Lamb, Allie: Diversity

Civil rights are a serious matter, especially in the South where many gruesome attacks took place so many years ago.  A person’s life and liberty are serious issues, but I think sometimes their importance gets lost against a backdrop of what have been at times serious differences and misunderstandings among White and Black people, especially here in the South.  Martin Luther King, Jr. was obviously a courageous man who stood up for his and others’ rights and beliefs.  He had been taught his morals and beliefs in church by his father and grandfather.  Somewhere, though, in the back of my mind, I have always thought maybe Martin Luther King Jr. was being somewhat of a belly-aching whiner about the whole segregation issue.  After reading A Call for Unity and Letter from a Birmingham Jail, however, I have gained much more respect for him and can even relate to many of the issues he so adamantly addressed, in particular, the involvement of the church in overcoming segregation.

            

One point of King’s response letter is how astonishing it was to him that many churches became “outright opponents” of the movement toward equality.  He thought that because Christianity had survived and prospered because of extremists in its history that the church should support his goals.  He expected the church to be one of their “strongest allies.”  He made many references to people in the Bible that were “extremists” in their own rights.  After thinking upon those instances myself, I realized that his words could not be any truer.  Jesus, himself, was an extremist when he preached that his followers should love their enemies.  I find it very disconcerting that the church, the very entity that should exist to reach out to those who are downtrodden and suffering, could so easily oppose the very things it preaches.

           

In addition to many churches admonishing the African Americans’ efforts to gain true, fair integration, King found it more disappointing that most churches chose to remain completely silent to their efforts.  Many ministers said, “Those are social issues, with which the gospel has no real concern.”  I find myself empathizing with King’s reactions.  What kind of true Christians would actually believe that?  How could they completely ignore something so severe as the issue of violence and hatred towards other human beings?  It is absolutely appalling to me that the church, the “body of Christ,” would do something so weak as hiding behind “the security of stained glass windows.”

            

I have yet to gain complete understanding about why people felt so strongly about keeping this country so segregated.  I am not sure that anyone can understand now exactly why it was so important then.  I may also not fully grasp all of Martin Luther King Jr’s ideals and feelings toward desegregation.  I do, however, understand his disappointment and frustration with the churches in the South.  That is, being let down by the very institution that you should be able to cling to in times of trouble.  King was not a whiner, but rather a hurting man who felt betrayed by the institution he had been taught to revere.

Cledis Stuart on Diversity

Cledis Stuart speaks to Honors Seminar class on diversity.

Cledis Stuart, SAU's assistant dean of Multicultural Services, addressed both sections of the Honors Seminar class Wednesday, October 27, 2010. He began by asking each class to define diversity. One student responded that it was like "variety." Stuart added that the word "differences" nearly always appears in definitions of diversity. 

As he has gotten older, Stuart said he had become more and more comfortable with change. He alluded to an experience he had in high school where he and some classmates had learned to use the BASIC computer language only to discover soon after that their college had already gone on to use other, newer, and more advanced languages. That experience, he said, was one of his first one with the concept of change.

His college days, he said, where a period of "culture shock." At that time in his life he had no idea who he really was. He went on to say that self-awareness was the first step in understanding diversity. Unless you know who you are, you cannot hope to know who others are, especially when they come from different cultures.

Stuart asked the class to comment on SAU's culture and then to understand that different places all have their own cultures. People carry their culture with them, he noted. He gave an example of his college roommate, who was from New Orleans. Everywhere his roommate went, he took New Orleans and its culture with him. Similarly, everyone carries their culture with them and although it might change or evolve it is unrealistic to expect them to conform to someone else's culture. That is not what diversity is about.

Cledis Stuart's office is on the second floor of Reynold's Hall. Be sure to drop by sometime and exchange some diversity with him.

Cledis Stuart about to answer a student's question.

Ajigbotafe, Olawale: Paglia

Changing the Orientation of Elite People in Nigeria

In the past, people believed that if they had a college degree, it would improve their standard of living. It worked. Today people believe the same thing and it does not work out for them. But, looking at the economy of Nigeria, it is easy to see that getting a college degree and getting involved in a trade at the same time definitely improves one’s standard of living. This is what needs to be preached “changing the orientations of elite people in Nigeria.” I agree with what Paglia is saying which is getting involved in trade even while attaining a college education.

Due to the low standard of living in Nigeria, it is very important that one understands that changing the orientation of the elite people in Nigeria is relatively easy task because one can explain to his listeners that future success can be achieved by earning both a college degree and getting into a trade. The current orientation in Nigeria is that once one can acquire a bachelor’s degree he will be successful. But, if we look at what is happening in the world as well as in Nigeria, individuals without a bachelor’s degree are making more money than those who have a college degree and that’s because the elite people do not want to get into less prestigious jobs even if they pay well.

