FIRST YEARS ARE AN EASY TARGET FOR ‘SEAL CLUBBING’
Entry into First Year University life is one that is unpredictable and one has a lot to expect but cannot really come prepared for the challenges they are about to face. First year is one of the most stressful and difficult experiences in their lives. This is a stage in that demands a lot of self-control, self esteem, a firm support system and courage. First year is the time one gets to know oneself better and at the same time making life changing decisions that shape the kind of future one wants for themself. Stress and pain define this stage in one life.
Seniors know how stressful first year is, and thus target first year students as “victims”. Since they have been through the same experience previously, they know how first year students feel and this is what makes it easier for them to target first years thus making them victims of ‘seal clubbing’. Seniors see you, and think to themselves, “I see potential in that one”, and then want to take your innocence away from you because you are seen as “fresh meat”. But this wouldn’t be possible if it wasn’t for the challenges one faces during their first year in university.
Being in first year causes stress and strain because of the entire academic decisions one is expected to make, and the stress of actually making the right decision without wasting your own time, your parent’s money or event the bursary funds money, particularly when a student doesn’t come from a wealthy family. So you want to make sure that you have made the right choice. When you have made your choice, the second challenge of coping with the workload follows.
Coping with workload is one of the main influential factors to that leads to personality breakdowns along other breakdowns such as stress, home sickness, sever stress and depression. But it isn’t academic choices that cause first year students to become victims but also an addiction of other factors. This also includes the emotion involved in being far away from home and how to deal with it.
Students have a lot of power in their hands when they leave home. They are now in control of what they do with their time without guidance. Rhodes University exhibits high level of alcohol and drug consumption with the students during their first year, as a sign of “freedom”. And with clubs, town and bottle stores being only a walk away, the access of such substances is made easier and attainable. Being drunk makes it somehow “easier” for them to deal with stress but being drunk makes it harder for one to regain control of what there are doing and usually makes people act out of their character. This increases them being at risk of being victims of ‘seal clubbers’.
But substance abuse is not only brought in by ones “freedom” but also by issues such as home sickness. Home sickness is that intense feeling, that one feels when they are away from home for a very long time or when they are suddenly separated from their guardians. Individuals feel lonely because they are missing all the dear people in their lives and thus need a “quick fix” to take the pain away. This “fix” can come in the form of substance abuse or to find that one person who will give you the attention one may need on that particular day. The longing to have someone notice you and make you feel wanted. Seniors know this kind of a feeling and play on that to get what they want.
The first year spread constantly puts first year students at risk of being used and thus scaring them for life and makes them want to do the same thing to first years to com. The mentioned factors and many others make it easier for first years to fall in trap of being victims of seal clubbing. It also shows that first years should be monitored very closely and support systems should be put in place to help them deal with such issues. Help the “young ones” get through first year without getting their hearts broke.
15 years ago
3 comments:
I am not entirely sure what you thought first year would entail before you arrived but I can certainly tell you I was not had as disillusioned as you.
Your argument follows a series of thoughts that make fist years sound immature and naive about life. But you are adults and should no longer need to be ‘modi-coddled’. Referring to first years as 'their' makes you sound elitists and as if you are not one yourself. Putting yourself above first years so to speak makes you sound like the inexperienced one. Now when you decided to come to a university on the other side of the country, I am not entirely sure if you thought it would be peaches and cream? But in making such a big decision of leaving your home, I hope you accepted that it would not be easy but also that receiving that independence comes with the same amount of self discipline and responsibility.
Secondly did you never have older friends whilst you were at school that could tell you stories of their university experiences? Why is interaction with someone one or two years older suddenly strange? And why refer to all seniors as if they are predators? My experience of varsity is that there really is no age barrier or such a thing as seniors and juniors. If you make friends with people older than you they can be incredibly helpful in being there for you. To help you navigate your way round first year, because like you said they have been there before. You will only be a victim if you make yourself one. What if you told someone older you are third year? They would still hit on you; this has nothing to do with age or being a 'junior' as you called it. It has to do with ones own naivety in the situation. The only way you can deal with is by going out and experiencing new things.
Also I am not sure where you come from but there are bottle stores and clubs in my hometown as well, this is not a new occurrence in the world. In fact people party much harder much bigger in places such as Joburg but only because the town is small and it is concentrated that you notice it a lot more. It is just magnified by a small town with fewer places to go. But it is student life, and it is up to you how you let effect you. Once again the responsibility is in your hands.
There is so much support around you; everyone is in exactly the same boat so the varsity really caters for you. There is the counselling centre, your house warden and your friends will play an essential roll. Maybe meet some 'seniors' - they won’t eat you if you don’t let them.
If you not ready for the independence that varsity brings along with it personal growth and maturity. Go back home, where you are spoon fed. But in the big bad world one day everyone is a "target" regardless of your age and it is for you to learn how to react to being in uncomfortable situations. That is what university is for – to learn. Not jus academically but socially as well. The life experiences you gain here can not be taught in a book. Social interaction is the biggest part of a person’s personal development.
I would not trade my first year experience for anything. I have honestly had the time of my life, even with all its challenges and ups and downs. I have learnt more about myself, and matured and grown as a person in way that words can not describe. It has been the best decision of my life and I do it all again in a heartbeat even with the difficult parts because that’s what makes you stronger at the end of the day.
Bridge xxx
When you were at school, were you never posed with decisions about whether or not to party hard and do the things that were then, illegal with your older friends? If you weren't, then perhaps you should have considered your move to Rhodes a little more carefully considering the reputation Rhodents have picked up of late. Even though now, I am almost certain that any student (whether a first-year or not) would stick up for their fellow students and deny the accusations of raucous behaviour on a weekly basis.
Your generalised opinion about second and third-year students simply being out to get first-years is completely unjustified. I know this because I have numerous second-year friends who showed me around campus and helped me cope with the academic stress I have suffered from. Not every older male student out there is looking to sleep with a first-year girl while not every first-year girl is naive enough to fall for every older male student's tricks.
Your piece digs into first-years and is very condescending which is extremely hypocritical as you preach about first-years’ vulnerability not being exposed and exploited. I don’t know about you, but my first year at Rhodes as well as my older friends have helped me gain invaluable knowledge which I don’t think I would’ve found anywhere else.
I am not completely sure I understand the flow of your argument Lady Decoy. It appears to me that your reasoning merely stems from a very subjective point of view and is completely emotional. At some point I did not see how the facts in the argument linked to the title of the piece even though you attempted to pull it together at the end. First years, I have to say, cannot be as gullible and completely vulnerable as you make them out to be. It seems to me to be too much of a generalisation. What could have strengthened your argument is the use of specific cases in which what you claim actually occurred. I am pretty sure that everyone has at least half a brain to be able to deal with such trivial matters. Would we all have gotten this far if we didn’t?
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