The Student Athlete: Too Priveleged?

Xavier Baisden

Student Athletes are some of the most privileged people on college campuses. They are typically given full ride scholarships that cover all costs associated with their education, free apparel for their school, priority in registering for classes, and generally breaks and opportunities not afforded to the average student. However, with the recent controversies regarding student athletes, the question that raises is: Are they afforded too many priveleges? And in turn does this lead to their recklessness in society or belief that they are above the law?
Recently, there have been multiple controversies involving college student athletes breaking rules, whether it be with the NCAA or the law. Most notably, three University of Tenessee were arrested and charged with attempted armed robbery after they attempted to rob people with a pellet gun at a local gas station. However, this was far from the first time that a student athlete has been implicated in a wrongdoing. Other prominent student athletes involved in wrong doings include Derrick Rose, Reggie Bush, and Dez Bryant. The constant involvement of student athletes in legal cases brings to the forefront the question: Do student athletes consider themselves above the law?
In order to keep the student athlete in line, more should be done to show them that they are not above the law. They should in fact have less privileges than the average student, due to them being essentially a paid representative of not only the program, but the university as a whole. They should be considered role models for others, and their actions should be representative of such.

Community Colleges Close Doors

Greg Jones

A recent article in the New York Times entitled Two-Year Colleges, Swamped, No Longer Welcome All, by Lisa Foderaro, outlines a problem arising from the resurgence of the two year university. As Lisa (the author of the article) rightfully points out; "The battered economy drove many workers back to school to retool their skills, while others have eschewed a four-year degree in favor of a more affordable two-year program." The increased popularity of two year universities has put a strain on the financiers of these institutions. States are cutting funding for these colleges just when they need it most to support this influx of new students. According to TIME Magazine, the Obama Administration is attempting to meet these short falls and increase enrollment in community colleges across the nation. The twelve billion that Obama is seeking for community colleges will go a long way to fund these schools, but the needs of these institutions are not going to be met until then. This has forced many community colleges to close their doors and stop enrolling more students, some for the first time ever.

The idea that community colleges will be unable to accept applicants is shameful. Community college has long been the place where students can go for a second chance should they fail out of a university or did poorly in high school. The elimination of these second chances as a viable option is giving the wrong message to college and high school students everywhere. In saying that they aren't allowed to screw up we are getting rid of their safety net and telling them that they won't get another chance. The funding proposed by Obama is a good start to ensuring that community colleges aren't relegated to a back seat role in American education, but there is more that we could be doing. State legislatures need to stop eliminating funding for education simply because it's an easy way to save a buck.

Morning Classes in Higher Education - Failed Cognitive System

Harry Han

People have their own moment of concentration. Some say they are night-timers, others say that they are a morning person. But when it comes to higher education everybody seems like night-timers. Morning sessions and lectures may ease out on afternoon hours of higher education students, due to most students’ failure to concentrate early in the morning, morning education seems inefficient.

Amount of concentration definitely corresponds to time we spend sleeping. According to the article “Morning Classes Fail to Facilitate Learning” written by staffs of The Pioneer, with the workloads and activities that college students are involved in, “it is impossible to get a necessary amount of sleep before an 8 am class.” Thus students find themselves in morning lectures trying to listen to what their professor is saying but it only result they get is input through one ear and output through the other. Due to these effects, said by staffs of The Pioneer, some colleges started abolishing 8:00am classes. But is this really necessary?

Morning classes seem like a waste of time for college students. With short amount of lecture time at college each classes should work towards being more efficient with amount of knowledge or skills they teach. However, getting rid of morning classes seems unreasonable as to fit large number of the students in the afternoon would also bring about lack of concentration. As a result, professors should manage morning classes as fun or active classes so that students find enthusiasm in their classes. Not only professors but also students should prepare themselves for morning classes rather than hanging out with friends the night before the morning classes.