          

Unemployment and underemployment happen because educated people do not want to get into blue-collar jobs. Nevertheless, there are people who do have college degrees and who also happen to get a good job, but there are only a few of them. The major disadvantage the elite people have is forgetting the fact that there are not many white collar jobs available for degree holders. Therefore, it is important they start taking many things into consideration such as getting to use their hands to earn a good living.

          

College degrees can give us the knowledge, experience and skills we need to get into trade or business and be successful. For example there is a video producer in Nigeria who got a college degree but did not become successful until he went to South Africa to learn a trade which is how to shoot musical videos. He now earns ten times more than a banker or an accountant would earn in Nigeria just because he decided to learn a trade along with his degree. He makes up to $10,000 for a major video shoot. In Nigeria there are some jobs that are assumed to be for those people who are not educated such as mechanics, tailors, photographers, and many others. However, being educated and having trade gives one an opportunity to be reckoned with in the society not only because of the financial returns but also because one can stand out from his elite peers.

          

In conclusion, changing the orientation of the elite people in Nigeria involves not only encouraging them to go into trades but to also get as much education as they can get in order to give them the knowledge, skills, and experience required to get either into trade or business. This will reduce the rate of unemployment and have a positive effect on the country’s economy.

NCHC Poster: Kardas & Wilson

We had an active poster session today at the National Collegiate Honors Council meeting in Kansas City today. We distributed about 30 copies of our summary and spoke with more visitors than that. Here is what our poster looked like:

Here's a shot of Debbie Wilson discussing the poster with some passersby:

Next year we plan to connect with some other presenters we met at NCHC who are working on the same problem, non-cognitive assessment of honors applicants. That meeting will be in Phoenix.

iPad coming to SAU

Liberal and Performing Arts has purchased me an iPad to experiment with. Here is a photo of our blog on an iPad. I took this at the Apple Store in Kansas City:

Just Dessert: KC Yum

Here was today's dessert in Kansas City. It was good.

Speaking of desserts, one Honors College sponsors a "Sundaes on Sunday" once a month. What do you think of that? Good idea?

Registration: See David

David can put you in courses from now on. Please call him at 235-4375 or email him at davidwingfield@saumag.edu. You can contact me next week as well. I'm in Kansas City right now at the National Collegiate Honors Council meeting. It starts tomorrow and runs to Sunday. Here's a picture of their lobby:

New TV, PC, and DVD arrive

Our new LG 42" Internet-connected TV arrived last week as did a DVD player. Next to it is our new Opteron 380 Dell PC with one of the old flatscreen monitors from the old lab PCs. We will use the new equipment starting Monday, October 18 as we register students. David or I will display your schedules to you on the new TV as we complete your Spring 2010 registration in real time.

Soon the TV will be wall mounted. Next year, prospective students and their parents will be able to sit comfortably and watch our new promotional video. Yay.

Kopplin, Hayden: Paglia

“Revalorizing the Trades”: A Joke 

When people begin to read Camille Paglia’s essay, “Revalorizing the Trades,” They may find themselves swept into a sea of concepts that reflect bias and contempt towards the United States of America, its workplaces, and institutions of higher education. They may also assume that Camille Paglia may be longing somewhat for the days of her youth, stuck in the past, and wishing that things had never changed from when she was a student.

As persons begin their explorations through Paglia’s work, they will surely notice her inability to allow others to think and to judge their happiness for themselves. They will notice her claims that the middle class can no longer find personal fulfillment in today’s society and working world; that they are all doomed to the life of a professional.

Reviewers of Paglia’s work may also find her sharing her personal opinions on colleges and universities today, stating that a college education is no longer preparing young people for life or career paths that exist out of the professional class. One thing observers may notice about Camille Paglia’s essay is her own shortsightedness; the rhetoric that continually exaggerates the responsibility universities have to their students, but she never contemplates the duties the universities have to themselves. Readers may realize, unlike Paglia that a university is a business – not an inalienable right guaranteed to all young adults. They may also take note that Paglia often refers to colleges in the following manner, “Pressuring middle-class young people into office bound jobs is cruelly shortsighted.” Individuals will notice Paglia’s inability to stop putting blame on universities while placing some blame with the individuals attending and not attending college. Individuals make decisions for themselves, such as majors, careers, and life stories. What are readers to think while reading the passage, “When did students begin giving universities and colleges full reign of their lives and destinies?”

When people begin their critical analysis of “Revalorizing the Trades”, there is no doubt they will notice Paglia’s age bias. She cannot manage to escape the ideal of her own college days. Observers will notice the comparisons she cannot help making between the institutions of the sixties and modern day universities; often presenting how contrasting things are, usually sensationalizing the differences that exist between the two. Paglia feels as if the progression of society may also be to blame, “The humanities have been gutted by four decades of pretentious post modernist theory and insular identity politics.” Once again she places blame everywhere but on the largest culprits for the downfall of today’s students, themselves.

When people read and analyze Paglia’s essay, they may find themselves in a sea of misinformation and opinions that really do not relate to today’s society or to themselves; forcing them to believe that Camille Paglia must be stuck in the past and is against the march of progress in today’s universities and society.

