MONDAY, MARCH 30, 2015
PAGE 4
opinion
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The Hermione in me is panicking about how close finals are coming and all the exams and papers due. The Ron in me is fine with procrastinating. These two come into conflict quite frequently...
FFA OF THE DAY I'm just going to avoid checking my bank account from this weekend and pretend like everything is okay.
I really need to find a better route from my car to my class. Specifically, one that doesn't involve climbing 184 steps.
JT's songs are perfect when you are hungover and have to do something important. He soothes and motivates his audience. < 3
The great thing about college is that you can skip class..that's also the bad thing about college.
Still in spring break mode,
not sure when I'll be out of it.
nomotivation
*Heart eyes* Jake from the underground is so cute
Some people did actually have to take an exam the day after spring break. Trust me, it was no fun!
I have no idea how people like cats more than dogs...cats are seriously the devil
Two hours into my essay and still nothing #WhatILearnedInBoatingSchools... Anyone get that reference?
Really regretting telling my group mate about hired kidnapping.
sleepingoneyeopen
What would I do without you blender bottle? My life is so much easier now...
If I move to the east coast I'm going to have to learn to live a life without Boulevard Wheat and I don't think I want to live that life.
Drinking game idea: Take a shot every time you see something somewhere about the Kardashians
Don't mind me, I'm just smiling creepily at my phone because of something someone sent me. I'm not really this weird I promise.
It's almost April?? Seriously, this year has flown by! Hollaaa
My blackout curtains are amazing for keeping the light out but also really bad at waking me up at a normal time...
Grunting all the time and being overly noisy at the gym is really uncomfortable and makes people annoyed... Don't do it!
Scholarships should take major into account
The price of college has long been a hotly contested issue.
especially as the cost of tuition continues to rise each year. Over the course of four years, this year's in-state freshmen can expect to pay $38,192 for tuition alone, as reported by KU Admissions. Add in campus fees, potential housing charges and supplies for an additional average of $9,500 each year. Luckily, the University alleviates some of this financial burden by offering renewable scholarships to students with certain ACT/SAT test scores and GPAs. However, the standards to renew such scholarships each year are somewhat unbalanced across majors. Upon submitting an application, high school seniors are eligible to receive one of five scholarships based on their GPA and test scores while
in high school, according to the admissions website. The lowest scholarship grants a student $1,000 each year, while the highest grants $5,000. In order to renew these scholarships while attending the University, the student must enroll in at least 30 credit hours per year and maintain a 3.4 GPA.
high standards as students with degrees in higher average GPA fields.
At first glance, these standards seem fair. The enrollment requirement ensures that students focus on school by managing a full schedule. The GPA requirement also seems effective, because it demands that students devote care and attention to achieving high grades. Such standards should be required for any scholarship. However, the problem lies in the fact that the set GPA requirement does not consider the difficulty of a student's workload.
switching to something else because their courses are too difficult, according to a New York Times article. After reviewing over 5,000 students over the course of nearly 10 years,a Wake Forest professor concluded that chemistry majors only averaged a 2.78 GPA.
This is not to say that all engineering/science majors perform worse than education majors.
While each major requires different types and amounts of work that may be better suited to certain types of people, it is difficult to deny that some majors are harder than others. For example, studies have shown that around 40 percent of students pursuing science or engineering majors end up
Every major is different and has different levels of success among individual students.
"While each major requires different types and amounts of work that may be better suited to certain types of people, it is difficult to deny that some majors are harder than others."
However, these studies indicate that STEM majors continually report lower average GPA's, and as a whole, it seems more challenging for students in these programs to achieve higher grades. These students should not be penalized for pursuing a "harder major" by losing scholarships if they cannot maintain a 3.4 GPA.
In terms of scholarships, it doesn't seem fair that students pursuing degrees in fields with lower average GPAs should be held to the same
Granted, KU Core can help balance out this issue, at least for a student's first few semesters. If students are
The Wake Forest study also found that education majors rank among the highest GPAs, earning a 3.36 on average. Some reports claim even higher GPAs for education majors. The University of Missouri, for example, has education majors with average GPAs of 3.8, CBS News reports.
required to complete roughly the same level of coursework for general education requirements, then there isn't much discrepancy between fields. However, once students start getting into the courses for their major, differences begin to emerge.
with a simple solution, but some measures should be taken to ensure equity across majors. In order to keep a scholarship, STEM majors should not be required to maintain the same GPA as students studying fields in the humanities, for example. The playing field can be equalized if majors are assessed on an individual basis. The 3.4 GPA requirement is reasonably demanding for students pursuing majors in the humanities, but too challenging for students in STEM fields. The credit hour requirement should stay the same across the board, but renewable scholarship GPA requirements should be lowered in STEM departments by at least a couple tenths of a point.
Matthew Clough is a sophomore from Wichita studying English and journalism
How do I tell my boyfriend I hate pet names?
Anissa Fritz
@anissafritz
I have never dated a guy who didn't use pet names, and quite frankly some of them were just weird. I pray for your sake that "sweet bottom" is not one of your boyfriend's pet names for you.
