You can measure the force required to fracture a beam, but not the force required to get out of bed after a death in the family. You can calculate the thermal expansion of steel, but not the expansion of anxiety before a third attempt in Thermodynamics. You can simulate a combustion engine under extreme load, but you cannot simulate a student working two jobs, caring for a parent, and still trying to understand finite element methods at 2 a.m. in the RUB library.
With respect, A student of Maschinenbau Ruhr-Universität Bochum If you need this piece translated into for actual submission or use, let me know, and I will provide a version in formal, respectful, and emotionally precise German.
To the Prüfungsamt,
Do not lose your precision. But add a little plasticity. A student who fails not because they lack knowledge but because life exceeded their yield strength — that student does not need less rigor. They need a recognition of reality as a legitimate load case.
But here is the deep cut: You cannot measure everything. prüfungsamt maschinenbau rub
The German university examination system prides itself on fairness through uniformity. One standard for all. Gleichbehandlung. But in Maschinenbau, we know: uniform stress leads to failure at the weakest point — unless you design with individual load cases .
And sometimes, the most engineering solution is not to harden the rules, but to soften the interface. You can measure the force required to fracture
We will continue to build engines, bridges, robots, turbines. We will calculate, draw, simulate, fail, retry. But please remember: the most complex system you oversee is not the curriculum — it is the student.