Kue, Alexander: Paglia

College: The Final Frontier 

Ask any competent-looking person walking down the street if they graduated from a college or university and 99.9% of the time the answer will be yes. Now, why is there even a need for a university? What is the purpose of a university? Simple: to prepare youth for the real world.

Paglia argues that “college education…is doing a poor job…for life outside the professional class.” I strongly disagree. Colleges and universities are meant to provide the young with information, knowledge, and the skills necessary to fit in with society. I agree with her on the notion of universities not offering the required skills for a specific trade outside of the professional class; however, universities do provide individuals with the information necessary to be successful with their career goals.

Students who have graduated from a college or university have more than enough experience and knowledge to achieve greatness, for they should have learned how to be responsible and independent; in other words, how to be successful.

Cooley, Kiefer: Paglia

Camille Paglia, a noted feminist, writes on the disappearance of jobs in today’s depressed economy in her essay to The Chronicle Review entitled “Revalorizing the Trades.” She notes that “Meaningful employment is no longer guaranteed to dutiful, studious members of the middle class.” Paglia makes several interesting points in her essay. Most notably, she analyzes the education most people in the professional world receive. She also believes that the educational system doesn’t cater to those who work with the environment around them (a.k.a. liberal arts). Paglia also presents an interesting point about how people who went straight into the working world, are already ahead of their peers who continue their education.

Paglia criticizes the education system, stating that it is doing a “poor job of preparing young people for life outside of a narrow band of the professional class.” Scholars in the professional track always are taught how to succeed more so than people with less of a degree than themselves. Imprinted in them is that they make more money and are worth more than others with less experience. Paglia points out that the only differences students have in this path are a more smoother transition into law or medical school. Once in these schools, the students are fashioned after the professors. This model keeps the professional class fairly consistent, and this narrow view is what keeps the status of the professionals above the rest.

Paglia defines the education system as inflexible when it comes to alternative paths. For those seeking degrees in art, culinary, and music, there is no professional degree equivalent to that of a medical doctor. Paglia is thankful that she received her education in liberal arts in the 1960s, a time when that field was viewed as more of a career track. This view comes from our ancestors, whose primary objectives were finding food and shelter. Art was not studied until the basic needs were fulfilled. Today, the arts are considered a waste of time in a world that needs new thinkers and doers. Our economy needs scientists and doctors who can bring something more efficient to our economy. Those interested in arts are left out in the cold today.

Paglia brings up an interesting point. Those who did not pursue a higher education are already out in the work force and are supporting themselves by the time college students are just graduating. She notes this to put an interesting thought into our minds. Why are we pursuing higher education? It certainly is not necessary for survival. Many others are out in the real world before we even leave school. They are often self supporting by the time we receive our degree. Why do we strive for higher education? We do so for one reason and one reason only: to get more money. We are along this path to receive more money. Often people believe they have earned the right to be better than those without a degree, but this is simply absurd. Who are the real achievers? Those who have jobs and making money, or those who owe thousands of dollars in student loans their first day into the real world?

Our education system is narrow when it comes to flexibility. It is geared towards those seeking professional degrees. Blue collar workers have no degree that can help them in their career. This is because the professional community doesn’t want to lose its superiority over those they believe are beneath them. Simply, they want the status quo to remain. When our education system focuses on hands-on-experience for real workers, then maybe they will be treated with the same respect as their professional counterparts.

Hultberg, Joshua: Paglia

I really liked the essay written by Camille Paglia because it highlights a huge unnoticed problem in our society. From our high school years on we’re told that we need to go to college or else we will never be successful. Today’s society has placed a lot of emphasis on our post high school experience. When I was a junior I was told that I needed to go and to know already where I was going to college and what I was going to do for the rest of my life.  It was like it was expected that my fellow students and I were to go and become these paper pushing robots for the rest of our lives.

The vocational field is tremendously underappreciated; people do all sorts of jobs that society deems “unworthy” for the common person to accomplish. This has been quietly ignored until recently with shows like “Dirty Jobs” and “How It’s Made.”

The fact that most colleges and vocational schools exist completely separate from each other is key evidence. Most colleges offer only education that would benefit the corporate class. The other thing is that most colleges teach are things that don’t benefit everyday life.

The vocational schools one sees on the television offering to jump start people’s career are an industry. I want to go and open up my own shop someday, but I can’t learn how to do that at SAU. I plan to get a degree in business and attend to a vocational college after my education here and become certified as an automotive and welding expert.

The vocational track is not dead and it certainly is not substandard to the office community. With job loss on the rise and the low points of an economic recession looking us in the eye, Americans need to realize that they are not too good to get out of their offices and do some honest manual work. There is something satisfying about doing one’s own work. After every construction project I’ve done in the past three years I’ve been able to hang a sign off of it and say “Hey, I built that.” It is refreshing to have a sense of pride in one’s work. We need to open our eyes and see that we are not too proud to do some honest work. A hundred years ago, that was almost all there was.

