My name is Luqiao and I have yet to graduate.
I lived my days shamelessly as a marketing undergraduate.
I shared a dorm with three other students and stayed in 90% of the cla.s.s semester.
Cutting cla.s.ses were nothing out of the ordinary.
I skipped my way through year 1, 2, and 3 just like that before finally receiving a warning letter from the school.
All four of us received it, to be exact.
75 credits were required for students to graduate but I had only 17.
My dormmates weren"t any better either.
In any case, we won"t be able to graduate if this continued. Of course, there was still year 4.
In the final semester, I thought about the 60 credits that I needed.
Was it hard? Yes.
Was it possible? Only if I left my computer and dorm to go to cla.s.s.
It wasn"t a big deal, however, since I could just attend more public cla.s.ses.
As we were fretting over this issue, an idea came knocking on our door.
The school is humane after all...
In fact, I suspect that the school teachers planned everything because they came to look for us right after the warning letters were sent out.
I opened the door and was taken aback by the teacher"s visit.
"Are you here to check on us, Teacher? We"re not in possession of prohibited goods."
"You"re all here, eh?" the teacher asked.
"Yes. How can we help you? If it"s not an inspection... and what should we do about the course credits?" I asked.
The teacher slapped four sheets onto the table. "I"m here to talk about this."
"There"s only a year left so clearing 60 is too challenging. Will I have to retain?" I asked.
"We"re not that ruthless, but clearing 60 in a semester is indeed challenging. However, we"ve recently received an invite from the nation. We need to send a few university students to a welfare agency, nursing home, orphanage and other organizations to volunteer. It will take a month but you guys have a semester break. Perform well and that 60 credits won"t be a problem," the teacher told us with a smile.
17 + 60 = 77. That"s more than enough to graduate.
I looked at my dormmates, who had already taken the sheets.
"I have a question," I called out to the teacher.
"Yes?"
"We"ll have to perform well, you say? How do you define "well"? What if we work our a.s.ses off only for you to call it as a fail? Won"t we have worked for nothing then?" I questioned.
My dormmates looked up from the sheets in their hands.
"Yeah, Teacher."
"Tell us what"s considered good."
"Right, or the school might just sell us out."
The teacher cleared his throat and shook his head. "The rule is simple. We will get reporters to doc.u.ment you. The reporters won"t just interview you, but also seek others" opinions about you. If the interviewees evaluate you positively, I"ll give the credits to you. You should know very well that no one will go against you in front of the reporters if you"re doing a good job. "
"Will we be required to submit a reflection at the end of that project?" I asked.
"No. Just avoid making any mistakes. This is an important mission that the nation has entrusted us with so we"ll be hiring reporters from big publishing firms. You don"t have to write anything at all so this really is the simplest way for you to clear your much-needed credits. I already laid it all out for you so consider this properly," he advised, picking up the last sheet and moving to stow it back in his bag.
I reached my hand out to stop him. "No, no. I"m in. I was just clarifying the details. Give it to me, please."
"You don"t even attend cla.s.ses, but you dare to bargain so much when I"m offering you a good deal."
I took the sheet and smiled sheepishly. "No, no, just checking. Why would you cause us trouble?"
I looked at the form.
It asked for personal details and at the bottom were the words: Kang Ning Mental Inst.i.tution.
I pointed at the sheet and said, "Wait, no, no, Teacher. This... what"s going on? Why is it a mental inst.i.tution? You said welfare agency, nursing home, an orphanage!"
He smiled. "Yes, welfare agency, nursing home, orphanage, and a mental inst.i.tution. It"s not really that bad, just far away from the school. Since this is a volunteer project, I"ll appeal for free accommodations for you guys."
"We"ll be in different places?" I asked apprehensively.
"Yeah, mine"s an orphanage.
"Welfare agency."
"Nursing home."
"Why are you separating us?" I asked, uncomprehending.
"We did not pay much attention to this when we received the invite. It was only recently when we realized that the certifications and news have to be submitted, that we finally took action. There has to be news about 16 places so how can we allocate all four of you to a single place? I"ll need to find 12 more students," he noted.
"That I understand, but mental inst.i.tution? Aren"t you worried that I might get hurt? Isn"t it dangerous? Can I get another location?" I requested.
"Don"t worry about that. The patients there are more normal than you think. You"ve been watching too many television programs. They don"t act up all the time. It"s 60 credits that we"re talking about. Are you going to consider retaining just because it"s a mental inst.i.tution? I"ll have to allocate more places so please don"t make things difficult for me," he responded.
"Alright, alright. I guess I have no choice," I agreed in frustration.
"Return the form when you"re done filling it up, and we"ll send the address and details to your phone. The reporters will interview you about 20 days into your voluntary work. I don"t wish to hear any negative feedback since it will affect the school"s reputation. If that happens, it"s no longer just about retaining. You guys will also be condemned by the whole school."
We nodded and the teacher left with a cold smile.
The moment he left, I shouted, "Guys, can you please change with me? Won"t it be tough taking care of the elderly? You might need to clean up after them. Kids are noisy and careless, what if you accidentally hurt them? As for welfare agency, you"ll have to run from house to house under the hot sun. My heart will ache if you get all tanned and dehydrated. The patients in the mental inst.i.tution are deranged and won"t even care if you ignore them. That"s the easiest! You don"t even have to work," I tried.
"Just suck it up, Luqiao."
"Fill the forms up and I"ll hand it over for you guys tomorrow. Don"t think about altering our forms, Luqiao. You might lose three dormmates."
"That"s right. Deal with it, Luqiao!"
"Remember to share your experience with us, we haven"t met any mental patients before."
I shook my head. "But I deal with three mental patients every day."
"We"ll let that slide because we know this is going to be hard for you. Man, I can"t believe that the school is willing to get students to go there just to complete the mission."
"Do well, learn well!"
"Hang in there, buddy."
I shook my head helplessly.