What is all the fuss about????

Rhodes University is renowned for its wild partying scene and drunken behaviour. As a result, it was not surprising that when I told my friends that I was going to Rhodes they automatically thought that I was going to become an out- of- control drunk. This reputation, as I soon realised at the beginning of first year, is not all that accurate. After being at Rhodes and living in res for almost one year I still cannot identify with the stereotypical drunken Rhodes student that my friends at home thought I was going to turn into. For this reason, I do not know why alcohol consumption has become such an issue of concern at Rhodes University.

The article “Why students drink so much” on the FM Campus website states that young adults between the ages of 18 and 25 are more likely to use alcohol as part of their entertainment than any other age group. This was meant to be alarming, however, it is rather common sense due to the fact that it is during these ages when individuals are part of the partying scene. This should be understood properly before everyone starts jumping to conclusions and classifying students into the category of alcoholics.

Another point the article makes is that the drinking culture affects younger students more as they are not prepared for the newfound freedom and the availability of alcohol on campus. This is nonsense because with the freedom of being away from home, further responsibility lies on every individual at Rhodes University to perform without being under the watchful of their parents. It is this responsibility that makes me as diligent as I am in going to lectures and tutorials, even after a rough night of partying.

The partying lifestyle of Rhodes was also under scrutiny in another article by Daily Dispatch Online with the headline “Boozy pupils are poor achievers”. The article was in light of the report compiled by the university’s dean of students, Dr Vivian de Klerk, and head of counselling Dr Charles Young. The report found that drinking was associated with absenteeism in lectures, tutorials and practicals and poor academic performance. This is such a contradiction to the facts of the matter. Despite Rhodes’ reputation, Rhodes has the highest undergraduate pass rate in South Africa so how could one possibly make that statement to begin with?

Furthermore, highlighting peer pressure as a factor in the amount of alcohol consumed is also an excuse of a reason. As a first year, I never felt the pressure from any other students to drink. University students are no longer children and need to take responsibility for their actions and by blaming other people they are definitely not doing that. We have all learnt how to say no by the age of 18 so that can no longer be used as an excuse.

My experiences at Rhodes this far have been the best a varsity student could ever wish for. I have had the opportunity to make great friends, party when the time is right and work hard for the degree I am earning. I am, therefore, grateful for the opportunity of having a well-rounded varsity experience. Not only will I walk away with a highly regarded degree but also the strong belief that I have been educated in life. So, what is all the fuss about?

One For the Rhode

The thing about first year is that when you get to the tertiary education institution of your choice, you never really believe that you are actually entitled to an opinion. Sure, you like to believe that you have one. I mean, you are straight out of high school, just three months ago, you were one of the sharks in a see full of little fish. But then, life gives you one of those dreaded lemons. And you are back to square one. You get to University, and you are the little fish, and you really are swimming in a see full of sharks. However, by the fourth term of your first year, you tend to have formed a number of opinions about a number of things, so much so that you begin to feel a bit like an insufferable know-it-all.
However, one of the main opinions occupying my mind at the moment was formed about three hours ago. Let me begin by setting the scene. For the first time in about five months, a good friend and I decided to stay in on a Wednesday night in order to do some work. This, although seemingly daunting, actually turned out to be a fantastic idea. Why? Because about two hours after our friends had left us to go party it up at the Union (or the "Stevie" as it is now known), two of them returned. The one walked in, rolling her eyes and nodding her head, clearly still too sober to have had fun in that jock, cane-train infested building. The other friend (who I still love very dearly), stumbled in and looked as though she had just been hit by the Rhodetrip Shuttle. Perhaps it was merely the sober state from which I viewed her that made me realise just how bad the drinking problem in our little student town really is.
Don’t get me wrong. I am not trying to preach to the masses about the evils of drinking and partying. We all got the O-Week lecture, we all know that drinking is not good for our liver, and that we all do really stupid things when we drink too much (like kissing random people that we hope to never see again, or when we are on the dance floor, and somehow manage to convince ourselves that ABBA’s song Dancing Queen was written especially for us). The reality is that the song was not actually written for us, and we will definitely see that guy or girl again, because Grahamstown is just so small. So why then, every Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday night do we religiously put ourselves through this?
I know that I sound like a prick. Really, I am not one. I go out all the time. The bartenders know my name, and there are far too many pictures of me looking way past my best on Facebook. But every now and then my conscience reminds me that I am here to get a degree, and hence, my experiences here should be filled with academics and not alcohol. Today is one of those days. It is absolutely fine to go out and have fun. We are all young, free spirits trying to make names for ourselves and find our callings in life. We should be able to do whatever we want to. But when you think about it friends, is it really a good idea to drink so much that you have memory loss in the morning? Are the traditions of this University really going to be built on booze? And when we tell our children about our University experience, what will we say?
I suppose that there might just be an element of jealousy in my heart because I can hear the music pumping from afar as I sit in my friend’s room and complete this assignment. But really, my opinion does sort of make sense. We all act like idiots when we are drunk. But the fact is that we, myself included, do it all the time, and I will not deny that we have fun (even if we cannot remember it in the morning). But this is where that little manipulative worm of peer pressure wriggles in. Personally, I do not consider myself to be one who conforms, and if you knew me, you would totally agree. But on a Friday night, I (along with my "non-conformist" friends) manage to steer clear of Friar’s and go on a little mission to The Old Gaol. So we stay away from everyone and their beloved Cane-trains. But what do we do instead? We order quarts of Black Label, fill our lungs with nicotine and tar, and stumble out of the Gaol few hours later. As you can see, it is exactly the same principle as everyone else, just in a different setting.
So why have we made getting drunk and misbehaving one of our social traditions here in Grahamstown? For the moment, and for our moments to follow in this little town, this "tradition" is our regular bit of fun, but what will happen to us fifteen years from now? Sure, some of us will be raking in millions of rands, or solving the issue of world poverty. But those of us who don’t manage to break free from the Rhodes "tradition", God forbid, might find ourselves sitting in a bar downing tequilas and eating stale pretzels everyday, or living in a trailer with 15 children and a beer belly. So in conclusion, I would like to reiterate the idea that I am not tying to lecture the masses, in fact, I, although difficult as it is to admit it, form part of those masses. What I am really trying to say is that having a little bit of fun every now and then is benign, but not knowing your limits, and not knowing when to stop, could lead to disastrous consequences. Because everybody at this University, everyone like you and everyone like me, deserves a future far, far away from a trailer park.