Shrestha, Nishan; Paglia

College Degrees and Jobs

All people must have a job to live. Many people go to college so that they can get a degree that would help them find a job. However, nowadays many people with a degree cannot find a job. In my opinion, a college degree does not guarantee a job because college has provided students with a degree but not with the skills that they need for a job.  

I believe that college degrees were never meant to provide students with jobs. They were just meant to give students an education in their respective fields. College education has never been concerned with providing jobs to students after they graduate. For example, physics majors are taught about physical science, laws, and theories. They are never taught how to do a good job in an industry or a company. These students, then, only know about physics and nothing about their jobs. I am sure that most have no idea about the work in their field. Also, companies would not just hire them because they have 4.0 GPAs.

I believe that employers want the right person for the job. They're not looking for a certificate, a degree, a piece of paper; they are looking for a solution provider. If there are people who can do that for them and have a proven track record and can show what they've accomplished for other companies, I believe they will be considered.

Bill Gates never graduated from college. Neither did Michael Dell or Steve Jobs. These people are perfect examples of people who have achieved success in life without a college degree. Hence, it is clear that students do not need a degree to get a job but they do need skills and interest in what they are trying to achieve.

Recently, Trina Thompson, a graduate from New York’s Monroe College with a bachelor of business administration degree in information technology, sued her college because she did not get a job. Monroe College released a statement saying that “it is clear that no college, especially in this economy, can guarantee employment.” Hence, from this statement it is clear that a college degree cannot guarantee a job to a student.

In my opinion, because colleges cannot guarantee jobs to students then, at least, colleges could help students by offering practical courses that would not only help them find a job but also help them in their lives. For example, colleges should make students be involved in different extra-curricular activities and give credit for them so that they will take them seriously.

In conclusion, and from my point of view, to expect a job simply because you have a degree is naive. Simply having “good attendance and an all right GPA” is not enough. You need to bring real skills to the table. You need to show how ones skills and experience will separate you from the other 100 job applicants.  

Rai, Navendra: Paglia

Many  people  believe  that  a  college  degree  is  not  required  for  a  person  to  get  a  job.  If they  have  skills  and  experience  in  that  field,  they  could  get  the  job. In  addition, they  also  believe  that  college  degrees  cost  much  time  and  money. However in  my  opinion, college  degrees  are  necessary  to  obtain  jobs. In  this  essay, I  am  supporting  the  people  who  think  that  college degrees  have  a  vital  advantage  over  work  experience  and  skills. 

The  world  have  changed  a  lot  recently.  As  the  world  has  changed,  so  have  peoples'  ways  of  thinking.  People  used  to  think  that  they  just  need  some  skills  and  a  lot  of  experience  to  do  a  jobs.  But  in  this  advanced  and  business-minded  world,  people  tend  to  think  that  work  experiences  alone  do  not  help  them  to  get  jobs.  All  the  business  companies  search  for  people  who  have  at  least  a  high  school  degree.  Although  getting  a  college  degree  requires  a  lot  of  time  and  pretty  good  amount  of  money,  in  the  long  run  the  consequences  would  be  very  rewarding.  In  other  words,  people  benefit  from  college  degrees.  They  will  have  a  good  job  with  considerably  high  salary  compared  to  people  who  don’t  have  college  degree.  In  the  future,  business  companies  will  search  for  people  with  higher  college  degrees.

In  addition,  the  level  of  college  degree  you  achieve  will  make  a  huge  impact  on  the  level  of  your  job.  For  example,  people  with  master’s  degrees  or  doctorate’s  tend  to  have  higher  posts  and  salaries  in  organizations.  The  level  of  your  education  opens  doors  to  many  opportunities.  Even  if  you  are  applying  for  the  job  which  is  not  related  to  your  college  degree,  the  employers  will  look  at  your  level  of  education.  A  college  degree  is  certainly  very  important  in  getting  the  job  in  today’s  business-oriented  world.

In  conclusion, I  would  like  to  say  that  to  be  educated  is  not  the  wrong  thing  to  do.  Although  getting  college  degree  is  very  time  consuming  and  expensive. However,  in  the  long  run  college  degrees  do  not  have  negative  effect  on  one’s  life.  Instead,  they  help  to  improve  the  living  standard  of  people.

