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Show Are Grades the Ultimate Goal By Sandy Rodgers The student at the "U" is in a dilemma. di-lemma. He must decide where he wants to spend what little extra time he has. The obvious answer is that he will spend it in those areas which interest him. This, however, brings another question: Should a student spend his time in those areas which have already proven successful, suc-cessful, or should he experiment and try to broaden his interests? One goal of education is to encourage students to broaden their experiences and knowledge. During Freshman Orientation I heard two general concepts of the purpose of college. These goals are (1) to become educated in the academic sense of the word and (2) to prepare for life, which would include both the social and intellectual in-tellectual aspects of knowledge. However, How-ever, a general definition of the "intellectual" "intel-lectual" approach is based on the interchange in-terchange of people's views and social concepts. Therefore, the "social" and practical knowledge that is obtainable at the University seems to be part of both definitions. A Conflict As any quarter progresses a student becomes aware of the great amount of work required for classes. This same student may also be involved in University Univer-sity activities. Therefore, a conflict grows between studying and participating. participat-ing. If a student has even a couple of hours a week free, then he has enough time to become involved in an activity. Diane Hatch, former coordinator of the Student Activity Center, used to speak of "an empty GPA." The empty GPA refers to the person who is at the "U" to obtain only knowledge and-or grades and has no practical experience where he can apply this knowledge. Socrates claims that knowledge cannot be divorced di-vorced from the practical aspects of life. The basis of selection into honoraries and graduate school is changing. The days when the straight "A" student was the sought-after candidate for graduate school are fast disappearing. Today emphasis is not only placed on the GPA but also on extracurricular interests and activities. Even a national honorary, Phi Kappa Phi, has modified its GPA requirement of the usual 3.5 to a 3.4 for those students who have been seriously ser-iously committed to University activities and projects. Campus honorary groups such as Mortar Board, CWEAN, and Owl and Key are also based on contributions contri-butions to the U as well as the GPA. Activities and organizations can give knowledge in future employment as well as give a student increasing knowledge of his interest. Departmental honoraries and organizations, e.g., political science, business and anthropology, give the member a greater interest and ultimately ultimate-ly a greater commitment to the importance import-ance and goals of his future occupation. Such commitment also provides this student stu-dent with greater accessibility to knowledge knowl-edge of his subject. Working in related fields that develop practical skills can also supplement knowledge. Many English Eng-lish majors find publications experience of great importance to them both in classes and occupations. Participating as a Student Tutor can help a future teacher learn to clarify his ideas and gain teaching experience. Place to Experiment Student activities is the only place where a student can experiment with a new idea and see the idea fail without suffering the usual academic consequences. conse-quences. Activities are a testing experience exper-ience for leadership ability, committed membership, knowledge of group workings work-ings and evaluation of a student's own commitment and interest. In activities the novel or creative approach is often necessary to start a new program. If this approach fails, then the student simply sim-ply div.ses a new plan and tries again until the program succeeds. A student judges his own experience both in terms of value to him and in terms of effec- ZTfSun accomPlis"ing the desired goal for the program. s " t'je cthr hand' many problems seem inherent in activity participation. Many people become "chronic and join too many activities. It . pie feel that all activities are dtfS by a few students. This excess N, ing also creates the question of : ment not only to the activiti? but to the academic purpose ol Nonparticipants view these "jo: seeking personal fame or viw in activities as using student p: as an escape. Some student ' sincerely committed to many a" n but then what of their acatfe mitment? Responsibilities Overlap F Too many inoperative and : i ping committees diminish the 3 ance of activities because the t ness and necessity of all cons- indirectly questioned. Sound-Chatter Sound-Chatter have a tendency to J same issues, although n u points of view and thus app 1 eel out their effectiveness. asked me why, "the Chrony ; didn't get together instead", two rather dull endeavors. -problem is the seeming visory and Program Count their areas of respons clearly defined. If somjj committees were conciliated, conci-liated, interest in activity crease because a commits a clearly defined area ana ing an unduplicated and f The members would rea have an important function sive area. - As was previously stated. f. purpose of the ; Univers i It is obvious that a sra mittee meeting cannot si . . term during that hour. a kind of "golden mean reached to balance tw j experience scale? II terest only in one acu committed to it, vvouldnti . for him to forego tne , activity? The number important but the expert S ment could be. s |