The class of '16 has finally graduated and are embarking on their journeys into the real world. Now everything that involves the school is optional and I'm very jealous of them for that. No longer will they have to attend repetitive seminars instead of studying. And no longer will they have to hear the most repeated words cadets loathe on a consistent basis. I'm very jealous of them. Don't get me wrong, the lessons on the vocabulary listed below we've been taught are very important and will serve us well in the future. Unfortunately for these words, there are few suitable synonyms that get the point across as well as the top three words I never want to hear again after I graduate.
1. Motivation/Motivate
Helping yourself or someone else find the inner desire to do a task as perfect as possible. It's constantly used to try to get someone to stop being lazy and do their job. At our beloved institution there is little time to sit down and relax, which tends to demotivate people from other tasks they personally deem less worthy. What tends to be the motivation behind most people's actions is the very real consequence of someone wasting someone else's time by chewing them out over something they don't care about. The word is used to encourage people to excel at their tasks, but since it is used more often than not, it begins to take the opposite effect with the cadets that are forced to listen to a one-track playlist.
2. Accountability
Responsibility of the outcomes of your actions. I try not to cringe when I hear this word. This one might be the most commonly used word on campus. Yes, we understand that we own our actions, because if we didn't, then we'd probably be diagnosed with anti-social behavior disorder and be in prison. The main thing we use accountability for is making sure no one has escaped the maximum security college which is usually referred to as "safety reasons." It seems like the school is worried about someone hurting themselves, so why not create a culture that doesn't make people want to do reckless things? Well the solution they found was to create a new computer program, the Cadet Accountability System (CAS), which tracks your behavior more closely than the NSA could ever dream of.
3. Leadership
The ability to guide others. This the granddaddy of them all and the one I can't blame the school for over-using. It's literally the marketing campaign that makes our school so attractive and distinguished. That being said, it's everywhere. It's on our shirts, programs, signs, you name it. I might as well have it tattooed on my forehead. The entire school is based around giving an exceptional academic education along with teaching the students the values and principles of effective leadership, which is a good thing, but they try to drive it into our skulls a little too much.
I truly hope that I will practice the definitions of the aforementioned vocabulary words, but at the same time, I can't wait to seriously cut down on the amount of times I hear them a day, let alone a college career.
