Is University Just One Big Meme?

An internet meme, for the slightly less internet savvy, is a popular image or video passed electronically from one internet user to the other, encapsulating a particularly well known 'joke' or turn of phrase. For example, frequent users of Youtube may have been unwittingly linked to Rick Astley's "Never gonna give you up" (commonly referred to as 'Rick Rolling') sometime in the past, or more recently exposed to a number of crude KONY2012 imitations. There's even whole websites dedicated entirely to cat memes!

This got me thinking. For something as basic as a cat, or as socially vague as Rick Astley, there must be memes out there somewhere regarding University right? What better way to try and understand the general consensus of  University students, than through sourcing their memes? Luckily, I didn't have to search very far.

UQ Memes is a Facebook page dedicated to memes concerning the University of Queensland and its students. While humourous, some also piqued my interest for other reasons. One meme in particular caught my eye:

I found this both funny and poignant. Being a first year student, I've endeavored to attend all my lectures, in fear of missing something relevant or important, and to be completely honest with you, the majority of them haven't been helpful at all. More than once I have contemplated getting up and leaving, if only because the content seemed useless or was easily sourced from somewhere else.

Perhaps there is an underlying culture of laziness amongst students here at UQ, or perhaps the problem lies in the presentation of information to the students. I took the opportunity to speak with a number of my fellow Union College residents over dinner last night, and asked them what their opinion was on the matter. Not to my surprise, the majority felt their lectures were dull, uninteresting and overall unhelpful.

What if these memes were used for more than just a good giggle? If you're a University student, why not try create your own meme?  Trying to understand a meme can be just as (if not even more) useful as a survey or questionnaire. As we all know, there's a sense of truth to every joke... and even Heads of Universities must understand that.