P.S. Coffee and a short Jeopardy Quiz helps

Academic Freedom in Higher Education

Aimee Turner

Academic freedom is the right of the teacher and student to be free from external or institutional censorship or other forms of restriction in terms of the teaching, research and critique of the University's governance. This is assumed to be an essential characteristic of an institution of higher education. Academic freedom includes, for faculty and students, the right of faculty to full freedom in research and in the publication of results, freedom in the classroom in discussing their subjects, and the right of faculty to be free from institutional censorship or discipline when they speak or write as citizens.

Although higher education institutions are thought of as places that exude academic freedom, the protection of academic freedom has been a key issue in higher education for centuries. There are many recent cases of the violation of academic freedom. A respected Egyptian sociologist was arrested for “defaming” Egypt and a prominent Iranian social scientist was sentenced to death for calling for democracy. International protests led to the Egyptian’s release and the lifting of the Iranian’s sentence in 2004; however, the immediate consequences of these professor’s actions did not honor the principle of academic freedom.

Universities cannot achieve their potential nor fully contribute to the emerging knowledge-based society without academic freedom. Even colleges and universities in western democracies face subtle but significant challenges from the privatization and commercialization of research and from the complexities of the information society. The goal of all higher education institutions is to research and discuss a wide spectrum issues that affect the human, world, and universal condition. From discussion of the beginning of life, war and peace, and the atomic structure of the atom, all of these subjects should be open to free discussion and research in order to better enlighten mankind.

Study Abroad...If You Can Afford It

by: Kevin Brawley

In higher education, gaining an international perspective is very beneficial when working toward a career with a major company. When employers see that students have had experience in other countries, they value them almost instantly. There are many reasons for this. Now that most businesses have reached the international level, they are faced with language and cultural differences that students who study abroad are faced with and can learn how to solve. With less than one percent of American Students studying abroad, companies reward those who do greatly.

You may be asking yourself: If studying abroad is so helpful, then why don't more students do it? There are many reasons for this as well. The first being a common misconception: studying abroad is expensive. Students generally feel that studying in another country is much more expensive than studying at their home institution, and for this reason, they do not even consider it as an option. However, the fact is that studying abroad is, in some cases, cheaper than studying at home. The cost of studying abroad is generally about the same as tuition at home. For this reason, out-of-state students generally pay in-state tuition when they study abroad through a program specific to their university, which saves them quite a bit. Another reason many students choose not to study abroad is the fear of going so far away from home for so long. If they do not know anybody else who is going, or if they have never been out of the country before, students are sometimes afraid of what they may find in the other country. They do not know what to expect. Schools could help alleviate this problem by having students who have studied abroad give presentations, and by providing cultural workshops for students who are about to go abroad so that they do know what to expect.

Small Economy Means More Grad Students

Chris Massad

Many have been talking of the effects the weak economy has had on the United States. The economy has effected many aspects of life, higher education being one of them. The economy's recession has marked a spiked increase in the number of graduate students in the United States. Could this due to the fact that employers are looking for the most qualified employees, and knowing this, employees are competitively earning higher degrees? Doubtful. Based on the general consensus of students, surveys have shown that students who finish undergraduate school go straight to graduate school because the job market is horrendous. The strength of the job market is directly proportional to the economy.

University of Illinois second year graduate student Andrew Stevens was one of the students surveyed and was further interviewed. He is currently studying aerospace engineering and graduated at a time with a relatively stable job market, but decided to get his masters anyways. He explains, "At the time (of my graduation), the job market was high. Shortly after, my friends started to get laid off," Stevens said. "So grad school was a smart economic decision for me." The University of Illinois recorded a record high 10,495 graduate students enrolled this semester, marking a 4.27 percent increase from last year's number of grad students.

This is not just a local Illinois issue. Acr0ss the nation, students are taking advantage of the weak economic times to earn higher degrees. Stewart Heiser, spokesman for the Council of Graduate Schools stated, "For this semester, applications to graduate schools for domestic students (from the U.S.) are up 8 percent." Either way, officials believe that it is a smart move for students to wait a while before joining the work force; furthering your education is a wise decision that will more than likely be beneficial in the future.

