Assignment 3: Decision Analysis (Felicia)

1) During OBS, my friends and I were provided many opportunities to be proactive. One particular instance that stood out happened after a whole day of canoeing. The reactive thing to do, after spending more than 10 hours rowing our hearts out was to fling ourselves down on the beach for a rest. Instead, my friends and I were proactive, cooking instant noodles and setting up tents, as well as taking care of those who were sea-sick. OBS certainly taught us the need for being proactive, since by simply reacting to things, nothing gets done around camp. A good, if somewhat laughable example would be when my friends and I stood for 10 minutes in the forested area screaming our lungs out just because there was a huge spider in the way. We reached our camp site late and were, of course, highly criticized by our instructor for the incident.

2) While the education system does not teach students to make good decisions (there were never classes or even presentations on such skills), however, I feel that the education system does provide the means to making a good decision for students. When it comes to the time for students to make decisions, usually in choosing schools and subject combinations, the schools will provide lots of information so that their students can make good and informed decisions. Teachers and school counselors will also offer advice to students when it comes to making tough decisions. All these allow students to make better, if not good decisions.

3) A major decision I need to make would be whether to study in a local university or an overseas one (although I need a scholarship to go overseas). And if I should be offered the opportunity to study overseas, the decision will be further complicated as I will need to decide which country I want to go to – US or UK. My parents seem to favour a US education at Michigan, yet I have always wanted to study at Warwick. Since I need to choose one or the other, I will probably end up disappointing either them, or myself. This will be quite a difficult decision to make should I ever need to choose some day.

felicia