//------------------------------//
// General Education 
// Story: School Days 
// by Dai Kirai 
//------------------------------//

	Stormy returned to his seat in the grand ballroom, full from his lunch, and a little swollen. At the end of his meal the entire bottle of water had been downed plus some. 
When they returned to their seats Sunny Skies, the white pegasus whose room he originally been placed in, had worked out a deal with Suzanne to rearrange the seats. Edward had been moved to one side and Roderick to the other and both threatened to keep their bickering down. Sunny could be surprising motivational. And against Stormy’s protests he was moved between Sunny and Katherine. 
The pegasus looked at his female counterpart, there was something about her, an aura, that was regal, that she had experience and authority. Her face seemed stuck in a perpetual state of ease, as if she knew more than others could understand, that nothing could bother her. It was disquieting.
Mr. Maitland returned to the stage. “Welcome back, I hope you all had a good lunch.” As he walked across the stage. “Now that you are all Bruins, you need to understand what it means to be a True Bruin. Basically the code of conduct you are all supposed to follow.”
The screen behind him lit up like it did during the last presentation. The images were all one large word in gold followed by a sentence in white, all on a field of blue.


INTEGRITY


I will conduct myself with integrity in my dealing with & on behalf of the University.


EXCELLENCE


I will conscientiously strive for excellence in my work.


ACCOUNTABILITY


I will be accountable as an individual & member of this community for my ethical conduct.


RESPECT


I will respect the rights & dignity of others.


SERVICE


I will make an impact in our global community through public service.