Dison, Michaela: Paglia

Flaws of the Modern Education System

The modern education system does not prepare students for their future as well as it could. Everyone takes the same classes and they all cover the basic things that are supposed to help students when they enter the next step of their lives. While this system may fit the average student, it does not encompass those who have different interests. The system is basically meant for those who enjoy English, science, and a little bit of history. Those are the basic classes that are offered, but if students are more interested in the arts or music then they are basically out of luck. The K-12 school system, as a whole, does not view art and music as a necessary part of education and therefore not a part of their students’ future lives. Tests are all that matter to most school districts, all they want is to be better than every other school in the area. All year students learn something in a classroom just so that they can take a standardized test to show that they have learned the information in a particular class that the state demands they take. Most of these classes cover topics that do not interest students at all, yet they are required by the state. As a result, students are expected to be similar and enjoy these classes. But, most students could care less about the three to four years of science and English that they are required to take. Not everyone is made to go to college, but that is all the education system has in mind. The system expects everyone to go to college, but those who aren’t planning to go to college are at a loss because they must go and find a job that will not require a lot of what they learned. Some people are not talented in the areas that they must study in order to have an education, so they either fail the class or barely pass. This shows poor judgment on the part of the planners. By not creating a system of schooling for those who have interests that are not the norm the system has failed. The only way to get children educated the way they want to learn is to send them to private school. But, when that happens parents are still paying taxes to the public school that they live closest to. This means that few parents will send their children to a private school that is geared toward what they are interested in because it is just too expensive. Those who finish public school and are preparing to go off into the real world find themselves very much unprepared, because all they learned was book work. They never learned the hard lessons of life and how to deal with the real world. Never having experienced any of the workings of the real world causes these kids to fail at every turn. So, shouldn’t there be a way that they can learn what happens in the real world and how to deal with it in a classroom setting along with all the other courses they are required to take. 

Wynn, Alex: Paglia

Two is Better Than One

In Camille Paglia’s Revitalizing the Trades she states that not enough college graduates are properly trained to do any hands on work. She blames the education system for not doing a satisfactory job of preparing students to do any real career well. I believe that there could be another variable in why it is that several people may not strive as well as past generations. People are having less and less children now and I believe that it might be having an effect on success rates in America.

My hypothesis is that children with siblings are more likely to be better motivated and to posses the motivation required to succeed in today’s economy. I base this on the idea of what is known as sibling rivalry, people with more siblings are more motivated to succeed in life. The way sibling rivalry works is that children with siblings must compete with each other for attention from their parents, thus instilling a sense of competitiveness in them to be the best they can be.

People believe that it is more likely for the older child to succeed than their younger siblings. I do not believe that this is true because no matter how the older sibling turns out it can very easily have a positive influence on how the younger sibling ends up. For instance if the eldest is very successful it could encourage the younger sibling to be more motivated due to the standards they must now live up to. On the other hand, if the older sibling is unmotivated and does not succeed, it would be very easy for the younger sibling to be motivated to do better than that of their sibling and be the first in the line to achieve success.

Another aspect to my hypothesis is that only children lack the sociability that is essential in making it through college in today’s world. Children with siblings are able to better learn and cope with other people due to their early exposure to having someone with them that they can relate to their entire lives. This personality trait could have a direct result in whether a person succeeds in the business world of this time.

So it is a farfetched solution; however if people would start having more children then perhaps the success rate of this new generation of America would increase. I don’t agree with Paglia that the education system is failing America’s youth, resulting in untrained, unemployed citizens. I say that there are just too few youth in America, and if we could increase that number by couples having more than once child each then we would see a more efficient, successful population. 

Nash, Brandy: Paglia

Work Force

In today’s society, students are being forced into ‘paper-pushing’ jobs. Intentionally or unintentionally, society has forced America’s students into certain jobs within the work force. The arts are being overlooked by today’s society because in the job market they have a low income. A job that would fit a student perfectly is overlooked for a job that is less fitting. Camille Paglia illustrated her view on students being forced into particular jobs in her article, “Revalorizing the Trades.”

            

When students research possible careers, one of the main things they look at are the income estimates for those careers. In today’s society, the arts pay much less than do other jobs. Therefore, students would be more likely to choose a job in another better paying field. Ms. Paglia may not have meant that as a main point in her article; however, it was conveyed. Jobs in law, medicine, and business have increased as have the college programs leading to those careers because students want to make a living, even if the job does not completely suit them.

            

‘Paper-pushing’ jobs are the norm in America at the moment. Why? Students are not forced to choose ‘paper-pushing’ jobs, but they are heavily influenced by a factor other than potential income. That other factor is image. People who enter into careers centered on the arts are not socially esteemed. Most people view them as hippies on street corners. That is not the model of the arts anymore. Graphic designers, photographers, and other artists are very highly regarded in our world. However, when discussing the arts most people envision a painter struggling for money and living in a garret; that is simply not the case in today’s society. Society in America has evolved so much over the years that degrees in the arts are rarely pursued, but they are widely needed. The United States needs qualified students for careers in advertising, photography, and graphic design. However, instead of pursuing the arts students are obtaining degrees that will jump start careers in ‘paper-pushing’ jobs. Students do not want to risk a life of poverty, when a life of mediocrity is certain in today’s society.

           

Ms. Paglia simply stated that students are being forced into ‘paper-pushing’ jobs. Is she correct? She is neither right nor wrong. Students are being forced into those jobs in a way, but it is not necessarily by force. It is more through the influence of society and its valuing of certain “high” standards and income. 

