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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY GANSAI
TUESDAY, JANUARY 21, 2014
PAGE 4
opinion
TEXT
FREE FOR ALL
Why does it have to get drastically colder the day we go back to school?
Send your FFA submissions to 785-289-8351 or kansan.com
I have a love/hate relationship with my UDK horoscope. Today it is love.
What I missed during break?
Texting the FFAs!
Duck
You know you've met a dedicated transfer student when they're practicing riding the buses the day before spring semester starts.
The world is a better place when it's this warm in January.
What do the squirrels of KU do when the students are gone?
Go nuts?
"I wish I was a boy so I could be gay."
Did you miss me?
Unless the course is on Blackboard and fully equipped with a syllabus, I'll just pretend that I don't have to go to class tomorrow.
My room in the Schol Halls flooded over break. At least I get a new carpet?
Can I get in the FFA after graduating or would that tear a hole in the Matrix?
Sucks to BU
Did you know it's possible to be too tall to play Baby Jay and too short to play Big Jay?
Campus=wind and hills=I will never look good going to class
Editor's Note: The above are all of the FFAs submitted yesterday. So, until you give me new stuff, VINTAGE FFAS.
More Page One stickers on gameday, please
This person in the next stall is obviously speed texting on the toilet. The keyboard clicking sound and the ringer blew his cover..
There should be an FFA Hall of Fame
Am I the only selfish who likes peoples FB status if they like mine?
Sneeze in Strong, have the entire building say "bless you".
Wibbly Wobbly Timey-Wimey
How about we put all of the smokers in a box like at the airport.
CULTURE
My girlfriend and I are laying together in our futon, about to sleep, when she turns to me and says, "Sometimes I worry I'm a vampire."
Service trip teaches meaning of living and surviving
We have been taught from a young age the
evolutionary phrase "survive! of the fittest." I have always nodded in agreement, thinking. "Sure, that makes sense," all while picturing Dave the Barbarian dominating us all, until a recent trip I took to Eastern Europe led me to think otherwise.
When I first heard that KU Hillel was offering a pioneer mission trip to Bulgaria and Romania, I was intrigued. A few months ago, I couldn't locate Bulgaria or Romania on a map. These two countries were as unknown to me as the answer to a math equation.
After spending time with local peers from the Jewish communities in each country, I started to better understand both the people and the places. A few days into the trip, we were talking about the lifestyle differences between Bulgaria and America with a 19-year-old Bulgarian Jew that we had come to know. Before standing up to have a cigarette, she shared her insight in one simple sentence.
She told us, "I don't want to survive. I want to live."
For me, survival can be as simple as waking up when my alarm goes off on a Monday morning or going an entire day without coffee. Though the more I thought about these two words, the more difficulty I had defining the distinction. While I have always had a surface understanding that the Jewish history is a story of survival, after having spent some time in the Jewish communities of Sofia, Bulgaria, and Bucharest, Romania, — each country's respective capital — I realized that survival is not just a thing of the past.
It wasn't until about the fourth day of our trip that I had this moment of clarity. We were sitting in the Bucharest Jewish Community Center listening to the vice president tell us about Jewish life in Romania when he said, "60 percent of the Jewish population in Romania is over the age of 65."
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
I was startled. I was eager to know how this percentage compared to that of
American Jews. According to a study done in 2012 by Brandeis University, 24 percent of the American Jewish population is over the age of 65- about one million people. In America, I am in the majority, though in Romania, I would largely be in the minority. This issue launches an entirely new struggle for survival, leaving less than half of the Romanian Jewish population with the responsibility of sustaining their Jewish culture.
While contemplating this daunting task - I suddenly understood what I was doing in Eastern Europe. Though at first I struggled to see how at singing and dancing with the elderly or playing American "Jeopardy" with high school students could count as
Lyndsey Havens, a sophomore from Chicago, hands a flower to a 102-year-old resident of the Rosen Home in Bucharest, Romania, during her winter break service trip.
service, I came to understand that our time spent with these people allowed for moments of living.
In Bulgaria, each of us was given a golden sedekah box with the words, "A little for one is a lot for another," engraved onto it. I think this same principle applies to far more than just money.
The little bit of enthusiasm and energy that we brought with us into these Jewish communities hopefully resonated with the residents, supplying not only smiles but
also the notion that surviving and living can occur simultaneo sly.
I don't think survival is for the fittest. I think it's safe to say we have all found ourselves on the ever-illusive struggle bus once or twice, but eventually, we find our stop. I'm not saying survival is easy, but neither is life. In the words of Destiny's Child, "keep on survivin."
Lyndsey Havens is a sophomore from Chicago studying journalism.
Grade inflation encourages underperformance in class
W we've all heard things will be different in
in college. We've been assured that laziness will not be tolerated as we climb through the ranks of American academia, and that our first lesson upon entering college will be how difficult life really is. But, after finishing my first semester and receiving my first wave of grades, I haven't come away with that impression at all. This isn't due to the class material or the instruction provided by professors; all of these were generally engaging and appropriately challenging. No, this impression stems from one thing: grade inflation.
