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Show OPINIONS A6 Fact or fiction Non-fiction books are good but fictional books can also teach valuable lessons PHOTO COURTESY OF STOCKXCHNG By Collin Lawrence Assistant Opinions Editor Twitter @STIKEEE Books are a new development in history. Once upon a time, people just told stories. Orators and poets traveled across the known world to share the tales of heroes, villains, adventures and romance. Traditions were passed on in this method for millennia. The power of the press has long been a mastered skill of Americans. Libel and slander are not just frowned upon but unlawful, but manipulation is one thing that people are susceptible to. Telling things the way you want them to be heard enables printers to become historians and readers to become believers. Knowledge of right and wrong learn from innovators and leaders is power, not just knowledge. Plen- in innumerable fields. From Art ty of ignorant people have dem- to Zoology, there is no shortage onstrated understanding, but intel- of verifiable and unique examples ligence questions the source from of educational opportunity. which it came and validates the Students who find someintegrity before passing it along. thing they want to study more Experience of others may offer an can delve in deeper at their opportunity to skip the struggle public library. Using databases and pain and benefit from the les- for research and checking out son, but only if you believe it. books has an invested feaEducation has become a right, ture that handing out required not a privilege like it once was in reading at school just doesn't. our brief history since coloniza- Current students know how tion. Reading from the sacred word to access cliff notes and sumwas the foundation of this experi- maries for any book online. ence. Controlling the source of the There are scores of websites material to learn from enables the that even highlight significant teacher to guide students through detailed facts and pull quotes a process to reach a goal of appli- right from the text. Engaging cation without the paired experi- students is the important part ences. Without a tragedy there is of education. Robots can spit no loss. Without a romance there out information and facts, but is no love. With oppression there is teachers are supposed to extyranny. With violence there is fear. cite, enrich and motivate. Libraries are portals of discovThe youth of today need goals. ery. All the tombs and catacombs They have active imaginations of records could just like generanot hold the roartions before them, ing seas and crashbut they have so ing thunder of life. many limitations. On the same shelf They are given Kids don't care if a everything step by you can find a tale of a trip to the step. We must rebook is factual or depths of the sea move the barriers and a journey that and allow thought fictional, they want to be formed spans the globe. If you read fast you freely. Malcolm can even throw in Gladwell offers to be entertained a trip to the moon new ways to think too, all in one day. about the whole and challenged. world in "The TipThe library and ping Point," and the classroom have "Blink." "Guns, drifted further and Germs and Steel," further apart. The by Jared Diamond, delves into Internet and government are stepthe real history of how cultures ping in between the two. No longer began and how some eventually will teachers and faculty decide what's best for Jane and Johnny progressed. Laurence Gonzales to read about, the National Gov- digs the deepest fears out of us in ernors Association Center for Best "Deep Survival" and provokes a Practices and the Council of Chief mind unfamiliar with struggle to State School Officers has done that fight and battle against what we for them. The Common Core State think we know but can't possibly Standards have been established predict. Whoever these governors are for the purpose of reducing the amount of fictional resources and that got together and passed this focusing on non-fiction for educa- mandate are, they're missing the mark. Kids don't care if a book is tional purposes. Once again, the issue of a factual or fictional, they want to be government-regulated educa- entertained and challenged. Add tional system has arisen when the "Scientific American" magait solves none of the pertinent zine to the classroom. Challenge issues. Language barriers, spe- schools to write their own research cial education and funding for papers on experiments they dethe arts are all crippling future sign and conduct themselves. Offer scholarships to students who generations. Why don't we just create a can weave lines from classical public education system that literature together to make one subscribes to the notion that complete, dynamic story. Work children can learn from anyone, with publishers to create interacanywhere, at any time? A great tive books. Stop making checkexample is available online. lists and recommendations. Be a With the technology available in revolutionary driving force that schools today, an Internet con- provides for tomorrow's future, nection can save families hun- but don't deprive them of the dreds of dollars on books and past; it has so many valuable lessave school districts millions of sons to teach, in fact and fiction. "The Old Man and the Sea" has dollars on textbooks. "Ted Talks" offers students an opportunity to one more great catch left to make. Learning as you go College is the place where we gain knowledge to better ourselves for the future, or, it used to be ENTeiRES.f.W H tiCKLEfiERRYFfNt*---— laraikealffliakake 2 . 