Hughes, Deana: Paglia

Since the latest recession started jobs have become a precious commodity. The threat of losing jobs looms everywhere. Even my father, who had worked for the same company for eleven years found himself unemployed for most of 2009. My generation seems doomed from the start. If jobs are hard to keep for seasoned employees, how hard will it be to secure a first job or start a career? Based on personal experience, I say the jobs are there but the hard part is being noticed by employers.

Camille Paglia discusses in her article Revalorizing the Trades that the predicament of losing jobs is not going to disappear any time soon (par 1). She also says self-fulfilling jobs are a thing of the past for most artisans and that only medical and law students have a hope of a guaranteed job once they get a degree (par 2).

For years my plans were to become a doctor because I believed it was the only way to be financially safe. During the last few years of high school I realized that I would not make a good medical doctor. To put it bluntly people who complain annoy me, which is not a good trait for someone who must listen to complaints from patients every day. I investigated other medical professions such as pharmacy where practitioners do not see patients often. But I am not a fan of math. My original dream was to work with animals. Horses are my passion, but anything that is furry, feathery, or has claws will do as well. I thought of becoming a vet. Unfortunately, that idea did not stick with me following the experience of having to put my own horse down.

My high school happened to have a program called Fundamentals in Research Methods or FIRM which required every student to pick a project and write in-depth papers on the topic. Based on the type of topic chosen these papers could be purely research or experimental in nature. My topic happened to be experimental and I found my niche. After 18 months of crying over data, statistics, and grammatical errors Science Fair came. One of my judges was a park ranger from the nearby National Park. He seemed particularly impressed by my presentation. Afterward I stayed behind to talk to him because of my interest in everything outdoors. The first thing he did was offer me a job. At first I did not think I heard him correctly, but come to find out he was not just a park ranger. He was the National Resource Manager for the entire Hot Springs National Park. He gets to do all kinds of cool research on government property with government funds paying for all sorts of neat equipment every day and he wanted me as an assistant. Doors suddenly opened for me that I had no idea even existed. I had heard of the National Park Service but I had never thought of it as a career opportunity.

After being in the Park Service for a summer I realized the problem. The Park Service has specific programs in place for hiring students of all majors from Anthropology through Mathematics to Zooology. The problem is educators do not know these programs exist. This past summer my boss and I worked with my high school to create a research partnership which lets the students use the National Park as their lab. The Park had partnered with universities before but never a high school. The jobs are out there. It just takes a little research to find them. 

Portmann, Robbie: Paglia

As colleges and universities progress in education, many students look upon their schooling as a job. I believe that Paglia’s suggestion to have universities pair with vocational schools is a grand solution to this growing problem. First, the pairing of the two different types of education will expand the learning environment. Reading, studying, and hands on activities allow more students to understand additional concepts. Studying under the vocational school also allows students to participate in their own learning; therefore removing the tension of the work load they believe they receive from their teachers. Next, connecting the schools will allow students to get more on the job experience for future position. The job market is declining and many graduates need experience to receive a well paid job. Camille Paglia suggests that the work experience gained through the trade schools will help students better prepare or the job market than solely relying on paper and books. It can be discouraging to students to think they are leaving school, or job like atmosphere, just to enter their new life looking for another place of work. Finally, joining the status quo schools with the nontraditional vocational schools will also make learning less boring. By adding more than lectures and labs to class, students’ attention will remain focused on the problems in the learning environment rather than on their cell phones or their friends nearby, resulting in higher retention rates among students. Learning more easily also gives the students confidence in themselves to know that they are smart and can complete the task given to them, rather than they have to complete the work. Joining colleges and vocational schools will help students see their education as more than a job: it will be an opportunity!

Gordon, Chelsie: Paglia

Cauliflower: Cabbage with a College Education

            

Camille Paglia, author, educator, and social critic, states in her article “Revalorizing the Trades” that society regards labor-intensive jobs such as welding, carpentry, and construction less highly than office jobs. Paglia states that “the pressuring of middle-class young people into office bound, paper-pushing jobs is cruelly shortsighted. I argue that her article is shortsighted. Paglia only accounts for one part of a very large and diverse American culture. The Southern subculture of the United States is one of the most distinct and encompasses the states of the Confederacy plus others. Mark Twain said, “Don’t let education interfere with learning.” Twain represents the Southern culture that is still alive and well today.

            

Southern culture is such a prominent way of life that people from all over the world devote their lives to its study. Examples of such academic interest include the University of Mississippi, home to the Center for the Study of Southern Culture, the Encyclopedia of Southern Culture which attempts to define every aspect of this unique and distinct geographical culture, and the Southern Cultural Heritage Foundation which is dedicated to preserving the historical past of the South. Thousands of people work to understand and archive the distinct Southern way of life. Southern culture and tradition is not some minor folkway that is easily overlooked and forgotten; it is a major factor in the figuring of the definition of the next decade.