Regardless of whether the pet names are cute or not, if you don't like to be called something other than your name, then your boyfriend needs to be aware of that.
There was a point in my life where I absolutely detested being called "babe." Anytime my boyfriend would call me "babe," the first thing that popped into my mind was a pig. After realizing he would keep calling me the name of a pig from a children's novel, I finally got the courage to say something.
It's really difficult to confront your significant other about any issue that you may have with them.
explaining that anyone could call you these pet names and you would still cringe. As cliché as it sounds, it's not him — it's you.
Especially when you know deep down all they're trying to do is adore you.
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I would approach him by asking if he has ever been called a nickname in his life that he wasn't fond of. Most of us have had this experience at least once, so it's a pretty safe bet that he has too. Once he answers, use this to transition into explaining how you aren't a huge fan of pet names.
The best way to get this point across without hurting his feelings is by
"I AM A FIRM BELIEVER THAT WE TEND TO BECOME WHAT WE ARE CALLED. CALL A GIRL A LADY AND WATCH HER CROSS HER LEGS, CALL A BOY A GENTLEMAN AND WATCH HIM STAND UP TALLER."
I am a firm believer that we tend to become what we are called. Call a girl a lady and watch her cross her legs; call a boy a gentleman and watch him stand up taller. How people refer to us can hold a certain importance to who we are as an individual. Make him aware of this. Let him know that while, yes, most girls do love pet names, you're different and your individuality is probably one of the reasons why he is dating you and not other girls.
It's not because you don't want him to be sweet, but simply because you are not comfortable with the idea of being referred to as someone's "honey bunny" — and yes, I've gotten that one before, too.
What we are called plays a huge role in our identities. Even if they are just pet names, they can carry weight. If they make you feel degraded, stupid or just plain weird, then he needs to stop.
Victoria Calderon
@WriterVictoriaC
Younger generation has duty to end cyberbullying
When Monica Lewinsky's name comes up, one doesn't think about the impressive career she built for herself, her degree from the London School of Economics, or the volunteer work she has done to help others, according to the New York Times. The first thoughts that pop into most people's minds have to do with her affair with former president Bill Clinton and the infamous blue dress. Unfortunately, a common word used in association
posts online, as well as the interconnectedness of users from around the world, allows for the degradation of a person's character by thousands of strangers. This problem is mostly prevalent in our generation.
According to a study by the Pew Research Center, out of 2,849 young web users, more than 1,850 reported experiencing one of six types of harassment that respondents were surveyed on. These types ranged in severity from the use of offensive names to stalking. Even though more males are exposed to online harassment than women (44 percent vs. 37 percent), there is an imbalance in the severity of harassment women experience.
Records kept by the Justice Department about cyberstalking in relation to gender reveal that 70 percent of cyberstalking
victims are women, and 80 percent of the stalkers were men. Other studies have also found that women face more extreme forms of harassment, such as rape, death threats and leaking of personal "pornographic" pictures, according to TIME magazine.
"THE NATURE OF THESE PERSONAL AND TERRIFYING VERSIONS OF CYBER BULLYING AGAINST WOMEN ARE PSYCHOLOGICALLY DAMAGING. THE EFFECTS OF WHICH INCLUDE PHYSICAL DAMAGES, AS CAN BE SEEN IN THE CASES OF PEOPLE WHO COMMIT SUICIDE OR SELF-HARM DUE TO HARASSMENT."
"For girls and women, harassment is not just about 'un-pleasantries.' It's often about men asserting dominance, silencing, and frequently, scaring and punishing them," said
with Lewinsky is "slut." However, in an attempt to recreate her public image, Lewinsky has become an icon to empower victims of digital harassment, particularly women. In the past couple weeks, she published an essay about her experience in Vanity Fair and gave a TED talk about cyberbullying. Her case, as well as many others, highlight a bigger problem we have in society. Social media and the viral nature of certain
with Lewinsky is "slut."
Soraya Chemaly, writer of the TIME magazine article. "Women are more frequently targeted with gendered slurs and pornographic photo manipulation because the objectification and dehumanization of women is central to normalizing violence against us."
The nature of these personal and terrifying versions of cyberbullying against women are psychologically damaging. The effects of which include physical damage, as can be seen in the cases of people who commit suicide or self-harm due to harassment. That's not to say that men will never face the experiences with cyberbullying that many women face when venturing online. But because we live in a society that values shaming others and devalues the lives of women, according to Lewinsky, the consequences of these ideals have a greater effect on a broader range of women than they have on men.
"We have created, to borrow a term from historian Nicolaus Mills, a 'culture of humiliation' that... rewards those who humilate others, from the ranks of the paraparazzi to the gossip bloggers, the late-night comedians, and the Web 'entrepreneurs' who profit from clandestine videos," Lewinsky said in her Vanity Fair essay.
Since this medium is mostly shared and used by young people and mostly affects the lives of young people (as the Pew study reported), we are the people who should be responsible for ending this culture of humiliation before it destroys even more lives.
Victoria Calderon is a sophomore from Liberal studying english and political science.
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