Opinion
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Kansan
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Lindsay Henry, Editor Marc Harrell, Business manager Dave Morantz, Managing editor Colleen Eager, Retail sales manager Kristie Blasi, Managing editor Dan Simon, Sales and marketing adviser Tom Ebien, General manager, news advisor Justin Kemp, Technology coordinator
Wednesday, April 29, 1998
TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES
Editorials
Students have right to see finals long after the end of semester
It is time for the University to implement an across-the-board policy requiring teachers to hang on to final exams long after grades are turned in.
Test taking in itself is frustrating, but more perplexing is the fact that once a final is handed in, the test taker may never see it again.
Students sometimes can only gauge how they did on a final based on the grade that appears on their report card. Students not only want to see the final exam, but have a right to see it. Tests also should be kept because students have the right to contend a course grade one year from the time the grade is given.
Seeing a test, especially a final which is often comprehensive, allows students to see how much they learned and is a teaching tool in itself. There is no point
The University needs a policy that would require teachers to keep finals after grades are in
in taking a test or giving a test if students cannot get the test back to see if they were wrong or right.
But this rarely happens with final exams. Students take them, hand them in and never see them again. There are a few exceptions. Some teachers will mail tests to students who leave the professor a self-addressed, stamped envelope. Other teachers will tell a class that if the students want to see their final, that he or she will have it available for a short time. And some departments require that teachers hang on to exams
so students can see them.
The Western Civilization department holds tests for one year. The psychology department keeps final exams for one semester.
Those departments, and others with similar policies, should be commended.
But this is not a University-wide trend. The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences has no such policy in place, and that is a travesty for students who study hard and never get to see the results of their work.
The University should require departments or professors to hold exams for at least six months after the tests are administered. That is ample time for a student to go to a professor and see a test they have every right to review.
If a student does not want to use that right, then they do not have to. But the opportunity should exist.
Spencer Duncan for the editorial board
Feedback
Job instability article misleading, uninformed
Melissa Ngo's article last Monday about job instability was irresponsible and misleading. College students are now forming their perceptions of the labor market. These perceptions will guide how they approach their job search upon graduation. By failing to report the facts, Ngo's article encourages college students to unnecessarily prolong their undergraduate and graduate degrees. KU students should not be under the impression that the current labor market is as bleak as was depicted in the article.
Recent statistics, as reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, indicate that today's labor market is the strongest in more than a generation. The U.S. employment rate for March
was 4.7 percent, just slightly above the generation-low 4.6 percent in February. Kansas boasted a figure below the national average at 3.4 percent unemployment. Furthermore, in the Kansas City area the unemployment rate is even lower. In the last year, hourly wages have significantly increased even though inflation has been virtually nonexistent. Thus, the purchasing power of the average American worker has increased.
In contrast to the article's implications, the outlook for the college educated is bright. The unemployment rate for college-educated workers is 1.9 percent. Engineering Career Services, Business Career Services and the University Career and Employment Services have noted an increase in the number of firms recruiting KU graduates in the last five years. Although the job-for-life
mentality is dying, this may be a welcome change. A rigid labor market and a growing economy are an inconsistent phenomena. Workers are more free now than they have ever been. Opportunities for self employment and getting in on the ground level of a small firm are increasing. These factors, coupled with low unemployment, suggest a promising job market.
The article is full of anecdotal evidence not indicative of the overall economy. It is embarrassing that The University Daily Kansan would run a front page article on economics without ever consulting an economist. We hope that journalistic integrity will increase in the future.
