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WINFREY: Students who don't work hard in their classes are cheapening the four-year degree and selling themselves short. See kansan.com for more opinions and Free for All comments
TUESDAY, AUGUST 22, 2006 WWW.KANSAN.COM
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
OPINION
PAGE 6A
OUR VIEW
Find someone else to foot the bills
Students will once again be nickel-and-dimed by the University this year. Intramural athletes will be greeted with a team fee for leagues which were free just a semester ago.
While the fees are minimal, it's just another unnecessary expense that comes out of students' pockets.
This year, officiated team sports such as flag football or basketball will cost $20 per team. Unofficiated sports such as ultimate Frisbee or sand volleyball will run $10 per team. Officiated tournaments are now $10 and unofficiated $5. A fee will also be assessed for fitness programs.
The KU Recreations Services determined this summer to reintitute fees for the first time since the fall of 2001. The fees,
they say, will allow recreation services to continue providing intramural sports and to offset costs of running the Student Recreation Fitness Center.
A $62 student recreation and fitness center fee is included in every student's tuition. Multiply the fee by the number of students and recreation services has more than $1.5 million to work with right off the bat.
The students have done their part when it comes to providing money for the Student Recreation Fitness Center. It was the students who accepted fees to help build the $17 million center that opened in September 2003.
Students also agreed to swap tickets to help fund additions to the new facility. Students agreed to give the athletic department
1,200 seats for men's basketball games, but got only 226 closer seats. The athletics department also provides $1 million each year for a $6 million addition to the three-year-old rec center.
Certainly the price for intramural sports is reasonable, but tacking on more fees to students shouldn't always be the solution.
Why not look for other solutions, instead of always charging the students? Reevaluate the hours of the facility or look at the staff to see if all are really needed to find ways to avoid passing the buck to the students.
The students have already paid enough.
Louis Mora for the editorial board.
COMMENTARY
Wise up, Suzy Bare Minimum
We've all seen them in class. The students who create a puddle of drool on their desks as they sleep, surf the Internet on their laptops or fill out the crossword in this fine publication. They are Johnny and Suzy Bare Minimum, content to take their Cs and stumble into the next semester, year after year, while demonstrating that they feel the academic portion of college is just a tedious stepping-stone on the path to future financial security.
Ultimately, these students are happy to receive a four-year degree alongside all the students who tried to make the most out of their college educations. In a different time, Johnny and Suzy's Cs would have been Fs, and they would have been going home for Christmas, never to come back.
These days, schools aren't weeding out the students who prefer having their tickets punched instead of learning anything. How are these students able to pass? I think you have to look at the very real and disheartening issue of grade inflation. All students in pursuit of a four-year degree are experiencing the adverse affects that come with the passing of students who never do more than they must.
A report done by the Carnegie Foundation found that grade inflation has become increasingly prevalent in our nation's schools, and this includes some of the most academically prestigious. The report
BY JEREMY WINFREY
KANSAN COLUMNIST
OPINION@KANSAN.COM
notes that in 1950 only 15 percent of Harvard and Yale's student bodies obtained a grade of a B+ or higher. Today that number has risen to over 70 percent.
If such inflation is taking place in Ivy League schools, I can only imagine what is going on at the thousands of public institutions around the U.S. Such inflation breeds apathetic attitudes toward education in some students. We are seeing the effects of this apathy in the staggering number of instances of plagiarism in our nation's schools; some students do not even feel the need to do their own work. Grade inflation cheapens the successes of those students who always put forth their best effort, and it ends up watering down the four-year degree.
Students who are happy to scrape by academically, thinking they are going to land a $70,000-a-year job just because they graduated, should wise up. While statistics show a trend of increased salaries, every student should take into consideration that those statistics are drawn from the past thirty to forty years.
Today we are living with the ills of a weak economy, exacerbated by rampant corporate irresponsibility. Such factors have shown that even the white-collar, educated workers of America are not beyond the reach of the tentacles of bad fortune. With the job market already inundated with applicants who hold four-year degrees, the addition of students who took an uninspired approach to earning theirs trims up an already slim chance of landing a solid career.
Many employers are looking for applicants who have refined their skills in graduate school. This is unfortunate because many hard working students and their families may have already taken on a heavy load of debt acquiring a four-year degree. The thought of going on to graduate school can seem like an exhausting prospect to many.
So hey, Johnny and Suzy Bare Minimum, why don't you try a little more effort when it comes to your studies this semester; you might be doing us all a favor. But you will be doing yourselves the biggest favor by respecting the education you are receiving, and the personal growth that comes from challenging yourselves to succeed. That, my friends, you will find is more valuable than any future increase in salary that college may bring.
