Does this Register?

It was class registration week this week.

Gone are the long add drop lines, class cards and bursar stamps of my youth. Now my son does all this on-line. Students are assigned a timeslot which is prioritized based on how many credit hours they have earned. It is all so clean and sanitary.

Back in the day it took a certain skill and gumption to get the classes you needed. You had to be early at the ROTC hanger, evaluate line speed, determine priorities and develop strategies based on a myriad of factors. Plans and options were discussed in dorms before add drop kicked off.

Somewhere along the line our dorm picked up a bursar’s stamp. The stamp and an ability to gain access to the ROTC hangar the night before (to pick up the class cards) significantly reduced the trauma of the event for some of the less scrupulous dorm mates.

But, I digress. This blog is about generations and communication.

Stu came home from meeting with his advisor (a step necessary to acquire a PIN to register) and said that both he and the advisor were surprised that he could participate in early registration. Only later did he confirm that this is a privilege granted to those who have a GPA over a certain threshold.

This is how I discover that my son is having a moderate degree of success in college.

Bad news I expect to have hidden, but good news? There are days that if I had a GPA averaging out to a an equivalent letter anywhere in the first half of the alphabet I would have taken out a full page add. I have never been shy about sharing good news. A lack of good news leaves a parent only a single option to worry about; bad news,

You wonder why I have grey hair.

I don’t wonder why my father does. He’s old.

I do wonder how long that bursar’s stamp was used.