"Peupa"

Have you ever felt like a class you're taking is an insult to your intelligence? I often feel like that in my writing class. I devoted all four years of high school to having the IB program teach my how to be a better writer. This class is basically a step backwards for me. I was literally insulted today in class, along with the rest of my classmates. We have been talking about intellectual property and web 2.0. We were given a reading for the weekend which was, for lack of a better word, stupid. The author seemed to be trying to channel George Orwell (one of my classmates was impressed I knew the author of 1984), but ended up talking in circles and failing to make a valid point.

Anyway, we started talking about the production of information. Our instructor asked us "in what ways would you consider yourself a producer of new information?" I argued that other than aesthetically and creatively, at our age, we don't have the time or knowledge to produce new valid information. We use the information from other people and put our own spin on it. My fellow classmates agreed with me. After listening to our statements our instructor said "You guys are 'peupa,' you're not yet people." He then said something to the effect of "You're not at the same intellectual level with your parents or other people that are out of college." WHAT?! First of all, I do consider myself a person. Along with considering myself to be a person, I consider myself to be equal to most other adults. How rude! How incredibly condescending. If I hadn't been in such shock I would have called him on it! One of my fellow group members looked at me and said "What?! 'Peupa'?" I shook my head and said "I know!" So, rude.