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Show OPINIONS WWW.UVUREVIEW.COM Know your ABC's, Mind your P's and Q's By FELICIA JOY Opinion's Writer College is expensive and a lot of students pay dearly for it. This is why I'm always incredibly astounded by the lack of classroom etiquette that people seem to get away with. There are some rules that warrant discussion or review. Admittedly, college is it's own wild atmosphere and everyone's learning about learning. But some guidelines will make learning itself easier. First, if you start a comment in a classroom with a disclaimer, don't finish it. We've all heard them: "I don't mean to sound racist but..." Or, "Not to be sexist or anything but...". Just don't say it. Think it over. Keep it in your head for bit and reorganize your idea until you can articulate it with clarity and consideration and without a disclaimer. The comments that begin with such disclaimers are almost always racist or sexist or homophobic or xenophobic or generally offensive. Second, there is a time and a place to share personal experiences. Most of the time, the classroom is not the place. If a professor asks, "Have any of you ever..." then use judgment, and a professor's expertise on discussion facilitation will hopefully keep everyone in check. But most personal experiences are personal. Your fellow students don't really want to hear about your children or ex-wives or your travels or your boyfriends. Insert your experiences into your papers if they are applicable or keep a learning journal in your classes where you talk about the material and the way it relates to your life. Third, be timely in your comments. It's weird for students to take more than a minute to answer a question or address the class. If it cannot be said concisely, write it on paper and see if you can downsize it. When a class is only fifty minutes and every student takes a few minutes to say something, time flies out the window and it's easy to fall behind. Also, professors are very smart people. They can spend decades studying what they are teaching you and, while students can teach each other, the most valuable information comes from their intellectual archives. People who talk too much or too long in class have a sense of entitlement, as though they are as familiar with a subject as a professor who wrote a thesis on it. If you need clarity on a particular point you learn in class or want to discuss something more in depth, make an appointment with your professor during their office hours. Start a study group with people in your class where you can talk about all of the concepts in a less formal setting. This way, you can have hours at your disposal. Fourth, listen very closely to what is being talked about in class and follow discussions carefully. Sometimes, eager students are so excited to share an idea that they don't realize it's already been expressed. Learning to think in college means learning how to speak and write but also learning how to listen and process information. Semesters are four months long and if an opportunity is missed to share an idea, another one will present itself. If you are absent for a class period, talk to your fellow students about their notes or schedule to meet with a professor. It can be rude to start a comment with, "I wasn't here last time, so I don't know what we talked about..." The entire class shouldn't have to backtrack because one person missed something. There are people who stopped teaching here because of how negligent and entitled the students were. I also know students who have dropped out of school because of how unfocused discussions were and how rude and offensive their fellow students could be in classroom settings. If teaching were easy, everyone would do it. If going to school at UVU were not a challenge, our graduation rates would skyrocket. But, teaching isn't easy. Managing a classroom of people who come from all walks of life, who range in age and differ in interests is one of the hardest jobs, particularly in this valley. By being considerate and learning how to listen and express our thoughts carefully we are practicing what we are paying for. We are easing the burdens of our incredible staff and acquiring skills we will use for a lifetime. That adage we use, "Everything I learned, I learned in kindergarten," is true in so many ways - because respect and learning to raise your hand are things we learned in kindergarten. Hopefully, we've mastered those concepts by the time we graduate here. ILLUSTRATION BY JOHN•ROSS BOYCE Have some class, kids - leave your racism at home, don't be a chatterbox and pay attention. The cost of an education By CORIN ROBINSON Opinion's Writer Being a full-time student and carrying a full or, even, part-time work schedule can be very demanding. Due to the steady increasing prices of tuition, books, housing and food, living comfortably is nearly impossible for most students. Few students are fortunate enough not to have to work - however, being completely dependent on parents can also be difficult. Most of us students are somewhere in between the ages of 18 and 26. Independence means more to us than it ever has. We want to show our parents and ourselves that we can make it on our own. Most of us are perfectly capable of doing exactly that. But is it fair that we have to? Is it fair that we manage a full-time class schedule and are putting in 20 to 40 hours a week at our job to pay rent and keep ourselves fed, all while performing well at both? Fair means nothing anymore. We're not the generation of fair. We are the