Stormy looked out over the crowd as the speech continued, most of the students looked bored, a few took notes, yet some like Sunny acted like it was some diplomatic speech from a foreign dignitary. Edward was paying attention but looked disinterested, Katherine was watching everything that happened up on stage while mumbling to herself, and Suzanne lulled her head to the side asleep. Their NSA was nowhere to be seen.
“I would like to introduce you to Captain Ganz of the University of California Los Angeles Police Department.”
The man that came up to stage was portly, filling out his white shirt and black pants. He looked about standard from what he had seen of humans, another officer went up with him a female with ebony skin, slightly shorter than the captain. 
“Thank you Dean Maitland. I am Captain Ganz and this is Lieutenant Valencourt. We are here from UCPD and we would like to discuss how to make sure your time here is as safe as possible.” 
Lieutenant Valencourt stayed on the left side of the stage while Captain Ganz moved to the right. “UCPD is a full-fledged police department tasked with protecting both the UCLA campus and the surrounding area including Westwood. But you still need to be aware of your surroundings to stay safe.”
A number came up on the screen. “This is the number you can call if you are out late and feel like you need an escort, we will be happy to assist you. BruinBus is another complimentary service that runs year round from around UCLA into Westwood and runs every ten minutes.”
Officer Ganz went from a slide showing a blue and white bus to one showing a two wheeled contraption. “The biggest crime would be bicycle theft due to so many people using bikes and this campus being so bike friendly, so make sure you lock up your bike properly and wrapped the chain through the rear tire.”
“Another major crime is theft of computers.” The slide switched again to an image of a small computer people were carrying around outside, and several were using to type during the lecture. “Don’t let things like your computer or books out of your sight. It doesn’t matter if you will only be stepping away for a few seconds, that’s all it takes for them to go missing. UCLA also offers free Lojack theft recovery for free for every student.”
The image shifted again, this time to two large male humans wearing odd white clothing grappling with each other. “Another service offered is free self-defense lessons in the John Wooden Center. The cost is covered by a different campus organization every quarter. The instructor used to train LA SWAT teams for twenty years and tailors the lessons to what the students want to learn, from what to do if held at gun point, to if someone tries to sexually assault you.”
The slides turned off. “Are there any questions?” The portly Officer asked. 
Several people asked question, which were easy to answer, several of which had already been answered. 
Then a white hoof rose into the air next to him. “What do you have to say about the report from Business Insider in two thousand twelve that stated UCLA was the most dangerous college campus in the United States?”
Stormy had completely forgotten that he had wanted to ask that same question, although not as elegantly.
Captain Ganz took a minute before answering. “That article only compared public campuses, excluding places like CSU from their rankings. It was also based off FBI crime statistics for the area UCPD covers which is a population of over nine million people including West Los Angeles, Westwood business districts, and various medical centers. It was a highly overblown report based off of faulty statistics.”
Sunny gave a polite nod. “Thank you.”
With no more questions the officers left the stage and a new person took their place. This one was about five foot ten with stringy brown hair and a wiry frame. He wore a white button down shirt white black pants. 
Stormy decided he really needed to learn more about clothing, pants were pants, as in useless but not to humans who may have had other messages conveyed in the way they dressed. 
“Hello I am Michael Bernstein, Director of the Freshman Cluster Program. General education typically gets a bad rep. Most students already have their major picked out and have no reason to take any class that doesn’t lead them toward that goal.”
There were a few discreet nods around the room.
“Well… I hate to break it to you but gen ed is required to meet that goal. And if you don’t take it seriously it will tank your ever precious GPA.” Bernstein crossed his arms as he walked around the stage. “For you overachievers that should be enough, now for those of you who actually care about your education, these courses actually have a purpose. Here’s a quote from C.S. Lewis: ‘The task of the modern educator is not to cut down jungles, but to irrigate deserts.’ And here’s another one: ‘Education has produced a vast population able to read but unable to distinguish what is worth reading.’ G.M. Trevelyan.”
“Perhaps that still isn’t enough. ‘There is nothing so stupid as the educated man if you get him off the thing he was educated in.’ Will Rogers.” Bernstein looked out at the throng of students, minds ready to be shaped. “If you do not have a depth of knowledge as well as a breadth of knowledge; well you are smart, connect the dots. But that, is the purpose of general education classes.”
“You are required to take a total of ten classes plus Writing Two. These must include at least one literary and cultural analysis, philosophical and linguistic analysis, visual and performing arts analysis and practice, historical analysis and social analysis, plus a second from either the historical or social analysis sections. Plus two life science and two physical science courses with one containing a lab portion. The complete list can be found on the UCLA website.”
“However, your major has its own requirements and you will have to look at the with your departmental advisor, but you may be able to get some of your GE classes to count for your major too. The last program I need to cover before I release you to your NSAs for a degree planning exercise is the Cluster Program. It is a yearlong cluster course with a different class each quarter with all three sharing a common theme. Take a look at each of these. The real bonus of the Cluster Program is that it fulfills forty percent of your GE requirements as well as giving you priority enrollment for English Three as well as completing your English Two requirement.”
“And with that I bid you adieu, and hope you take your education as more than just a stepping stone.”
The ballroom was dead quiet as Michael Bernstein walked off the stage.
“That isn’t how I remember orientation…” Chevonne muttered. 
The room slowly emptied as orientation groups decided where to go next.
“Let’s go down by the bear to cover how to plan out your degree.” Their NSA led them out the way they came in. 
Suzanne struggled to stifle a yawn, moving a hand up to her mouth. “That was fun. Occupy us until three with pointless information.”
“You can’t tell me you didn’t learn anything.” Katherine turned around, making a show of closing her eyes and sticking out her tongue. 
“That’s beside the point.” Suzanne made a show of sticking her nose into the air. Her arm snapped out, catching her childhood friend on the arm. “Keep your eyes open, you almost ran into someone, I can’t always watch your back.” Sticking her tongue out in rebuttal. 
“But you are so good at it.”
“That’s beside the point.”
They reached the Bruin Bear across the plaza only to see its pedestal already taken up by another group, the group containing Sunny and Roderick. Of the two new people, the first was a lanky blonde wearing a sleeveless white top and short denim pants. The other was a pallid looking girl, her legs and arms were fully covered, and even her hands were covered, the only part showing was her face cast in the shadow of the bear. A male human was standing in front of the four freshmen, he had an oddly squarish head, the grin adorning his face, a permanent fixture surrounded by facial hair. 
Stormy’s group found a nearby bench at the edge of the concrete, while the humans sat on the bench, Stormy decided the triangular patch of grass looked divine. He lowered his belly onto the cool surface, letting the blades work their way into his fur, the smell taking him back to primary school, crashing onto Mrs. Myrtle’s yard after a game of catch the cloud. Legs splayed out behind him.
“There isn’t much more to cover for degree planning. Tomorrow we will have a hands on demonstration of how to look up classes.” Chevonne went around handing each person a small packet of papers. “This packet has an overview of the general education courses and more information on the Cluster Program. At the back is also a test sheet for making up a schedule of classes. So if you have any questions.”
“How many units are classes worth?” Katherine asked.
“General Education classes are all five units each, many upper division classes are worth four units. You are required to complete at least sixty units of upper division courses to complete your bachelor’s degree, many of those should be geared towards your major but the rest will be electives.” 
Stormy hoped he wasn’t the only one lost. “But what are upper division courses?”
Chevonne face scrunched to one side, before releasing an audible sigh. “Sorry, it’s hard to realize these are not common knowledge to you yet. Lower division courses are foundational and numbered zero to ninety-nine while upper division classes are more geared toward your major and require specific lower division courses as prerequisites.”
“What are our unit caps?” Edward asked next.
“You must maintain at least twelve units to be considered a full-time student and the typical maximum amount of units you can take in one quarter is nineteen. My roommate sophomore year got permission to overload; or take more than nineteen and had twenty-four units.” Chevonne paused, looking at the faces of her charges. 
“If you listen to one piece of advice from me take this one, do not take more than three classes your first quarter and make sure they are from different fields. It is way too easy to fall behind here; they weren’t joking up there when saying you basically start behind in classes, but it is worth it.”
A beeping sound went off from Chevonne’s bag. She reached into a pocket moving stuff around and the sound stopped. “It’s almost four and time to talk about a really fun event. A short exploration of the nearby Westwood Village and the donation of an item to go into a gift basket that will be sent to Mattel Children’s Hospital which is part of the UCLA Medical Center. Now this is completely optional, but I highly suggest it. Your gift can help comfort a child staying in the hospital.”
“Who would like to pitch in?” Looking down at some papers covering her lap, eyes focused on her watch. 
Chevonne raised her head, expression clear, eyes raised in surprise.
Stormy looked around to see three hands in the air along with his hoof.