Take Your Time

In movies and books that display the college lifestyle, typically things rapidly change from the high school lifestyle to the party atmosphere of college. In these movies, a basic student becomes king of the college campus, superstar athlete, and finds the love of his or her life within the time span of a year. In actuality, this doesn't happen, or at least not at such a rapid pace. College is a marathon, not a sprint. It is much more important to slow down and gradually adapt to the college lifestyle rather than rush in and attempting to try everything immediately.
Realistically, it takes about a year to adapt to what in a college environment. This time is where the habits that will stick around for the next 4, 5, or 6 years will be developed. It is much easier to slowly add more to your schedule than it is to be overloaded at the beginning and have to drop activities.
Many things about the "prototypical" college lifestyle can be delayed until one is comfortable. These things include relationships, pledging with a fraternity/sorority, joining different organizations in a leadership position, or just going out and partying. All of these things are integral to the college experience, however they should definitely be waited upon until one is ready to add these to their workloads.
Many people come into college planning on partying it up, and doing everything they have always envisioned when they thought about college as soon as possible. However, it is very important to take your time, and keep your grades up, to make your college experience the best it can be.

Should there be a limit to Laptop Requirements?

Harry Han

Laptop has been a great use to the students of higher education. However sometimes it is questionable whether the quality of its graphic cards and CPU’s are necessary for educational needs. Thus there are no doubts that students bring their own laptops not for their educational needs but more of their entertainment in higher education.

Most seniors of high school, as they move onto the level of higher education, purchase laptops that meet the standard of college requirements. However, some decide to purchase high-tech gizmos of the most recent gadgets of current time, such as Alienware and Asus-Republic of Gamers. With rapidly running processors and graphic cards, these laptops may seem like a necessity for the higher education but they are rather a reverse effect in higher education. That is, students who tend to have laptops of high quality tend to fall into entertainments rather than study much harder. According to the article “Laptops for College – the Best aren’t Necessarily the Most Expensive Ones,” by Lillian Wills, “the best laptops for college might just be an inexpensive laptop with just the features that a college kid needs.” It is clearly unnecessary that a freshman student needs a high-tech i7 processors with its graphic card GE force 260M for his essay in his English class.

Higher education should be where students dedicate themselves to education and academics. Laptops are tools for students to reach their goals through higher education but sometimes they become tools of mere entertainments. Limits to laptop requirements are not really necessary, however the best suggestion is that keeping laptop level to its necessary needs would lead students to their success.

R.O.T.C. at elite universities

Greg Jones

Back in the 1960s during the anti-war movement, many Ivy League Universities banned their R.O.T.C. programs because of the way the program was being treated by students at the universities. Despite most universities now showing an outpouring of support for the military, the R.O.T.C. programs at many are still banned. In an article by the New York Times entitled The R.O.T.C. Dilemma the author, Michael Winerip, explains that despite recent polls of students that show support for R.O.T.C programs, Ivy League schools still refuse to reinstate their programs. Most Ivy League schools show only token support for their students that wish to pursue R.O.T.C regardless of the barriers.

The few students that still chose to pursue R.O.T.C programs have to travel to host universities in the area of their school to receive their training. For students at schools like Yale this means a three hour round trip drive to the University of Connecticut with no special considerations for classes they might miss making the drive 3-5 days a week. Being involved in an R.O.T.C. program can be stressful and time consuming enough without having to factor in the added stress of trying get to another campus to participate in training. In a recent article by The Harvard Crimson, entitled R.O.T.C. May Return to Ivy Schools, stated that the Department of Defense has expressed interest in restarting the programs at Ivy League schools.

The thing that is interesting to note is that even if the Defence Department does chose to reinstate these schools as training academies, it will most likely not result in R.O.T.C. training centers. For example, the R.O.T.C. uses what's called the host school program in which it puts programs on campuses that are big and centralized and has these programs service the schools nearby. The Georgia Tech R.O.T.C. program, for instance, serves; Georgia Tech, Georgia State, Kennesaw, Emory, Morehouse, Spelman, Clark, West Georgia, Southern Poly, Clayton, Agnes Scott, and Mercer. So if a school like Harvard were to express interest in reinstating their R.O.T.C program on campus their request would most likely be denied and they would be told to send their students to M.I.T. along with the other 8 schools in the area whose students go to M.I.T. for R.O.T.C. training. This is a fact that is often overlooked by both students at these universities and critics of the lack of program at these schools.