Clark Massey
Plano, Texas, senior
Paul Woelk
Hutchinson junior
Kansan staff
News editors
Paul Eakins ... Editorial
Ann Premer ... Editorial
Andrea Albright ... News
Jodie Chester ... News
Julie King ... News
Charity Jeffries ... Online
Eric Weslander ... Sports
Harley Ratliff ... Associate sports
Ryan Koerner ... Campus
Mike Perryman ... Campus
Bryan Volk ... Features
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Corrie Moore ... Wire
Gwen Olson ... Special sections
Lachelle Rhoades ... News clerk
Kristi Bisel . Assistant retail, PR
Leigh Botterley . Campus
Brett Clinton . Regional
Nicole Lauderdale . National
Matt Fisher . Marketing
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Brian Allers . Production
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"A wonderful bird is the pelican, his bill will hold more than his belican. He can take in his beak food enough for a week, but I'm damned if I see how the hellican." —Dixon Lanier Merritt
How to submit letters and guest columns
Letters: Should be double-spaced typed and fewer than 200 words. Letters must include the author's signature, name, address and telephone number plus class and home-town if a University student. Faculty or staff must identify their positions.
Guest columns Should be double-spaced typed with fewer than 700 words. The writer must be willing to be photographed for the column to run.
All letters and guest columns should be submitted to the Kansan newsroom. 111 staffer-Flint Hall. The Kansan reserves the right to edit, cut to length or reject all submissions. For any questions, call Paul Eakins (eakins@kansan.com) or Ann Premer (apremer@kansan.com) at 864-4810. If you have general questions or comments, e-mail the page staff (opinion@kansan.com) or call 864-4810.
Perspective
Naked hike on campus more than expected
A h spring. A time when a young man's thoughts turn to love ... to life...to walking home from Potter Lake totally naked while surrounded by a
Nick Bartkoski opinion@kansan.com
Lake totally naked while large group of clothed guys. I guess some of us have extremely different priorities.
My scholarship hall is chocked full of bizarre traditions from demanding (without receiving) a fireman's pole from housing for the hall each year to marinating rather than hazing our new men. But one tradition had me terrified, and there was nothing I could do about it.
The hall had elected me their proctor. A proctor is really just a resident assistant for scholarship halls, only with a name phonetically closer to "proctologist." I stay up nights trying not to focus on the significance of that similarity.
Regardless, the hall has a tradition in which we throw the proctor-elect into Potter Lake and make him walk back naked. I'm a big proponent of tradition, so I was generally cool with doing it, but I did have my apprehensions.
Fortunately, they did the entire operation the way I told them. I was incredibly impressed that the people in my hall were able to carry me almost all the way to Potter. Not to say that the people in my hall are weak — picking up a five-hundred-pound guy is really impressive. But they did start grumbling that a proctor candidate's weight was going to be a larger issue in next year's selection.
For starters, this tradition was one of the reasons I almost didn't apply for the job. Let's just say there are a myriad of reasons why the world in general should be shielded from my naked body.
Furthermore, I had great concern that the guys in my hall didn't know what they were doing. It's not their fault. We didn't throw a proctor into the lake last year because we kept the same one for two years. Unfortunately, about 98 percent of the hall population came into the hall either last year or this year. That made me the only person there who had done this before. So my last couple of weeks have been spent making sure they wouldn't make me look stupid, or at least no more stupid than any other guy would look trying to cross campus naked.
The organization was simple: They take me to Potter clothed, strip me and carry me into the lake. Then I walk back totally naked while they surround me so that bystanders can see there's a naked guy, but can't make out enough detail to paint a portrait or possibly a police sketch. I feared that instead they'd strip me on the way, throw me into a two-feet deep lake and leave me standing there naked waiting for the police to arrive.
The whole event started after our hall meeting. I knew it was coming and felt OK with the idea — until the end of the meeting. I can't explain it, but as my doom approached, I suddenly panicked. I decided I was going to tempt fate and make a run for it before the meeting was totally finished, but they had prepared for that possibility. If I had tried to make a break for it, they would have tackled me before I had taken three steps to the door.
The only thing they did against my instructions was that they removed my shirt before we got to Jayhawk Boulevard. That really wasn't the kindest possible option to the rest of the world, especially since "shirtless Nick" had been called in by poison control in the past when they were having a hard time inducing vomiting.
