OPINION
5A
TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 30, 2008
AGE
CARE
will moved
THE EDITORIAL BOARD
Don't rush to pick out your degree
KU officials have stressed that students should pick a major early and stick with their choice. This will save money and time for students who know what career they want, and events like the Career Fair will help put more students in that category.
Passion is the most important thing to consider when choosing a degree. Degrees are students' passes into the professional world, but they are not all-access. Whatever students choose to study in college will in some way limit what they can do when they're done.
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
However, if profes
sional happiness is finding a job people truly care about, they must keep an open mind in college until they discover a degree that fulfills its requisites. An unacceptable major for the job we want might as well be called S.O.L., not just B.A. or B.S.
For most students, college is a transition between the required standardized education of high school and finding their place in the convoluted maze that is the real world, and students often need more than a few semesters filled with 100-level requisites to discern their futures. Even if that time extends past the four-year
OUR VIEW
graduation goal of the University's Four-Year Tuition Contract, the cost of an extra semester or two pales in comparison to the 40 years of happiness choosing the right career path can give them.
Long before
Many people mistakenly assume undecided students do not have passion, but some just have too much passion for too many things. Narrowing passion to one field and interest is the hard part.
Long before this generation started producing more college students than ever before, a college degree used to be more universally applicable. so applicable that any major could land a person a variety of jobs. The majors students pick will likely determine 40 hours of every week of their lives, at least until they find new career paths. Students need to be careful and choose the degrees that lead to the professions that would mean the most to them, however long it takes.
Some students may still think rushing out in four years as more important than correctly discerning the right degree for their career of passion.
Ray Segebrecht for the editorial board
editorials around the nation
ASSOCIATED PRESS
What viewers didn't see at the debate
But what Americans did not see on Friday should be considered, as well. Amid the incessant repetition of the Wall Street and Main Street riff, neither candidate staked on a firm position on the pending bailout and its consequences. When asked what programs they would cut, both McCain and Obama provided vague answers that failed to spe-
After several months of exchanging grips over non-issues ("lipstick on a pig" and John McCain's real estate ignorance come to mind), Friday's presidential debate had the potential for both candidates to clearly make their case before the nation. While portions of the debate were tied up in aimless rhetorical jockeying, it did the undecided or uninformed voter a window into both candidates' positions.
cificly emphasize what changes they would have to make to their economic governance. Both men also showed unreasoned reflexive pandering on the issue of Israel and unoriginal statements reiterating familiar foreign policy talking points, as though the political situation throughout the world has been unchanging for the past 18 months.
Furthermore, in spite of Jim Lehrer's best efforts, McCain and Obama seldom spoke directly to one another and contemptuously refused to even look at each other. In the end, nobody walked away a clear victor, but voters who were looking for a general illustration of how each candidate would run the country should not have been disappointed. If nothing else, the debate showed two very different philosophies.
—— Minnesota Daily at the University of Minnesota Sept. 29, 2017
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THE EDITORIAL BOARD
FROM THE DRAWING BOARD
CDC released a report this past
ERICH REINHARD/UWIRE.COM
Why won't Red Cross take my viable blood?
The FDA regulates the Red Cross' policy, which has been in place since 1992, and I understand the need for that policy. After all, sexually active homosexual men made up 68 percent of all men living with HIV in 2005, and only about 5 percent to 7 percent of men in the U.S. reported having sex with other men, according to the Centers for Disease Control. What I don't understand, though, is why recent data is not taken into consideration for donation guidelines.
Never in my life have I been so proud of being rejected.
Last Friday, I attempted to give blood at the KU Blood Drive. I knew the rejection was coming because I'd been rejected about two years ago. The Red Cross has blacklisted me because I'm "a male who has had sexual contact with another male, even once, since 1977."
August that said 56,300 HIV infections occurred in 2006, a substantially higher number than the 40,000 estimate. Among the infections, 53 percent were caused by male-to-male sexual contact, and 31 percent by high-risk heterosexual contact.
The Red Cross needs a new donation guideline, maybe something like, "Are you a male or female who has had a questionably high amount of sexual contact with the opposite sex since 1977?" I'm not sure what that amount would be — double or triple digits maybe?