Stereotypes of Minorities in Higher Education: AAPIs

Aimee Turner

Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs) have come to be defined in contemporary America as the "good" minority that seeks advancement through quiet diligence in study and work and by not making waves—the minority that other American minorities should seek to emulate. In reality, AAPIs are a diverse group of various ethnicities and cultural backgrounds; no simple generalization can characterize the group as a whole. Furthermore, despite the "model minority" stereotype, AAPIs also face academic challenges and socioeconomic hardships.

To help dispel the "model minority" myth, College Board Advocacy released "Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders—Facts, Not Fiction: Setting the Record Straight " in June 2008 in collaboration with New York University's National Commission on Asian American and Pacific Islander Research in Education (CARE). The report provides empirical data to refute prevailing fictions about this group of students, and explains how the "model minority" stereotype can be harmful: in assuming universal academic strength, teachers and counselors often do not extend help to their AAPI students to the extent they do other students.

Although this types of stereotypes about different minorities are discussed privately amongst groups, these stereotypes can have adverse effects on the performance of the said minority and on those around them. It must be understood that the success rates of all minorities are dependent on their personal goals and ambitions.

We Always Knew Plagiarism Was Bad...

by: Kevin Brawley

Ever since elementary school when we started learning to write, the idea of plagiarism being forbidden was forced into our little minds. "Don't be a copy-cat," the teacher would say. Sometimes little kids do not realize that they are copying more than they should because they feel like the way the source they got the information from presented the information is the best or only way to present it, and they simply reproduce most or all of the original source in their writing. However, throughout elementary school and into high school, students learn how to synthesize and rephrase information so that plagiarism is less of an issue, which is a good thing because as students enter college, policies on plagiarism become stricter than ever before. Not only do most colleges fail and or expel students for copying others' work, they sometimes refer them to a court of law. This is something new for most high school students who have never faced such a serious threat for plagiarism before; in high school, they would get a zero for the assignment and be told not to do it again. Another complication for today's students is the ease of exchange of information through the use of computers and the Internet. It is much easier to copy and paste than it would have been to copy everything by hand fifteen or twenty years ago.

Students are truly treated as adults in college, and they are held to the same standards as faculty, who are very much penalized for plagiarism.

The Benefits of Teaching Naked

Chris Massad

In today's world, life would not be possible without computers. People rely more on computers than they do anything else in life, and it is becoming so in lecture halls as well. In elementary, middle and high school, most teachers are required to incorporate some sort of technology based learning in their curriculum. University professors use programs like PowerPoint to teach the class and often take pride in their "tech-smart" classrooms. In fact, PowerPoint has become the norm for presenting a lecture/lesson in universities. It seems as if the new age technology world would make teaching more efficient, but in many cases, using PowerPoint-like methods to teach do more harm than good.

José A. Bowen, a dean at Southern Methodist University has adopted the idea of teaching naked and is proudly removing all computers from lecture halls. He has challenged his colleagues to "teach naked." "More than any thing else, Mr. Bowen wants to discourage professors from using PowerPoint, because they often lean on the slide-display program as a crutch rather using it as a creative tool." This idea takes root in the fact that class time should be used for discussion and educated debate. Nowadays, lecture videos are posted online and any factual information can be found on the web.

However, the reason Bowen is encouraging the switch more than anything because students find lectures with PowerPoint boring and do not learn as much in result. A survey consisting of 211 students at a university in England was conducted by researchers at the University of Central Lancashire and found that "59 percent of students in a new survey reported that at least half of their lectures were boring, and that PowerPoint was one of the dullest methods they saw." Personally speaking, from a students perspective, powerpoint is a really boring method of teaching and the lectures I remember from the past are the ones with lively interactions, challenging debates, and scholarly discussions. Boredom in the classroom can be eradicated as soon as computers are taken out of the picture.

Bowen's Take on Teaching Naked.

Courtesy of The Chronicle of Higher Education