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Did T-Pain ever buy that girl a drink?
opinion
THE UNIVERSITY DARY GANSAN
Google play
Just saw a pair of black panties on the ground in Anschutz... Hmm.
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2012
That article about "slutty costumes" irritated me. People can wear whatever they want to wear, and that does not allow you to judge someone as a skank or whore because of the way they dress. They don't have to "stay classy."
Text your FFA submissions to 785-289-8351 or at kansan.com
Oops. Sorry. My driving distracted me from my texting.
We get it. You're an engineering student, and you're the only one who ever has any work to do.
You can't triple stamp a double stamp, Lloyd.
Okay, seriously. The use of "iol" at the end of sentences makes no sense!
What's scarier than a guy dressed as Slenderman on stilts? The fact SHE went to my high school.
The bite marks are from Charlie Weis...
If my life were a movie, it would be called "The Struggle."
Has anyone tried the Chi Omega fountain to see if it's Pepsi Blue?
You know it's camping season when you bring your KU blankie to class everyday.
I should not be allowed to dress myself early in the morning. My clothing choices are very questionable.
I don't always go to the Hawk, but when I do, it's for dollar night on Halloween.
one squirrels came back and finished my pumpkin off. I am no longer laughing.
Harry Potter doesn't speak whale.. but Dory does. Call her!
A true fan supports their team no matter what, a realist stops caring a long time ago.
Just heard the Harry Potter theme coming from the bell tower. I'll just pretend I am going to Hogwarts now.
Hey, you. The one reading this. Smile.
You'll look better.
COLLEGE
Disrespect runs rampant on campus
The University of Kansas is an educational establishment highly revered for its prominent standards in excellence. Knowing this, would it be surprising to learn that a some KU students enter classrooms everyday displaying an extreme lack of respect? Would it be more shocking to learn that the disrespect is directed at teachers (professors, TAs, and guest speakers) who attempt to provide students with the level of excellence their education deserves? It shouldn't. Classrooms have a three-spoke wheel of disrespect that keeps on turning.
I must mention first that I'm not simply speaking as a KU student. I'm speaking as a general college student, someone who has attended multiple college campuses including Middlesex Community College in Bedford, Mass., University of Massachusetts Boston and the University here in Lawrence. I have seen disrespect stay unchanged from school to school. I
don't say the following things from a place of superiority or a place of ignorance, only from a place of experience.
The first spoke on the wheel of disrespect that remains unchanged is that students continuously show up to class late. What valid reasons are there for showing up late? Many reasons I've heard include staying up too late the night before or having to finish up an assignment right before it's due.
For those who hold excuses for being late, maybe you should assess your priorities more. Do you want the education? Are you in school to satisfy your own goals or someone else's expectations? Who's the one that's truly missing out if you show up late to class? Teachers have found success and are trying to share their wisdom with the students to propel them towards success in professional life. Students need the teacher far more than the teacher needs the students.
Teachers are not just hired at random. Teachers are hired because of their commitment to educating men and women for the future of our country. Teachers have spent many years learning and honing their crafts. Teachers spend hours every night planning and practicing lectures, writing tests and quizzes, grading papers and exams, while also attending countless meetings with other department faculty. All of this work they put in so that you, the student, can have a better chance at a future and yet the disrespect is still rampant.
This brings me to the next spoke on the wheel of disrespect: being inattentive. Many students sit in class using laptops and cell phones, blatantly ignoring their teacher. Also, there are those students who converse with each other about non-classroom matters during class time. How about you also show respect to students who come to class to learn, not to listen to you drone on about your life. Think about how it may feel if you were the teacher who took time out of your life in order to try to help someone only to have that person focus on everything but what you're saying? I highly doubt you would be unaffected.
Finally, this three-spoke wheel of disrespect is finished when students decide to pack their belongings relatively early. I use the word "relatively" because some students begin packing long before class ends. The time to leave is once class has ended. Unless there's a vital need to leave early, it
should never happen. All the bag and paper noise combined with the chatter creates a massive disturbance. Imagine trying to give advice to someone who wants help but the person, instead of listening, decides to just get up and walk away. How would you feel? You signed up to attend the class for the specified times listed on your class schedule so show up and stay for the commitment you made.
I understand people have needs outside of the classroom that may keep them from fulfilling their educational obligations, but I also know how a large number of students do act in these ways on a consistent basis. Showing disrespect to those who are trying to improve your life not only is insulting to the teachers but also insulting to the University you claim to have so much respect for.
POLITICS
Noble is a junior majoring in journalism from Boston.
College affordability is key
There's periodic hoopla running up until Election Day about investing in education. In a direct pitch to college students, both Obama and Romney focus on their track records of making college affordable. Obama points to the expansion of Pell Grants under his administration and how interest rates on federal loans were kept low. Romnie harks back to his Massachusetts days and how some high school graduates had full tuition scholarships. If you don't think both are targeting college students, go watch Samuel L. Jackson's "Wake Up" ad for Barack Obama.
This is all driven by a belief in the principle that everyone is better off if everyone has higher education. That's an incentive from both the student and U.S. government's standpoint. Students invest dollars now to try and increase their future earning potential; the U.S. government invests dollars for a more educated workforce, for innovation, and other economic benefits.
The U.S. government's current approach — grants and loans of varying interest rates — doesn't achieve these goals. Grants only target the poorest of the poor and leave the middle class to fend for themselves. Even then, a maximum $5,550 Pell Grant is only a small coupon compared to the $20,000 cost of attendance at KU, a school that falls into the affordable, in-state category. To cover the difference, the U.S. government employs loans. The structure of these loans inefficiently targets the U.S. government's goal and still doesn't make much sense. I'm going to try and use an analogy to explain why.