4144.' 3111111‘133•311111Pkal 0-- s, By Cameron Simek Opinions Editor TRANSLATED BY RICHARD PEVEAR AND LEO TO LSTOY LARISSA VOLOKHONSKY. Twitter @Ska bomb So, here I am in what could be my final few months of college, and I can't help but sit back and ask the question, what have I learned? Sure, I've taken away some great information about the subjects I took classes about. Hopefully I won't forget the things I learned that I will need for a future career, but looking back I can say I have gained way more than that thanks to my time spent in college. UVU offered me something that I hadn't seen anywhere else, a place that felt like a home. My college experience has been abnormal, bouncing around from university to community college back to another university across the country. That tends to broaden the perspective just a little. You learn a little about the differences that separate our nation and how areas that seem completely different are really all the same. I look back on my time spent at Oklahoma State University with fondness, the usual grass is greener fondness that everyone has. The truth is, that even though it was a good school, I really didn't learn anything important until I came to UVU. I found ways to expand myself here. I worked for the pape. I tried to make friends in all my classes and I was put into groups with people completely unlike myself. I learned about life and how to deal with the people that populate our campus. I have complained that college has been losing that magical experience that you need to make you a rounded person. Maybe that magic isn't gone, maybe it's just shifting a little, changing in ways I don't understand yet. I couldn't have gotten the education I received here anywhere else in the world. I have stumbled my way through semester after semester, making mistakes and getting help when I needed it. UVU offered me something that I hadn't seen anywhere else, a place that felt like a home. Maybe that's what we're taking away from college these days. Maybe it's just something that is unique to our college. I'm not sure what the answer is to what we're supposed to take away from college in the end. This is supposed to prepare us for our careers and give us the education we need to succeed. Maybe our university prepares us for the people in our future and what we should do to succeed with people. That's what I have taken away, at least. Clo, dill 1 1 L: FOR WHOM THE ERNEST 1NGWAY 1 BELL TOLLS COLLIN LAWRENCE/UVU REVIEW The new dietary recommendations for fact are outweighing the urge to indulge on the sometimes tastier fiction. Status updated and tracked , .:1111111111•111MME r-PP-10 I I !Ti A er.-reirrt'rts -•To. 1.• NI 1=M!•■•■••■•--? ■ MI MI MI in MN MUM PM MI MI II MI MINS MI NI • IMMO IN= III IN 11.• LEI= MN .31W 3..3g • • ,..mosown. ■ 1•3151•111 1113 =NIP 31•IM AU I. , •• 7,1 7 • Fin _ I ro- FINEFRL ,,,..,_ , .; H ,4444" 5 PHOTO COURTESY OF STOCKXCHNG//TYLER DEAN MUNDY/UVU REVIEW The updates, likes, check-ins, and tweets arent' just the jibber jabber of social media, they're the data stream companies are compiling about you and your habits. Someone is collecting data about you via social media, and you're letting them By Collin Lawrence Assistant Opinions Editor Twitter @STIKEEE Social media is not just a part of life, it's a way of life. Communication and networking has integrated every part of life. You can scan, tag, check in, update, like, share, buy, sell, trade, play and yell whatever you want. The world is your schmorgashborg. While you're logged on, odds are, someone somewhere is logging your information, tracking your every move. Keywords are just that, a key. Google it. Search and find. Companies pay big bucks to know what you will buy, when you buy it and how to market it to you. Researchers are capturing all the data you're sharing too. Based on when you log on to when you While you're logged on, odds are, someone somewhere is logging your information, tracking your every move. send an update, they can determine how far you've traveled and at what speed. They know when you're texting and driving. Beware. Some of the wealth in sharing is inherently good. Scientists recently gathered data to help predict the spread of influenza and Noro virus based on frequency and proximity of Twitter "tweets" that contained words like "sick," "coughing" and "fever." So while you may be interested in the private side of life, you might have more to offer in a larger sense. The best part about this whole stream of data is that you control the flow. You can dam the river anytime you want. Your computer, iPad, cell phone and whatever else just came on the market has a feature you can modify, location services. Most apps ask you to choose to turn it "on" or "off' when you download it. So next time you want to "share" something with your bff, remember, you might be sharing it with a few more people. |