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Text your #FFA submissions to 785-289-UDK1 (8351)
"Is this still the FFA number?"
"Once and for all: FRASER IS PRONOUNCED LIKE LAZER!!! Period."
"Rule #1 of biking to class: Lock up next to one nicer than your own"
"PSA: if its not levitating off the ground, then its not a hoverboard!"
"While I'm basking in the glow of getting engaged, I appreciate the article about marriage being overblown and unnecessary... /"
"You know you live on your own in college when you have to clean up after the mess the raccoons made of your garbage..."
"Did you know that David Beaty coached Mike Evans?"
"A FFA victory consists of you and your best friend collectively getting 4 FFAs in the paper on the first week of school. (3 in one day)"
My friends call me the "comedy factory..."
I'm so glad Taylor Swift and Nicki Minaj made up... my world was just about falling apart...
Freshmen make friends so easily. underclassmen are so standoffish. take me back to those days!
KAYNE WEST 4
PREZZZZ
lol @ my fantasy football draft. what a joke
S/O to Jake Arrieta for throwing a nohitter and gettin a double gatorade bath!!!
I'm voting Kayne
2020
What if Kim Kardashian was the first lady? O
Hopefully we go to a bowl game this season
If syllabus week is any indication, this year is gonna be easy
OPINION
Read more at kansan.com
CHRIS NEAL / AR PHOTO
Kansas lawmakers and education officials hold group discussions during a school finance summit at the Kansas School Board Association Friday Aug. 28, 2015, in Topeka, Kan.
Families must have options for K-12 schools
@KANSANNEWS
JOHN OLSON
@JohnOlsonUDK
The issue has been called a "national embarrassment" and "a threat to America's future."
At first guess, you might think I am talking about some sort of domestic terrorist. In reality, I'm talking about a problem that stretches far beyond any one person: The entire United States' educational system is at risk.
/THEKANSAN
It's no secret that U.S. schools are performing miserably. According to the Pew Research Center, America has fallen to 27th and 20th place in math and science proficiency, respectively, among the developed nations of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
And it should be no surprise to anyone who lives in Kansas that schools have also faced massive budget cuts, with school districts having to do
with less and less.
@UNIVERSITY
DAILYKANSAN
Even worse, dismal schooling hits poor and minority students the hardest, according to The Washington Times.
Thankfully, it is not all doom and gloom. A solution to these problems exists, and it comes in the form of two words that anybody should be able to spell, regardless of international test scores: school choice.
Students and their parents should be free to choose any school in their area. Currently students are assigned to go to certain schools throughout their K-12 years based on their address.
The problem is that students are forced to go to these schools no matter how terrible the education may be. Why should we condemn students to a failing school? If wealthy people can choose schools by either opting for a private school or moving, why not give underprivileged students the same sort of opportunity?
The answers to these questions seem obvious. No child should be coerced into a poor education, and every student should have equal access to quality schooling. So how can this be done? The answer is simple — every child should be given a voucher to attend any school of their choice.
This sort of system could vastly improve our standards of education through the forces of competition. Schools would have to compete for students and their vouchers by offering higher quality and innovative programs for lower prices than their competitors Underperforming schools would lose students to better schools, and eventually go out of business, while superior schools would attract students and expand.
This would not spell the end of public education. After all, the government would still be free to run schools. However, in order to get students through their doors, they would have to offer a service they should have been offering all along: a higher quality education.
Public employees may be concerned that their jobs are at stake, but the fact of the matter is they have nothing to worry about if their schools are performing well and can attract students. Moreover, studies have shown public schools actually benefit from voucher programs.
How could these vouchers be paid for? States would convert tax dollars that are currently used to fund poorly run government schools. Chances are that this would be even
cheaper for states, which is pertinent in an era of budget tightening, as studies have shown competitive schools have been able to offer better education for the fraction of the cost of traditional schooling.
A quality education is vital to individual and societal well-being. Education provides numerous opportunities to improve productivity, propel groups up social ladders and grow the economy as a whole. Forcing a child from an underprivileged background to attend a lousy school simply because the birth lottery landed them in a poor neighborhood is a travesty.
Families should be free to attend quality schools regardless of their status, and the government should not prevent them from doing so. We should fight for an education system that enhances prospects, rather than one that oppresses those who can least afford it. It is time to turn this national embarrassment into something we can be proud of.
You can find out more about school choice at the Friedman Institute for Educational Choice.
John Olson is a junior from Wichita studying economics and mathematics.
MATTHEW CLOUGH
@mcloughsofly
Have guilt-free free time
Between class, jobs, clubs, volunteer work and more, most students often don't have a lot of time for themselves.
But when they end up having a few hours of free time to binge watch Netflix or take a nap, they often feel guilty. Especially in college, it seems like there's social pressure to always be committed to something. After all, you've only got four years to beef up your resume before heading out into the "real world." It's easy to feel like you're wasting time when everyone around you seems to be constantly involved in new endeavors. This perception of free time is hurting us more than it's helping. People shouldn't feel guilty for not constantly being involved with something even though it may seem their peers are constantly busy.
Tim Kreider of the New York Times calls this "the 'busy' trap." He argues that busyness is a phenomenon of our society and that ambition, anxiety, and other factors are driving
us toward constant activity. The busier people around us are, the busier we feel we should be. Collectively, society isn't taking the time to relax anymore. We need to readjust the way we view free time - not as a luxury, but a necessity.
When considering the effects overcommitment can have on mental health, it becomes clear just how essential free time can be. According to a survey conducted by the American Psychological Association in 2010, 70 percent of people attributed somewhat to very significant levels of stress to the busyness of work. Overcommitment isn't just an issue in scheduling. It's negatively impacting our health, particularly when we're overcommitted for extended periods of time. Taking time to relax isn't a sign of laziness or a lack of ambition, it's simply healthy.
Often when people are constantly busy, they're not operating at their full potential because it's easier for fatigue to set in. Other countries around the world have recognized this truth; Austria and Portugal both
grant its employees 22 days of paid vacation each year. Factoring in public holidays, employees in these countries receive upwards of a month off work every year. The U.S. has no laws regulating time off, so many businesses don't offer any paid vacation days. If the U.S. were to install such regulations, employees would likely be more well-rested, focused, and productive
It's not necessarily a bad thing to keep yourself busy with class, work and other activities. But instead of feeling obligated to partake in extra activities that can boost your resume or match the schedule of your peers, allow yourself to take some time off.
That is not to say that it's not important to remember that as students, our number one priority is school. If you do want to take on additional commitments, make sure you leave enough time in your schedule for free time. Make sure that whatever it is you're doing, you're doing it at your best, and most importantly don't feel guilty if you're not doing as much as your peers.
JACOB HOOD
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