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Show Get your letter to the editor printed. Email it to : dixiesundixie. edu Education Who is responsible? teachers, tests inadequate Students should step it up held responsible for the futures of their students, merely the year the teacher and student PETERSON Bv DEAN Staff Writer "i Basic col-- Y I lege English . classes are Jr too simple to i be of any 'helptostu-- ; dents who j-- I lJul. d actually rules ofgram-- L un-Ln- basic spelling. taken an youve ever and If Eng-- , State the noticed youve in a basic is yinculum very Col-- s, at Dixie class then Teachers go rules of at a one time, as mniar, 0Ugh the students in the room of way. nd jiugh the basic years of high instruction as to jienthad four I his e same. Nee- - English professors College dumb to ive mbol same ayas with a nes ledge e' oiganlimpl; mbol .they is then x lan-;jjg- Its not the students The fault lies who were for the four years of school English education. The main reason students are mng at college with a glar-:lac- k of knowledge is the however. ,ith the teachers students to en dont push grow and aren't being teachers that ; ostis col-s- e less than acceptable e. of the English nit, ayed. o everything down students come to m Teachers spend together. Teachers arent being asked to stand accountable for the quality of their instruction beyond tire standardized tests, so they feel no obligation to go the extra mile. They teach then curriculum to tire bottom of the class to get more students to pass the No Child Left Behind tests, and they all-bignore the students who have the trivial understanding of English and professional grammar that is required to pass the federally mandated standardized tests that come from NCLB. This is the core of the problem. To be fair, having the national standard puts serious strain on a teacher to get students to scrape by, especially when the schools funding is on the line. One definite way to get into someones head is to mess with that person's money. It would be unfair to expect all teachers to have the drive to teach above and beyond the national standards, except that its their job. This brings me to my next point: The standardized tests arent good enough. If these students are coming into their college level class as unprepared as they are, then the NCLB, ACT and SAT tests ut clearly arent doing their jobs. Why would students learn more than they need to learn to pass the tests? What is their motivation when they have learned from their public education that the only purpose of learning is to pass a test? Just like any other bureaucracy, there also seems to be a mentality with teachers in tire high many school system. They dont need to teach more than their class level because theres always next year- for the kids to learn what they need for college. When a student is a senior in high school, the teachers know that if they can get that student to pass the NCLB tests, they are in the green. Teachers know they arent responsible for their students future, just their test scores. The problem may look like it lies with the students and their laziness, but the problem wouldnt be so common across the board if it wasnt caused by the teachers. Again, not all teachers fall under this description. There are a few who stand above tire rest, but they are most assuredly the exception to the standard. As a baseline, teachers need to step up their game and help their students to advance more in the English pass-the-bu- BY RICHARD BRIGGS became proficient in this area. Those students who did not become proficient in English chose to be that way. They were tire people who constantly complained about English and that they were being treated un- Sports Editor The discussion has come up about the dumbing down of gen-er- al educa- - tion classes is and who to blame for the problem, and I believe tire problem lies with tire students. While my opposing columnist will say tire lack of quality teaching is tire reason for general ed classes, I believe its the students who need to step up their game. One of tire arguments that has been brought up is that students lack an understanding of proper grammar. He believes English classes at the high school level are not suited to teach students proper grammar. This is why English classes at Dixie State College seem so amateur. However, its not the professors or teachers in high school who are tire problem. As a senior in high school I was given tire option to take either a regular English class or take two creative writing classes. I chose to take two creative writing classes. I had spent my time throughout high school working on my writing and grammar because I loved it. I low-quali- ty fairly. I had this same problem with high school math classes. I did not enjoy math in the slightest, so thats why I didnt do well in high school nradr. It explains veiy well why math was tire final general ed course I completed at DSC. Had I decided to do well like I did in English, maybe math wouldn't have been so hard. I had something I enjoyed very much, but I also had something I did not enjoy. At tire college level I worked hard and enjoyed English courses, but I struggled and finally.fin-ishe- d math last summer. Math was extremely difficult for me, and I didnt feel tire courses were dumbed down for my level. Even tire English classes at DSC were challenging, but because I enjoyed tire subject so much, I accomplished tire assignments. If tire professors are dumbing down tire classes its not because they lack tire ability to teach. Its because tire students arent pulling their weight. My high school English teacher expected a lot out of us, esan- - AN parties keep gamers relatively social opeta- ay to BY ints ldor- - RHETT SULLIVAN Staff Writer ilue pro- LAN pa-- j ties which - 'en- - are parties in which )useo he afile ikes and :on- - out jusi- "Itre- an y. d ). people link their game systems or computers sgether and play against ri) other are becoming bsolete because of online ng, and I rarely see anymore. fie Internet will take gaming sooner !,her than later, and that is lK But there are a couple issues with the current lte of online gaming compared to LAN ;'ng. During LAN paronline !'er In- s evcrything is con-cte- d to a local hub, is usually restricted People in a room or behold; therefore, lag or Section issues, are not ''cttimon as they are on online network. Nothing is more frustrat-- 2 than when your trying newb (which is rd talk for defeat an and the game P'vn a down because of lag ytir shot gets ruined. getting booted out of ?ae because of a bad Section when you are ,Ilnng is equally frustrat- So Internet speeds get faster it will be forget about LAN lerand !yt enjoy g multi-play- er via the Internet. Even now there are some connections that can easily support a large group of people, but not everybody has a fast Internet connection. The Internet connection at my apartment starts to slow noticeably when two or three systems are online at the same time. I realize not everybody has that problem, but that isnt the only thing wrong with online gaming when compared to LAN. Its also the mentality that comes along with online play. With online play it becomes too easy for a gamer and their friends to just stay at their own houses and play. That is a cool option, but it can cheapen the experience. You can call people nerds because they have LAN parties, but the reason LAN parties are fun is because you get to hang out and be with friends. For me, pretty much any game or activity, whether digital or not, would be fun if I was with people I enjoy being around. I sometimes miss the I days in high school when played in LAN parties of about 16 people. was either in the same room or a room close by. Whether we were playCounter ing StarCraft, Combat Halo: or Strike, the the Xbox, on Evolved actual face-to-fa- ce interac- tion between games and the trash talk among friends during games was priceless. Ive had experiences playing online alone in my room with my headset on, and it was so exhilarating as I came from behind and took the lead with only seconds to spare. But when the stat screen came up and I was presented as the victor, I didn't get to see the disappointed or even shocked faces of my lowly foes. Instead, I was just the random annoying guy in the background of their headsets talking smack on a disinterested crowd. I also happened to be alone in my room shouting at a TV. But at a LAN party my trash talk does not go unheard. My victory dance is not squandered nor does it go unnoticed. It is all done literally in the face of the all of the nubcakes (more nerd talk) who dared to challenge me that round. And the clanks of thrown controllers and the roar of disapproval from my jealous comrades as they talk about why they should have won ring like words of praise in my ears. But lately I have seen a new trend in some of the newer multi-play.games. The latest Halo title, Halo: Reach, has actually not changed its multiplayer LAN support. But Call of Duty: Black Ops, which er unlike Counter Strike Source isnt outdated, is aiming more toward online gaming by only allowing two people per screen, but it still offers LAN support. StarCraft II, to my dismay, has completely done away with LAN and only offers online or solo play. In all honesty, I like .the option to be able to jump on a game with friends or even strangers online when Im at my home by myself. I just hope other mainstream multiplayer games dont follow Star Craft IIs, lead and completely get rid of LAN support before the average Internet connection is as stable and reliable as LAN. and she made me mad a couple of times with certain comments she left on my classwork. But those are tire times where I grew up and got better. She was one of my favorite teachers because even though she was tough she highly praised good work. Most of my classwork for her classes had some kind of sports undertone. One of our papers was a compare and contrast essay. I chose to compare Major League Baseball in the present day to Major League Baseball in tire 1920's. She was never a sports fan, but she always encouraged me to write about things that interested me. She said the essays where students really cared about their subjects were the most fim to read. She inspired me. Students are often too busy complaining about their professors rather than trying to achieve personal goals. Im not exempt from this. see SCHOOL page 12 DIXIE SUN Mark Green, Editor-in-Chi-ef Tom Betar, News Editor Eric Reed, Opinion Editor Richard Briggs, Sports Editor Matt Jacobson, A&E Editor McKoye Mecham, Lifestyles Editor Bryan Uliri, Online Editor Shelby Misrasi, Asst. Online Editor Tyler Marsing, Photo Editor Mickelle Yeates, Asst. Photo Editor Alex Armstrong, Ad Manager David Adams Alama Allred Levi Amone Chris Caldwell Michael Christensen Jennifer Giles Taylor Grin i Alyssa Grossen Heather Harrison Dallas Hyland Amanda Jacobs Casey Lantz Robert Lovell Ephraim Moore Tyler Olson Dean Peterson Ashley Putnam Hazel Sainsbury Mark Schurr Rhett Sullivan Rhiannon Bent, Adviser DIXIE SUN KIDS HOW TO REACH US Dixie State College Jennings Bldg. 225 South 700 East St. George, UT 84770 Phone: (435)652-781- Fax: (435) 8 656-401- 9 dixiesundixie.edu www.dixiesunlink.com The Dixie Sun is distnbutcd each Wednesday during Fall and Spring semesters as a publication of Dixie Stale StuCollege, and Dixie Slate College dent Activities. The unsigned editonal AMERICAN CHINESE on the opinion page represents the position of Dixie Sun as determined by its editorial board. Otherwise, the views and opinions expressed in Dixie Sun are those of the individual wnters and do not ncccssanly reflect the opinions of Dixie Sun or any entity of the coU |