            

As such a major part of society, the views of the South must be taken into account. Twain stated learning and education are separate ideas which should be examined separately. Part of the Southern way of life is the choice of occupations. Logical and practical thinking are prominent aspects of Southern culture, and as such, labor-related jobs such as farming, welding, carpentry, and electrical work, jobs which have a practical use, are held in the highest esteem.

            

Camille Paglia’s article, while relevant to urban areas outside of the former Confederate states, has little standing in the South; and as a result must be viewed as incomplete. Paglia states that colleges do little or nothing to teach skills to prepare students or life in labor-related jobs. She is correct; however, vocational schools and apprenticeships do teach these skills and high school agriculture programs introduce these possible career options to students at the 7^th and 8^th grade level.

            

Students are taught from grade school that essays must have a foundation based in fact. Paglia’s “Revalorizing the Trades” has no factual basis when society as a whole is considered. 

Miloshova, Evgenia: Paglia

Why Do We Need To Move the Focus of Higher Education System?

       

Higher Education has recently been commercialized. People go to college to become professionals in high – tech oriented fields. Jobs that require technological competence are on top of the rankings because of their remuneration. This is what higher education is all about.

       

The higher education system puts so much emphasis on the mechanical aspect of completing work. Students solve intricate mathematical problems and memorize complex physics formulas, which eventually they will enter in the computer. It will do the work for them. All they need to do is learn how the technological process works. This is the norm and trend.  When they obtain this kind of “knowledge” they will secure a jobs that will be well paid and will not require strenuous physical work.

       

What can we do about the current situation? Drastic alterations should be implemented in order to move the focus. Students should be engaged in more hands – on and face – to – face activities. This is when we feel truly satisfied with what we are doing. This is when pleasure of us doing whatever we like comes into play, because we are the authors and editors of our work. Jobs involving manual skills (and personal contacts, also) allow us to use our imagination, to invent and discover. Hands – on activities give us the opportunity to be creative and productive.  They are the true exercise for the mind.

       

It is a fact that contemporary higher education system is focused on providing we students with sophisticated skills regarding the ability to efficiently use technology. We are used to computerizing every process. But what would we be left with when all these technological advancements start to dwindle? As Camille Paglia says “Concrete manual skills…build a secure identity.” Future generations should be taught to think in terms of what we, human beings, are capable of doing by means of our inherent ability to envision and create. 

Hoffman, Mallory: Paglia

In Camille Paglia’s article “Revalorizing the Trades” she writes about how the future middle class will not receive the jobs that they deserve due to a lack of hands on preparation for careers by students in colleges. Although the thought of such a situation would be a concern to take into thought, Paglia’s worries are over nothing.

            

Paglia claims that “College education… is doing a poor job of preparing young people for life outside of a narrow band of the professional class” (Paglia 1). Saying that people paying loads of money to become doctors or lawyers are the only ones receiving enough job experience and opportunities through their education to become successful in the working field is unjust. Paglia's thoughts of this being true is a gross overstatement on the quality of higher educational system.  Most colleges have courses for students that help them adapt to their future career paths. Teaching degrees require student teaching, programs such as nursing place students in internships, and science classes have laboratory sessions. All of these hands on experiences were developed to make courses given to particular majors more enriching.

            

Paglia goes on to say that the medical and law schools that do fully prepare their students for the work force are “predicated on molding students into mirror images of their professor” (Paglia 1) and “seem divorced from any rational consideration of human happiness” (paglia 1).  At that point she targets the values she earlier praised.  In reality, teachers do not want their students to be exactly like themselves, they would rather focus on having students learn the essential material needed to fully understand the course being taught so that the student can move on to another course, again countering Paglia’s concerns.

            

Camille Paglia is worried about how people need to “revalorize the trade” yet she fails to see that it indeed still possesses its prior values.

Dunn, Jeffrey: Paglia

 “Revalorizing the Trades” by Camille Paglia stimulated many thoughts and ideas. The essay also brought about a serious and intriguing question: Why are so many American industries choosing to move their businesses overseas? The reasons for this moving of industries are various and wide-ranging, however, three reasons stand out more than all of the others.

               

First of all, U.S. industries are moving overseas because companies can hire workers at extremely low wages. This helps the company retain more money, but also maintain the same production level. Cheaper employees mean less money being dished out by companies. In the United States, minimum wage laws are heavily enforced, therefore companies must pay employees by the law or else they face legal consequences. This is when companies take their plants and industries overseas, so that they can pay the much lower wages.

            

Another reason jobs move overseas is employers do not have to provide benefits for their employees in other countries. In the United States, employees want things such as health and dental care, retirement, and worker’s compensation. This all causes companies to spend more money and make less profit. Companies want to make as much profit as possible; therefore, the companies move overseas so that they can generate more profit. The overall populations in other countries are not used to enjoying the employee benefits that U.S. companies give to their employees. Therefore, when a U.S. company moves overseas, the new workforce does not ask for theses benefits, because they are not used to them. All in all, companies moving overseas equal more wealth and less hassle with employees.