We started our walk back but decided to take pictures on our way. We stopped in front of the Campanile and took some photos that I'm sure will be published in two seconds if I'm ever famous. We decided on the Campanile because, as one of my hallmates said, "it combines the strength and tradition of KU with the strength and tradition of Stephenson Hall." I'm just worried how the University feels about any connection between the University and my naked butt.
We made it back to 14th Street without really seeing anyone, and then I realized what I had not explicitly said: Do not invite a lot of the women's scholarship halls to be around for the naked guy's triumphant return. I walked down the hill and saw about 40 or 50 people just hanging out to watch my arrival. I found out later that people were snapping pictures of themselves because they thought they were attending a great event like Woodstock. Why anyone would voluntarily show up to see me naked is still beyond me, but I suppose freak shows are popular.
At about this time, most of the people surrounding me ran off, leaving me hanging in the wind. What else could I do? I put one hand in a fig-leaf position, waved to the crowd and walked slowly back into my hall to plot the ugliest and most vicious revenge.
Barkoski is a Basehor junior in English and journalism.
the University of Alabama and I want to make it powerful. Only one problem, I have so much crap that I have to do for my classes that I feel like I'm wasting precious time trying to write this. What a way to end college, eh? You'd think that after six years I would have learned something about time and stress management. Looking back, it's hard to remember what I have learned.
College experience sours dream of changing world
I've been in front of my computer for hours trying to write the "perfect" final column of my college career. This is my last time to address all of the students at
Erin Rooney opinion@kansan.com
I've met a lot of people and seen a great deal, but I fear that I could have gained similar knowledge from reading books and traveling. I started college wanting to change the world and now that I'm graduating all I want is to make enough money that I can pay my bills and get along without too much worry.
To say the least, I'm very disheartened. My parents told me that college was going to be the best years of my life. In some aspects they were right. In others they were 100 percent wrong. Barely living from paycheck to paycheck, eating Ramen noodles two out of three meals a day, driving a car that someone stole the catalytic converter off of so that I smell like a bus everywhere I go, and having robbers break into my house and take the only valuable things I own — yeah, it's been a blast. On top of all this, there is some girl running around campus saying that University students need to pay for a city-wide bus system so that students at Haskell can have free busing. Hello? Where was her daddy when I needed a $50 bus pass so that I would at least have an excuse for smelling like one?
Years from now the only thing that I think I will remember about these six years are my friends and our times together. My freshman year my friends and I had a
College was where the "smart" kids went after they finished high school. My brother was smart, or at least that is what his ACT scores indicated (if they're worth anything). Instead of joining the institute of higher learning, he moved to Los Angeles, started a band and tours the country with his three best friends and a bunch of roadies. He makes a lot of money and is genuinely happy. He never stepped into a classroom and, at this rate, won't. He's made it without this system, and I think that a lot of the rest of us could have too.
College was supposed to tell me how to get along with employees whom I can't stand and how to fix my computer when it crashes so I don't have to be out of the loop for days. Now that it's over, I'm not so certain that these are the things that I learned. Three weeks from now, when I'm really a part of the corporate world, then I guess I'll know.
But the reality is that I can't. I can't take my friends with me to entertain clients. They won't be there to sign contracts or come up with new layouts and designs. This is what I needed college for — to teach me how to function as a worker.
funeral for the things that all of our exboyfriends had given to us that semester. We were in the middle of campus, digging a hole with a screwdriver, it was raining, we were wearing nothing but rain coats and underwear, and we were so loud that the cops were called on us.
It's experiences like this that give all of this formal education a sense of meaning. Heck, there are so many nights smoking cigars upstairs at Louise's or playing Frisbee in the park behind Pinckney Elementary School that make me wish I could take all of my friends with me everywhere I go in life.
I've enjoyed college, and there are a lot of memories that I would never be willing to lose. However, I think that something needs to change in the system so that college doesn't stifle people with dreams. If I hadn't come, maybe I'd still want to change the world.
Rooney is a Topeka senior in journalism.
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