This practice of fluffing grades has become increasingly prominent in higher education. While this trend is troublesome, grade inflation is not a universal detriment. There are circumstances in which extraordinary classes earn extraordinary grades. So, too, are there occasions where professors genuinely raise the bar too high. However, these are few and far between. In order to find these instances while still promoting necessary academic standards, professors must strike a pragmatic balance between recognizing when their tasks are too difficult and when their students are too apathetic.
Grade inflation has been an ever-worsening issue in higher education. A 2012 Teachers College Record study by Stuart Rojstaczer and Christopher Heally examined the
By Jesse Burbank opinion@kansan.com
matter by compiling data on grades from more than 200 four-year colleges. According to this study's findings, 43 percent of all grades given at the university level are either A's or A-'s. This staggering statistic represents an increase of 28 percentage points since 1960. The study concludes, "As a result of instructors gradually lowering their standards, A has become the most common grade on American college campuses." With the slashing of academic standards, the effort required in order to earn an A has dramatically decreased, leading to a scarcity of incentive for students to arduous study.
As I slogged my way through last semester, I began to prioritize studying based upon a professor's willingness to curve. If I knew that a professor was unwilling to curve exams, I allotted significantly more time towards studying for the class. I got much more fulfillment and knowledge out of classes that presented a struggle - a trial that required the investment of time and energy to overcome.
If schools wish to root out the academic underperformance that causes professors to lower their standards and
institute outlandishly generous grading curves, then they must stop accommodating academic underperformance.
While the current number of As is ludicrous, my intention is not to expound a regimented system in which fewer people succeed despite giving all they had in pursuit of academic success. Rather, large amounts of A's ought to signify outstanding collective effort rather than collective apathy. If students are not meeting the required standards of knowledge a class is meant to impart, then a professor must not lower the standard out of fear of poor evaluations or a poor reputation with the student body. Such an action is more detrimental to a student than a lower grade.
With the dawn of a new semester upon us, let us take steps towards a reality where college substantively prepares students for the world beyond academia. This is not achieved by declaring 43 percent of pupils "outstanding" and thus robbing the grading system of its ability to offer comparative standing. Indeed, inflating grades to these levels diminishes the very value of what it means to earn an A. Instead, this ideal can only be realized through fidelity to reasonable standards that incite advancement.
Jesse Burbank is a freshman from Quinter studying history and political science.
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GEOGRAPHY
More than just a spot on the map
If you're fed up with the usual New Year's resolutions, I'd be happy to suggest a goal for you in 2014: increase your geographic literacy.
In today's global world, we must move beyond the political lines drawn on maps. Americans deserve better geo-literacy, especially considering how much we rely on geography every day without even realizing it.
"By limiting our geography knowledge to rivers,political boundaries and capital cities, we miss out on much larger concepts," Cruz said.
Each time you plug a destination into Google Maps, look up a city's population or marvel at how Utah's Delicate Arch formed, you are delving into geography. Meteorology, urban planning, culture theory and geopolitics also stem from geography. Still think it's just boring states and capitals?
Today's world requires more than a minimum, fact-based, one-dimensional knowledge of geography, says Christian Cruz, a geography graduate student at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Last Thanksgiving, Buzzfeed had British citizens label maps of the U.S. If you've seen the results, you know they are laughable and entertaining. Our own state of Kansas was identified as "No one knows" in one attempt. We all snickered at this and shared it with our friends, but when Buzzfeed had Americans label a map of Europe, the responses were just as cringe-worthy. While being able to label a map is helpful, it's not all there is to geography. It's nice to know which countries border which, but being aware of our spatial surroundings and understanding our relationship with the land is a much larger concept.
University geology doctoral student Austen Thelen thinks geographic literacy is necessary for understanding and appreciating difference, understanding how places and territories are made, rather than accepting them as given, and understanding
the complex relationships between humans and our many environments.
Unfortunately, many people take all of these facets of geography for granted. My high school (and, I assume, many others) didn't even offer a geography class. Few high school students saw geography as a viable college major. However, geography has many practical and relevant applications. According to the American Geographical Society, many rewarding career fields are tied to geography, including military strategy, transportation planning and emergency management. Several governmental agencies rely on sound geography skills.
I'm proposing we all learn more about the world we live in this year. Even though Earth is still carved up by political boundaries, little stops an idea from leaving one country and entering another, Cruz said. The Middle East, one of the most strategically vital regions on the planet, and its conflicts over religion, land, and resources can be better understood with a solid grasp of geography.
Learning more about geography can help you understand the news; it can make you more politically savvy, and help you see the world through a clearer lens. You may be able to say something noteworthy during your next water cooler conversation. It might even bolster your career and education prospects. What better reasons could you have to brush up on it?
Anrenee Reasor is a junior from Thayer studying economics and East Asian Languages and Cultures.
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THE EDITORIAL BOARD
Members of the Kanas Editorial Board are KatieKutke, Allison Kollon, Lauren Armendariz, Anna Wenner, Sean Powers and Kolby Botts.
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