Winfrey is a Lawrence senior in creative writing.
FREE FOR ALL
free for All callers have 20 seconds to speak about any topic they wish. Kansan editors reserve the right to omit comments. Slanderous and obscene statements will not be printed. Phone numbers of all incoming calls are recorded
Call 864-0500
Play is not for real until bottles are rocketing down the basement stairs.
I just want to give a shout out to all my friends back there in Kansas, representing the 'Hawks here on the West Coast.
I just want to call and thank the women from the front desk at GSP who on Friday night decided to call the police on a drunk, 21-year-old white kid with an afro because he was
trying to make a few friends. And instead of asking him to go home they called the police and now he is facing a drunk-and-disorderly conduct trial coming
trying to make a few friends. And instead of asking him to go home they called the police and now he is facing a drunk-and-disorderly conduct trial coming
here on th
up, and a $500 fine. So they
pretty much have that $500 fine
Hey guys, in today's paper you said the 81-year-old lady was traveling north on Tennessee and got into an accident. Tennessee travels south. Sad commentary on American
commentary on American education.
Grant Snider/KANSAN
COMMENTARY
Don't just look out for number one
Many people view college as a time to experiment and find out who they are as individuals. Some get a new hairstyle or piercing, while others join a sorority or fraternity What all of these people in common is that they are attempting to find somewhere to belong. In other words, they want to join a community.
A community can be defined as an institution, such as the University, an organization or just a group of friends. For me, community is the web of people with whom you have your closest relationships. They are the ones with whom you choose to share your life.
On the other hand, the media tells us that in order to be attractive we must have the most fashionable and expensive clothes. Look anywhere and you will find definitions of what it means to be the alpha male or female — just wear brand x.
As college students we receive many diverse messages about who we are supposed to be. Those from the academic world are constantly telling us to study hard so we can be the best student in the class. Our work is constantly being critiqued, as if it were somehow linked to our self-worth. Getting a B on a test is not good enough.
We live in a culture where we are taught from a very young age to look out for number one. We are told that money is more important than relationships, and that if you work hard enough you can reach the American Dream of wealth, status and power.
Once members of a community come to trust each other they feel free to be to who they are. Each member grows by watching and listening to the experiences of others. They begin to relate and make sense of each other's experiences within the wider world.
A community such as this is a place where you can be accepted, yet be challenged to grow and be a better person. Come as you are.
kunt is a Lawrence sophomore in journalism and creative writing.
Being in a community is about give and take. Each person out there has dreams and aspirations, as well as a longing to be accepted for who they are. In a strong community people can come as they are. Its members listen to each other instead of judging. By looking to understand and take care of others, you allow bonds of trust to form.
》TALK TO US
Jonathan Keeling, editor
864-4844 or jkaeli@kansan.org
Erick R. Schmidt, managing editor
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Gabrielle Souza, managing editor
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Frank Tankard opinion editor
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BY BETH RUHL
KANSAN COLUMNIST
OPINIONKANSAN.COM
y of 2. Everyone will love you.
Then we get messages from what we could叫 the "alternative" "social spectrum." In order to fit in here you must listen to outrageously obscure music, be a vegan and shop at fashionable secondhand stores, because you always knew you were way ahead of those other kids.
These ideas breed such a spirit of competitiveness that people forget or refuse to think about anyone but themselves. Throughout this process people become so concerned about their own individualism and one-upping each other that they
In order for a community to work, its members must consciously realize that they are all interconnected and responsible to one another. With a community mentality people begin to reach out to each other, instead of solely focusing upon their own individual needs.
forget they exist within a community.
v or z. Everyone will love you!
Dave Ruigh, associate opinion editor 864-4924 or drulgh@kansan.com
864-4924 or druligh@kansan.com
Kyle Hoedt, business manager
864-4014 or khoedl@kansan.com
Lindsay Shireak, sales manager
864-4842 or lhairack@kansan.com
Matsholm Gibson, gennal al, news adviser
864-7667 or mgibson@kansan.com
Jennifer Weaver, sales and marketing adviser
Jennifer Weaver, sales and marketing adviser
864-7865 or jweaver@kensan.com
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For any questions, call Frank Tankard or Dave Rugh at 864-4810 or e-mail opinion@kansan.com.
General questions should be directed to the editor at editor at kansan.com
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GUEST COLUMN GUIDELINES
EDITORIAL BOARD
Also: The Kansan will not print guest columns that attack a reporter or another columnist.
2
Jonathan Kapling, Erick R. Schmidt, Gabrielle Souza, Frank Tankard, Dave Rulgh, Steve Lynn, Lois Mora and Mara Caputo
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