OPINION
Coming Friday, November 30..
Editorial: Students deserve a full dead week before final exams.
McLeod: Men can be victims of domestic violence, too.
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
WWW.KANSAN.COM
and to petition the government for a redress of grievances
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2007
PAGE 7A
BURGERTIMES
New grading system causes confusion
Implementing a +/- grading scale can dilute students' grade point averages
Along with the countless other academic nuances under review at the University of Kansas, grade reporting has also come under some scrutiny. Typically, final grades are given in whole letters. Now there is a move to change the grading system to show how strong that
grade was. What would be a final grade of B is reported as a B- or B+.
More specificity in this area seems silly. I will admit, last semester one of my professors reported an A- for me, and it really stole the thunder of an A. Minus is always bad to me, which makes half of very letter grade bad. For all of us, there are a few letters that are intrinsically bad as well, regardless if they're paired with a plus sign or not. Overall, it creates a lot more bad-feeling grades. Also, this new system could divide what was once one letter grade into two or even three new ones (B-, B, B+). This
seems to me to be a half-step to simply reporting the student's percentage in the class.
As if working for the letter grade weren't stressful enough—now students can wig out over which half of the letter grade they fall on, too. The new system only shifts old grading discrepancies. Perhaps giving the student a C+ now ameliorates the issue of pushing a 79% to a B (probably not), but the new question lies in the middle of the letter. Can my 84 percent be bumped up to a B+?
Changing the grading system in this way would certainly require changing the grade
point average. If one is going to distinguish between the strength of letter grades, it should also be reflected in the GPA. Probably, it will be more complex, more confusing and the value of each student's GPA will change by virtue of this new system.
In considering all of these things, I forgot the initial reason for this grading change. I guess I never knew that, either.
Muselmann is a Tulsa, Okla.
junior in journalism.
DRAWING BOARD
MAX RINKEE
I LOVE EVERYBODY
God doesn't live here anymore
Too much focus on self-righteousness takes the focus off the point of a deitv
All right everyone, God has now officially abandoned us all. And yes, it may sound terrible, and rob you of hope, but it is true. Our *deus* has left his *machina*. The creator and benevolent maintenance worker of all has been driven away, and not by the ecclesiastical outlaws you might expect. Oh no, he loved the well dressed wolf men and tennis players of the world. It was the mono preach-and-teach men and women of
You see I had a dream. And in this dream seven angels appeared unto me, each representing one of the four corners of the earth. And when they appeared we sat around a Stuckey's
America that stared our Lord in the face and made him flinch.
in Kearney, Neb., and had a chat over gin and tonics and mixed nuts. They told me of a postcard shop in Turkmenistan, Ala, where I could find a DVD of Freakazoid. But more importantly they told me about God's recent departure from our little slush-ball. They said that he just couldn't take the megachurches and big-tent revivalism that had been popping up in the past century or so. Especially the praise bands.
Whoever first decided that the best way to show appreciation for existing was to play a guitar while a less talented friend swings a tambourine, and to repetitively shout some chorus involving the word "glory," is entirely responsible for God's current lack of interest. Although anyone that agreed is only slightly less responsible.
God doesn't want us to have "fellowship" with him. God is a grumpy old man with a lot of regrets, who sometimes actually does resemble Walter Malthau. He created plagues, pine sap and large cats that enjoy ripping the faces off of things. He is not interested in a local high school's Sunshine, pardon me, Sonshine club meetin' up at the flagpole to pray about biology textbooks. In fact, if someone is attempting to
ALL FOR ONE, AND ONE FOR ALL
contact the maker of all Heaven and Earth, and is not being faced with the aforementioned cats or some other thing with similar intentions, then they are not only wasting his time, but they are selfish and need some perspective. Although it's too late now. He's gone. And there are children in Mali, being defaced, whose cries are falling on deaf ears, because of those people, their oversized congregation and the praise and worship players.
Though, rumor has it, he may be willing to return someday if Scientology starts to catch on. There hasn't been a good smiting in quite a while.
White a Colorado Springs,
Colo., junior in journalism.
Text messaging alert system increases safety Improved communication with students may prevent future campus tragedy
When such tragic events happen on campuses elsewhere, I don't believe it affects us as deeply because there is always that belief in the back of our minds that this can't happen to us and on our campus. After the tragedy at Virginia Tech, the nation and other colleges certainly mourned for their loss, but yet, I feel as if this cannot happen to the campus here at the University of Kansas.
Recently, the University of Kansas has created a way to connect with students via cell phone by text messaging alerts that happen on campus. While there are no certain means for absolute safety and security, I believe it is a big step to ensure that safety and security and I applaud the University so that we could continue to study and attend class worry-free or worryless.
When such tragic events take place in our nation, there is usually a common factor that helps in not preventing these atrocities: Miscommunication. On Sept. 11, while there are kooky conspiracys that the government was behind it all, miscommunication between our agencies hindered any preventive action or knowledge of the fore coming tragedy. We saw it all again at Virginia Tech as the shooter went from his dorm after killing a few students in the dorm rooms and ran through campus to only kill more at other buildings across the campus from his dormitory.
I am in no way blaming Virginia Tech for this tragedy, but you have to wonder, if Virginia Tech had this text messaging alerts for the students
then, could more lives have been saved? Even if only one student feels the vibration of his phone in his pocket, sees the alert and informs the rest of the student body, many lives could be saved. I'm not speculating that if Virginia Tech did have these text messaging alerts that this event wouldn't have been so catastrophic. It happened and that is that. However, I think it is a good thing that we, the University of Kansas, and other colleges are making strides to oppose these random acts of violence.
Really, that belief that it can't happen to us, is not so prevalent these days. We live in a time of heightened fear and paranoia in this age of terrorism, and most of the time, this would cause panic, but communication can only help the situation.
However, it is not the belief, "It can't happen to us," that is tugging us at this moment but that if it did happen, we would be powerless anyway. I don't really fret about it anymore because I have learned to accept that my fate could be decided at any moment, but yet, I felt a shift within me as I attended a class on Nov. 15. My pocket began to vibrate, so I pulled out my phone and I saw that I received a text message. I opened my phone and it said something like, "This is only a test," from KU and at that moment I felt truly secure. I was beginning to think of situations, where if something did happen on campus, I would be aware of the incident quickly. I could avoid dangerous areas and walk the other way, away from danger.
While this is an age of terrorism, it is also an age of technology, and I see this text messaging alert system implementing our technological advantages as a way to prevent great atrocities and to only bring the students and faculty closer by communication.
Brown is a Lee's Summit, Mo., junior in journalism.
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Free for All, I really like this amazing girl, but I might be leading her on because I don't think I am ready for a relationship. What do I do?
I don't know what we are; it might take some time. Sorry.
I can't wait for "The Golden Compass." Woo!
I think my roommate is planning to slowly roast me alive for dinner-the heat is high enough!
My roommate is not just planning to roast me alive for dinner, she is in the process.
Dear boys, girls don't like it when you dump them for their best friends.
Car alarms that go off over and over again after midnight make me want to scream!
TALK TO US
Best tackle by a KU player this week goes to Danielle McCray during the first half against Creighton.
Erick R. Schmidt, editor
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The Editorial Board
Eric Rick S. Rmidt, Eric Jorgensen,
Darla Sikape, Kelsey Haysen, Bryan
Dykman, Brandon T. Minster, Angelique
McNaughton and Benjamin R., Smith