generation of "just do it, it's expected of you". So that's what we do, or at least try pretty hard to do. I am one of the fortunate few students not required to hold a job. I don't have student loans stacking up. No rent due at the end of the month. There are groceries in my fridge. What I lack is dignity. I'm 24 years old and I live with my mom. If I want to go out with friends or get something to eat at school, I've got to receive my hand out. I may have it relatively easy financially, but I'm sacrificing my independence. I'm sacrificing the chance that any girl might want to get involved with me. It's embarrassing, but I suppose it's worth it. Then there are those students driving a $25,000 car, tuition paid, bank account full and a killer pad. We all hate them. They are the students laughing at me when I try to ask them a few questions about working students. They just don't understand. I suppose ignorance is bliss. Six years ago, when I started college, I had opportunities to live the collegiate high life. I took them for granted. Had I known the importance of a little bit of responsibility, I may not be bumming rides from mother today. Maybe ignorance isn't always so blissful. Let that be a lesson to those privileged few among you. Most students I've spoken with tell me the same thing; they hate their job, their schedules are packed, and they are just hoping to get through the semester alive. Most employers are not forgiving either - being late or missing work due to school is no excuse. Actually, for some employers death is just about the only legitimate excuse. Working students' grades are dramatically affected. Stress levels are out the roof. And in some cases, neither employers nor instructors care very much. Retail seems to be the worst situation. Students I spoke to working at the mall brave late nights, uncompromising hours, and minimum wages. They wake up early each morning to tough out another day. And I have not spoken to one person who claims to be getting enough sleep. Granted, social lives and social networking undoubtedly play a huge roll. Nevertheless, it is still a problem. I would encourage stu- dents to go for a campus job. The application process is a bit drudging, but they seem to be more willing to work with your class schedule. In some cases, they pay a little more than your typical retail or food service jobs too. But, aside from the lucky, relative few who work on campus, there aren't many solutions to this problem, other than powering through. All students are stressed, whether it be work, class or the girlfriend that is upset because you don't spend enough time with her. This is the cost of a higher education. That few thousand a semester is only part of the price we pay. You're going to sacrifice your time, your sleep, your dignity and probably a little piece of your sanity. But, there are far worse lives to be living than the one of a broke, stressed college student. Just do it. It's expected of you. OPINIONS EDITOR ASST. OPINIONS EDITOR OPINIONS DESIGNER jrboyce@gmail.com felicialartey@gmail.com tjmendenhall@q.com JOHN-ROSS BOYCE FELICIA JOY TARALYN MENDENHALL Shooting for the moon By MALLORY BLACK Opinion's Writer I wouldn't have previously considered myself to be very political. But now the rumblings of the next presidential election have started to shake up my world, bombarding my consumption of the daily news. It seems like every day I hear something different about another GOP candidate. I hear about the Mormon with a net worth of over $200 million. People ask questions about the 76 yearold libertarian congressman's health. But my personal favorite is the former House Speaker with his eye on that big old pie in the sky. During the campaign for the Florida primary, GOP candidate Newt Gingrich gave a speech where he detailed his quest for a moon colony by 2020 if elected president. As soon as 13,000 people became residents, Gingrich said the moon could petition for statehood. Wait, what? When did colonizing the moon take priority over the state of the economy? Are we not still fluctuating around 8 or 9 percent unemployment in the United States? Excuse me, 8.5 percent joblessness in America to be exact, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. I can't accept a presidential candidate's promise to put 13,000 Americans on the moon by the end of the decade and believe that our country's finances are headed in the right direction. I am not anti-moon, or anti-space exploration for that matter. I am all for science and space technologies. However, I believe that with our country's finances corning in at $15.3 trillion in the negative, it's a little out there to assume that we could afford a multi-billion dollar project like this, right now. According to estimates quoted in science magazine "Discover", the price tag for a modest-sized lunar space station to accommodate four people would come in at $35 billion. Also noted, this price would not include the cost of a rocket to get to the moon in the first place. Another quote, mentioned in financial magazine "Money", estimated a fully equipped space station including all operational costs would be in the neighborhood of $250 to $500 billion. That's a lot of moon cakes. So forgive me, Mr. Gingrich, when I'm a little more concerned with whether or not I will have a job in this market come graduation next spring. Maybe, just maybe, if you would consider us earthlings and the economy we are dealing with right now, maybe I could consider actually taking you seriously as a presidential candidate. How's that for political? |