By Chris Ouyang couyang@kansan.com
Say we're all toy company CEOs and we need to invest borrowed money, loans, in new toy factories. The goal is to make and sell more toys. That analogy lasted two sentences because we aren't CEOs. A CEO probably runs a company that has an extensive credit history, can issue bonds to raise funds that are rated by their risk, can sell assets to generate free cash, and much more. Most importantly, the CEO can do all this because he or she has the necessary business acumen. In stark contrast, many of us are students with little to no work history, an abysmal credit score, and are dependents that cosign everything with our parents. Oh, we also lack the business acumen that makes CEOs, well, CEOs.
This is why today's federal loans don't make sense. Despite any sign of proven ability to pay back any kind of loan, the government provides 18-year-old students with, quite literally, free money for four years. There is no academic criterion for federal loans besides a 2.0 GPA. There is no credit check. You don't need a cosigner on any loan. The student lives on borrowed time paid with money that wasn't earned through skill or merit, but rather loaned based on a simple need formula and a 2.0 GPA. The U.S. government indiscriminately
hands out money and expects that minimal effort to be the catalyst for a more educated workforce.
Obama and Romney should take a hard look at the structure of federal loans. Why don't federal loan interest rates have an academic criterion, or a sliding scale based on academic performance? Does the hoodium taking remedial, quite later, middle school courses who spends every night getting plastered really deserve the same loan as the middle class girl studying education who works two jobs to make ends meet? Why don't federal loans have some kind of preference towards science, technology, engineering, and math degrees? Why can't the current program reward students who immediately find jobs with some kind of backend credit? Shouldn't the U.S. government replace grants completely with loans and instead use grant money to forgive the loans of those who made college worthwhile?
The U.S. government has to reform its approach to the affordability of higher education. Giving all students full tuition scholarships to state institutions is unsustainable, Romney. Loaning more money to students without making sure they're doing well in school and finding jobs is nonsensical, Obama.
Both need to step up and decide this current pipeline of easy credit isn't the answer.
Ouyang is a junior majoring in petroleum engineering and economics from Overland Park. Follow him on Twitter @ChrisOuyang
CAMPUS CHIRPS BACK
What are you being for Halloween and why?
Follow us on Twitter @UDK_Opinion.
Tweet us your opinions, and we just
might publish them.
@JessicaBricker
@UDK. Opinion I'm dressing as a student
& going to club schutz. I mean, let's be
real... it's going to be a huge party!
HUMOR
Proposal for just a few Wescoe improvements
Since the University has yet to install the necessary tree update for Wescoe Beach, leaving our nice new concrete benches vulnerable to the harsh late-October sun, I have taken it upon myself to develop, devise and describe to you my plan for a new and improved Wescoe Beach.
Picture it with me; let's turn the Beach into an actual beach.
"There's no way that would ever work," the naysayers say, "It's just not a feasible course of action."
Well, to the naysayers I say, "You have no idea what you're talking about."
Think of it like this: the University removes the new shade-less benches and installs a two-foot deep wading pool spanning the length of the beach area in front of Wescoe Hall. Then, to sweeten the deal, they add a gradual decline on one end that allows a sandbar to be put in. I have some rough sketches drawn up, and let me tell you, this thing looks incredible.
Throw a few palm-fir-trees in there, a tiki bar and some lifeguard stands to watch out for drowning freshmen, and we've got a beach going. What are palm-fir-trees, you ask? Well those are another little something I've been developing. In a nutshell they're palm trees that have been genetically fused with fir trees so they stay leafy and shady year-round. It's highly innovative and experimental science, so I'll spare you the details.
I know what you're thinking, and yes, I've thought about it too. People will ask, "But Brett, what happens to the beach in the winter?" Rest easy, I have the perfect solution.
During the cold winter months the sand will be removed and the water frozen to create the University's first-ever ice skating rink. The tiki bar will become a hot chocolate cafe and ice skate rental shack, and the lifeguard stands replaced with fake snowmen. The palm-fir-trees can stay, because they're also festive for the holiday season, and will don festive holiday lights to get everyone in the mood — for holidays, that is.
I've even thought of how to finance the new "Beach Rink," as I've begun to call it. Raise student fees another five percent over the next five years, because let's face it, that's probably how long it will take the University to get around to finishing a project of this magnitude. It took three months to put the current benches into Wescoe Beach, and that was without tree installation time.
Now, none of the current students will reap the benefits of the Beach Rink, but we can take solace in the fact that we helped future University students enjoy their time between classes. Plus, think of all the students that will try to convince their professors to hold class meetings outside, only to be met with dismay when the professors deny their pleas, self-conscious of the way they look in a swimsuit.
If you're still on the fence, think about this: the implementation of the Beach Rink will create student jobs, and if you've been alive these past five years, you know it's really difficult for young people to find work in "this economy." This ultimately makes the Beach Rink a win-win, and if you oppose creating jobs while simultaneously creating happiness then you better be on the next train to Siberia, because that's the American way.
So in conclusion I say to you, "think about it." Who wouldn't love dipping their feet in the cool blue water on a hot August day, virgin daiquiri in hand, palm-fir-trees rustling overhead? And who can decry a cold winter's evening, skating to and fro hand in hand with that cutie from Western Civ? It's sure to be a hit, I promise.
Crawford is senior majoring in journalism from Olathe. Follow him on Twitter @brett_crea.
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