College Plans - RPLOG
Participants
Date
13/1/2018
Log
"Good morning," Narwen calls cheerfully. The skunk beast, still wearing those hideously colourful shorts, is waiting at the head of a small conference table. A few pads of paper and pens are arranged in the centre, along with cups, a dogbowl, and a pot of Zephyr's infamous coffee. The table is surrounded by chairs in various sizes but Narwen isn't using one, preferring to stand on all fours. "Come on in, don't be shy. Please take a seat, or, y'know." He gestures around the table with a forepaw. "Thanks for coming. Just to make sure we're all in the right place: this is a kick-off meeting to discuss setting up college-level classes. I don't expect us to figure everything out today, and I certainly don't expect to have a research university up and running tomorrow, but maybe we can work out the first steps to bootstrap something. Oh! And before I forget, is there someone who can take notes? I would, but, y'know," he adds, waving his paw.
"I know some of you already," the skunk continues, "but there're some new faces -- and even for folks who've chatted a dozen times in the lobby, we might now know the relevant bits of each others' backgrounds. So let's go round the table and introduce ourselves -- I'll start. So, hi. I'm Narwen, I've done a PhD in physics and taught some classes, but never put together a whole course from scratch. I'm also kind of rusty, since for obvious reasons I haven't taught since P-day and have mostly been doing applied nanite stuff instead of real physics. So that's me. Who's next?"
"Flora. uh... Flora Castillo, even though I don't really use my full name a lot anymore. I've, uh... Got a bachelor in physics... Probably not the best to teach as a result, but unless we find a whole faculty full of doctors somewhere, I figured I can at least chime in, help with some entry-level courses... Or things on quantum-mechanics. I did specialize a bit, even if P-day stopped my plans to get a Masters degree," comes the voice of a particularly small she-cat, mumbling every now and then. She seems a little flighty, and while her outfit isn't the most modest ever, at least she's covered up properly.
The unusually human looking guy in the room, with a lightly patched up lab coat sits at the table, brown hair, haze eyes, and appearing to be about in his mid thirties, sits down with a warm smile, glancing over the rest of the people at the meeting and says, "Hi, I'm Randel... uh, just Randel." and looks a bit awkward sayings, "Family names have kind of lost meaning to me after P-day". Then the man works on brightening up and says, "Was a college student trying to work on a degree before things change, and got much of my education from Zephyr. I specialized in feral behavior research and was a 'so-called' xeno psychologist, as it is listed in the profession. As a requirement, medical knowledge was needed as well, so I technically a doctor, even though it is through Zephyr and in field experience." He then looks down and goes through the worn backpack he brought and mutters, "Shoot, I could take notes, but I think I left stuff for that back at the office." He looks up grumbles, "Great... wonderful example, not bringing pen and paper to an education meeting. Paper is just so..."
A cute and friendly looking lamia girl raises her petite hand to introduce herself. "Hi, I'm just U-uvi. U-uhm, I was born after P-day, so I may not have any official qualifications, but my parents were researchers at RSX, and I used to work there too. I think I'm a scientist of some sorts too, I know a lot about nanites and electronics, some biology too. Anyway, nice to meet y'all~!" She smiles and winks to everyone, before she adds, "O-oh, I can take n-notes!" She grabs some sheets and starts to look for a pencil in her bag. She quickly finds it and neatly places it on a table.
Narwen gives an encouraging nod to Flora. "Okay, pleasure to meet you, Flora, Randel, Uvi. Thanks very much for stepping up. Don't worry if you don't tick all the traditional boxes -- we aren't exactly swimming in full professors, and if we don't at least pass on the knowledge we have then, well, we're a couple of feral attacks away from losing it. So, Let's maybe start by thinking about what we're trying to accomplish, on the timescale of a few years. I've got my own thoughts about that, and about what's realistic, but I'd like to hear yours -- don't want to bias you right off."
"I mean... That's what I figured. A bachelors mightn't be... Much, but it's more than most people know about physics. I'd be happy to provide what I have. Even if my memory's a bit spotty due to, uhm... My past," the she-cat offers, looking away for a moment. "I'd say... Teach what we can? Breadth first, with depth wherever possible? Hopefully we can find someone who knows about the various subjects to get a decent spread..."
"Build... Build from there..."
Randel sighs and sits back up when Uvi covers the note taking job and gives a quiet "thanks". He shrugs off the slight embarrassment and moves his eyes back up to the meeting at hand, and maybe wandering a bit over a few nice figures. He adds in, "Some of what Zephyr has could help with getting people familiar with certain subject matters, but it doesn't have anywhere near the capacity that is required for a school, let alone for a sizable college... Plus the costs aren't that great." He thinks for a moment and gets an idea, "I've been doing pretty well teaching from the books that were salvaged and digitized. Been learning a bit of various things while helping with the current push on education. Though, my worry is student focus. With those... impulses, it can make teaching troubleshoot. I don't suppose we have a way to handle that, right?"
Uvi listens carefully to other people, occasionally writing some words on paper or playing with her hair. When it's her turn to speak, she scratches back of her head and mumbles, "Uuhm, I don't know? I'm not really sure how the system had been working before nanites hit, so.. Maybe we should focus on things which would help restore the world, or build a new one? Like, teaching people how to build machines, repair electronics.. or how nanites work.. Hmm..." She puts a finger on her chin and looks up, getting lost in her thoughts. After a while, she loudly exclaims, looking ant Randel, "Focus~! Right! Uhm, I.. I don't know if it's the right place to say this, but... How about we ask Prommies? They had some succes with teaching people how to.. control themselves." She blushes a little as she says this, and shifts her coils, embarrassed.
