and neither of us had a free period last and we were allowed to go home for lunch.
We were talking about school (for once, gasp!) and how I'm doing all artsy subjects this year (Studio Art, Drama, Lit and French) where she's doing all Sciences and Maths. She said to me (and now I know she'll figure out I'm talking about her) "I wish I was doing an art subject, just for some variety!" I kind of got tight lipped at this point, and felt she need to clarify her statement because Im'n ot sure she said what she meant. that and i was strung out and probably hormonal. I am woman, hear me roar and all that.
Now, a tactful Lou would have asked several well placed, well thought out questions to answer this burning query, but when I'm caught off guard and/or without caffeine I'm about as tactful as a rabid bull trying to talk his way out of paying child support. So I came out and said, "You better not be saying that cos you think the arts are easy. Cos they're not fucking easy!"
At which point she clarified that in no way did she think her work load was worse than mine, and that the arts is not a sissy approach at all. To which I said, "Good. Because if I thaught you were saying that I'd have to KILL you!!"

Arts in VCE It's not a bludge. NOTHING in year 12 is a bludge. WORK IS REQUIRED. This mindset of "the arts are easy and are the wussy way out" is really starting to shit me.

Here's the thing about the VCE, and any other certificate of education - if you re doing it, you want to be there. Usually it's to get into University. But lots of people chose the subjects they do because they have a certain passion for them - if you want to know how organic matter works, you do Biology. If you want to know how things work, you take Physics, or Chemistry. English is compulsory, but if you have a real love of the language and written word you take English Literature, and if you love to create art you take an arts subject or two. Because you find it FUN or it has always interested you and you figure it will be enjoyable to undertake.
THIS.IS.UTTER.FUCKING.ASRSE.MUNCHING.SHIT.ON.A.STICK.
Year 12 sucks the fun out of any subject you find enjoyable. With exams. With assignments. With assessments. With pressure. I USED TO LOVE ART!!! Now I have to make a folio, develop, develop, develop, and while I don't deny it is helping me improve some of my skills, the pressure of all of these subjects piled on top of one another is immense. And whats more, everything is always due AT THE SAME TIME!!!
In Literature, you study the text so much that even though you may have loved the text a lot when you first read it, the analysis takes all the joy out of it!
Same goes for languages. The pressure of assignments, tests et al takes all the joy and fun out of discovering how to speak a new language.
As for Drama... well... relying on an ensemble group to keep it together on stage is one thing, relying them to pull their weight so as you can all pass with a decent mark and not be in the shittiest show on the night is quite another.

The point I am trying to make is, we chose subjects we love at the beginning of the year, and within a term we hate them. We hate a lot of things, but mostly the fact that the initial reason as to why we chose these subjects is forgotten. This goes for all subjects.
Arts? The wussy, sissy, bludging, lazy way out? Fuck off. If I hear anyone say that again I will shove a pelican so far up their arses they'll be shitting fish for a month.

Rant over.

Lou.