UWI students treated like lab rats

THE EDITOR: A comment was once made that UWI students are oblivious to the things that impact most upon their true reality, that they are nothing more than creatures of habit operating within a set pattern. Nothing more than lab rats running through a maze of instructions, rules and demands made upon them, being experimented upon and exploited all in exchange for a piece of cheese. But before we can even examine the gratification brought about by the cheese itself, let us examine the life of the rat. An undergraduate student spends a minimum of three years exerting all of his energy into perfecting academic thinking in the hope of earning more money after the attainment of his or her degree.

The travesty of this fact is that academic thinking accompanied by a degree prepares him for life even less than it prepares him for the job market. Even more discomforting than this is the fact that the UWI student has no prospect of improving his situation. Doomed to a maze of exams, assignments and deadlines he is not even assured a seat in classrooms already exceeding their capacity, not assured of his survival on his present budget, not even assured of his degree — his cheese. What is certain however, is that at the end of the academic Year the UWI student will face a compulsory fee of $175 the price of uncertain representation. The Guild of Students has become as dead to the woes of the student as much as UWI administration.

The student, the rat, must now burrow through this maze on his own while being experimented upon, with only the scent of his cheese before him. In return for $175 the student receives nothing, not even a word on how his money is being spent. Another certainty however is that he or she knows that it is not being spent on him or her. Two years ago, the UWI Guild elections shocked and disappointed the nation with its reflection of national party politics. The racial satisfaction that has plagued the local scene seemed prevalent in the UWI Guild elections at the time. Unbelievably, the students of the University have reached an even worse stage than blind party politics. They seem to have reached a stage of apathy, inaction and unconcern. Lost, confused and isolated they no longer care about all the things they could have done with one hundred and seventy-five dollars. How many nights that amount of money would have put food in their mouths no longer concerns them. They have lost all hope of being delivered from their daily torture. They do not seek relief through mobilisation and united movement. Their only recourse is to find comfort in their maze, even if it means feeling needles of victimisation pierce their side daily.

Perhaps what is most interesting about the life of the rat is its inability to see who the grand scientist really is. It has no real relationship with that person or organisation. The rat simply takes orders for the benefit of the scientist. In addition, any great reward that is to come about from the life of the lab rat only serves as a source of prestige to credit the scientist with great achievements. The rat never realises that the livelihood and survival of the scientist rests solely in him running through the maze daily. In other words, the rat never recognises that he pays the bills, and as a result subjects himself daily to the tyranny of the scientist. Those that do have a tendency to speak up have no support and are often terrified of victimisation by lecturers or persons in authority. Whether or not this victimisation is a reality is debatable, but even rumours about it have stifled quests for positive change, and aborted drives for social consciousness. One can now understand why the lab rat does not see itself as being related to the wider society. It can’t even see past the scientist and as a result does not even take into account what life would be like outside of the maze he inhabits and will make no great contribution to life outside of it. Yet the rat lives on. The disturbing question that the nation is left with is this: If the university is producing foot soldiers and followers, where are the leaders of tomorrow? Where are the future entrepreneurs, the inventors, those who “think outside the box?”

LAB RAT #411
Milner Hall, UWI