Mature student Joe Callaghan, first year English, arrived late to his tutorial last week proudly, having successfully written up his essay on a computer, and attempted to submit it on a floppy disk.
Callaghan, who is in his late sixties, said, ‘when I decided to come back to college to do a degree, I was concerned about being away from the classroom for so long, and how I would get on computer things.’
The student begrudgingly typed up his essay as per the requirements, following a series of drawn and out and generally obnoxious arguments with the tutor on the merits of ‘pen and paper’. However he was dismayed when his tutor refused to mark it, just because he had submitted it on a floppy disk.
The tutor reported, ‘what am I supposed to do with a floppy disk? Looking into arcane technologies was not in the position’s description. My stipend isn’t big enough for that. I’m paid about 50 cent to mark each essay, I wouldn’t have time for this nonsense. However, Callaghan’s classmates were more sympathetic to his concern.
‘I think they should accept Joe’s essay,’ said one student. ‘I got to know him a bit when I worked with him on a group project, and he got his part of the project in on time. He told us some great anecdotes about the sixties and he also brought us egg sandwiches.’
Callaghan is currently seeking the administration to accept his floppy disk. While he has not reported how the effort is going, one student reported seeing him outside the administration building, carefully replacing the disk into his pocket alongside a handful of loose boiled sweets.
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Oisin Moore | Turbine Writer