           

Last, but certainly not least, companies make the decision to move plants and industries overseas to get away from the regulations and laws set by the United States government, such as OSHA (The Occupational Safety and Health Administration). These regulations put a hold on American industry by regulating safety hazards, as well as every chemical used in American industry. This grip that the American government holds forces companies to go overseas to seek lighter regulation of laws. With the lessening of the laws, companies save money due to the lack of safety materials and informational data sheets that the company must provide.

            Overall, U.S. companies move their plants and industries overseas so that their company can survive these tough economic times. However, when these U.S. companies make this move, it only worsens the already unstable economy, because it takes away thousands of jobs and leaves many families reliant on the American government’s assistance. This shapes the U.S. population’s perception of the companies to be extremely negative. Most American people believe that these companies move overseas due to pure greed. 

Wu, Xi: Paglia

How Do We Take Advantage of a Four-year College

Camille Paglia said, “Jobs … should be front and center in the thinking of educators.” I am just a student, not an educator. I know little about teaching people, but I do know what and how to learn. Jobs are important for everyone, especially for those college students who invest load of time and money for their higher education and hope to find a decent job with their bachelor’s degrees. Education is an investment of money, time, and oneself. It is an investment that depends more on us. So, what should students do to take advantage of their four-year college experience? I believe they just have to learn and experience as much as they can.

Undergraduate programs in United States do not require students to declare their major until their junior year, which provides them an opportunity to take any courses that they want to find out what they are really interested in. It also encourages them to learn various kinds of knowledge and not just limit themselves to their major courses. I am chemistry major and I am taking courses like piano, computer science, and microbiology. I am planning to take molecular biology in the future. Those courses are not required for my major; I am just interested in learning different things. That’s why I want to take them. Some of my friends and even my professors do not understand why I want to do that. They keep telling me to finish my undergraduate degree as soon as possible and then go or to graduate school get a Master’s or PhD. I believe that the undergraduate years are the time that one should use to build up one’s knowledge base. The more you learn the better you are. It does not matter what you learn: the arts, science, or literature. Those are all stored in your mind in pieces, and you will find the connection between them when you are in graduate school, in your job position, or in your lifetime’s experiences.

You can say how terrifying the current education system is, but one thing you cannot deny is that the current education system provides students with different kinds of experiences. I am a student, but I worked in catering for one semester. I would not say I liked that job, because I did not to get up at 4:30 in the morning and serve people food while working on my college degree. However, I had a great experience with that job; at least I now know how to wrap different styles of napkins if I want to take a girl out for dinner. Our higher education system also provides plenty of undergraduate research opportunities. Many of those research projects are even associated with NASA or FDA, where we may find a permanent position later if we build good personal connections. Undergraduate research is a great experience for those who plan to continue studying in their majors. I did summer research in chemistry and I learned a lot about what research is, what graduate school will look like, and what field I am interested in. My research experience dramatically influenced my future plans.

PhD programs normally take a student five years to accomplish. A bachelor’s degree normally takes four years. It is a long and important time in our life. It is an important investment. We should learn and experience as much as we can to take advantage of those four years, so that we will be well prepared for graduate school or for the first real job in the our life. We students should take responsibility for ourselves.

Orsak, Tori: Paglia

                                                Proper Preparation

            "Desire is the key to motivation, but it's the determination and commitment to an unrelenting pursuit of your goal - a commitment to excellence - that will enable you to attain the success you seek."- Mario Andretti

Proper preparation for any achievement in life comes from experience. As high school seniors we faced the question: are we ready to tackle what college brings to the table?  Paglia says that failure experienced after college is due to the institutions. The failure she describes can be traced back to the lack of preparation in high school. The differences in those levels of education can cause shell shock. At the high school level more is given to students than is expected. In high school students are taught all of their lessons by their teacher in the time period of one class without their being expected to learn on their own. At the college level more is required from students. Students in college level courses are only given so much from instructors and expected to learn the rest of the material on their own time. The failure experienced by one in four freshmen entering a university can be traced back to their high school experiences.  At the high school level public school teachers are required to teach according to state guidelines. This requirement limits their ability to be as open minded and as challenging with students as they would like.  Whereas college professors are not so limited in their teaching methods, causing students to possibly experience something quite the opposite of what they were used to in high school.

            

Another aspect of this failure can be traced back to the importance institutions place on the American College Test. The score students make on this test determines their future at the university. While this test holds so much importance, it doesn’t in any way give students a preview into what college work will consist of. The American College Test is a multiple choice test that in no way challenges a student’s critical thinking. This test is used to determine if a person is ready for college while the test in no way reflects college level work.  In the pre-college stage putting so much clout into a test that is inadequate can cause false expectations.

            

Being able to change your frame of mind completely is a challenge that most individuals can’t accomplish. High schools should focus more on gradually getting students ready for a change in responsibilities and less on cramming what they are required to by the state. If in High School students were required to start slowly to depend on themselves for learning and only receive the aid of a teacher when needed, then those students would be better prepared for the challenges that a university will force onto them.