This has been done in some places already. The Red Cross of Thailand donor screening process was even reworded in April to ask about risky sexual behavior rather than sexual orientation.
HIV still can't be detected 100 percent of the time. One of every 2 million HIV positive tests get through, and with 20 million blood transfusions occurring every year, the FDA said it couldn't take the risk.
I was tested for HIV last week. I get tested every six months or so. Because I'm gay, I know I need to be more cautious of the risk of HIV than if I were straight.
I don't know what to do to prove that I have good, viable, life-saving blood. After I apologized to the nurse for wasting her time during my screening, she looked more disappointed than I was. She said I could call the number on my second rejection letter and explain that no risky sexual contact actually occurred and that I was confused by the guideline. I told her no thanks.
I tested negative. I knew I would — I'd had only once sexual partner in the past six months (it takes two to 24 weeks for HIV antibodies to show up), but I was being cautious, just as the FDA is.
I'm not in denial, but it's obvious that the FDA is.
While exiting the donation van, another nurse saw my rejection letter and offered me a Red Cross T-shirt and snacks.
I wore the shirt that night, and many of my gay friend commented that I couldn't donate blood. I wasn't offended by my friends' remarks. My friends care and know, unlike the FDA, that I am safe, which results in one pint of blood that won't ever help save a life.
Hirschfeld is an Augusta senior in journalism.
Top 9 reasons I won't take male birth control
I could always iust buv a condom
There's research being conducted on a male contraceptive pill here at the University. The pill would effectively brings a man's sperm count to zero. Here's why I'm weary of the idea:
I don't think I have enough sex to warrant bringing my sperm count to zero. And if I did, I'd probably be so worn out that I'd want less sex or require a condom to keep chaffing to a minimum. (Also, that much sex would be so physically wearing that I would be so mentally tired that I'd forget to take the pill anyway).
8.
I don't want my roommate to ask me how it feels to shoot blanks when my girlfriend sleeps over.
3.
What if my sperm count doesn't go back up? If I had wanted that to happen. I would've drank a lot more Surge in middle school.
When my sperm count starts to regenerate, I won't be able to stand to think about how lonely it could be down in my testicles. What will the first sperm think to itself? It'll either find existence frightening or will look at its existence with excitement because there's no competition.
7.
The girl could always buy the pill, which means I can continue not having a real job.
4.
2.
If I ever want a political career and it gets out that I used to take the male contraceptive pill, I'll look like a harlot. Then again John Edwards wouldn't have had so much press about his affair if he had used this pill.
I don't want to embarrassingly drop my male birth control packet in front of my female friends and shyly have to pick it up.
1.
I could not have sex. Wait, did I really just suggest that?
Stewart is a Wichita senior in journalism.
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This chick in my class today told me that she actually lived on the same block as Chuck Norris. That is awesome.
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I punched a hole in my roommate's car, and now I'm going to his girlfriend's baby shower. Is that a bad thing?
Jayhawk Bookstore is lame. A Pepsi for $1.30? Who carries that kind of change around?
My cigarettes are menthol or command. This is amazing!
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To the people who gave me a dirty look when I burst out singing "Bleeding Love": You only wish you had enough self esteem to sing in public.
What boy's name starts with "?"? My apple stem just told me I'm going to marry him.
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Thursday night I decided to get drunk and go home and a yogurt: Raspberry Yoplait with a brownie and a Glacier Freeze Gatorade.
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On Thursday, when I ate my Yoplait, my spoon was deformed.
Hookah bars are nasty.
--time!
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You're never getting Bruce back!
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Why don't you go ahead and throw my bitchin', OK?
To the Ninth floor RA;You and your beauty are the reason I get out of bed in the morning.
Blast the rim!
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I took mescaline on Friday night — quite an interesting experience. It's a cactus and it makes you high for a long
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"Commitment to academics" my ass. How many computer labs have they built in the past year or two? How many new sports facilities have they built in that same amount of
Would the government bail me out as well?
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My roommate doesn't wash her clothes. I lined her dresses with air fresheners, and nothing helped.
Four months with the same guy. This is getting scary now
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My desktop is so festive!
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