Lamb, Allie: Paglia

Don’t Go to College If You Want to Have a Trade

People go to college for various reasons.   One reason could be because everyone else in their family went, or maybe it’s the opposite; no one in their family went and they want to be different.  Very seldom do students decide to go to college because they feel they need an education in order to be successful.  The reason for going to college is often misunderstood.  College is generally defined as “an institution of higher learning, especially one providing a general or liberal arts education rather than technical or professional training.”  An enormous amount of people mistake college as a place to learn specialized skills and trades, when in reality, it is simply a setting where students gain basic knowledge about many subjects and specific knowledge about a particular field of study.

My roommate complains everyday that she hates this place and wonders, “Why they call it college, when something like ‘torture’ would suit it better.”  I usually respond with something not so encouraging such as, “Why don’t you just drop out so I don’t have to hear you whine all the time?”  Although I know she’s mostly joking, and isn’t really considering dropping out, her constant complaints remind me that many people do seriously feel the way she does.  So, why do those people choose to attend college?  If it’s truly a waste of time, then withdraw from the institute.  If the education that they’re receiving isn’t worth the money, they should stop wasting it.

Other students complain that college isn’t really preparing them for the real world.  Well, what exactly are they planning on doing in the “real world?”  The traditional four-year universities’ jobs are to educate students in basic studies in whatever particular degree they choose, whether that be medicine, law, engineering, or even coaching.  However, if the goal in their life is to learn to weld or work on automobiles, then college isn’t the right setting.  Vocational schools are better suited for offering instruction for skilled occupations.  In trade schools students actually participate in “hands on” learning.  They get to work on airplanes, or they get to build with raw materials.  This kind of situation is not only unavailable in colleges, but it is also not necessary for the learning of general knowledge. 

Some people go to college to earn a degree for personal reasons.  My father has a master’s degree in English, but he works everyday at a drafting firm.  He doesn’t use a bit of the knowledge he gained while earning that degree in his everyday job, but it sure means a lot to him that he has that degree.  However, if a trade school is indeed more suitable for the kind of job some people know they want, they should keep in mind that it is generally a whole lot cheaper than a university.  So if they are sure that working on airplane engines is what they want to do for the rest of his life, why waste his time and money on a useless degree from a university?  The training and understanding they need for that trade will be offered and taught by highly-trained experts at a trade school.

Many people don’t realize that college really isn’t for everyone.  In today’s world, college isn’t the only route for success; it may even be a less than ideal means for preparing for particular occupations. Before spending time and money on a college degree, one should seriously consider- is this right for me?  The answer to that question will help shape the correct path for anyone willing to ask.

Tan, Pui: Paglia

In today’s modern world and society, students are becoming more and more inclined to aim for college degrees, unlike previous generations of students. As the abundance of degree holders goes up, competition for jobs follows suit. Immediately, the trend is obvious: those who wish to make decent money in the future will have to get a degree—at the least.

A person with a degree will definitely have better financial security over a person who only has a high school diploma. President Obama stated that three-fourths of the nation’s new jobs will now require more than just a high school diploma. Those with degrees are much more likely to secure good, or high paying, jobs. Based on recent findings, employees with only a high school diploma earn under $28,000 per year whereas employees with a bachelor’s degree earn more than $51,000 per year.

College degrees are essential for most jobs; they are the key qualification. However, do all the jobs really require a four-year college education?  Can an intelligent high school graduate not do the same job?  Of course, some jobs (e.g. doctors, engineers, rocket scientists) do require higher education, but the other humanities and social science major jobs could probably be done just as well by someone without a college degree. For example, careers in the field of art (photographers, painters), design (fashion designer, graphic designer), and culinary (chefs, waiters) do not require a degree in order to get the job done well. 

In conclusion, college degrees are not a necessity as many do not always need a college education to be able to build a career. It is now a trend of  “do or die”: without a degree, people will be less likely to attain financial success. College degrees have become a screening device for job applicants. Employers look for people who hold degrees not because the job requires the learning or thinking skills acquired from attending college but instead, the degree serves only as a credential. 

Thomas, Valerie: Paglia

 I believe that colleges should better prepare students for the working world. Degree plans should be supplemented with actual experience in a given field. With all the competition and scarcity in the job market, students need something extra to stand out in the crowd. Not only for the experience, but to see if they have made the right career choice.

            

For example in my field of study, nursing, students are required to gain real-life experience in the form of hands-on labs and “clinicals.“ As an added bonus, hospitals get free labor. This system takes what students are learning in-class and implements it in practice. Students are forced to really evaluate the in future career, learning what it is like. In addition to growing by experience to a much further extent than they could their jobs once they graduate. All of this means a much better stock of nurses will be going into the professional world. It doesn’t make sense to me that only nursing, as well as a few other fields, would have a system like this. Gaining real-world experience should be a must. If not forced by the institution, than students should be seeking out opportunities on their own, to differentiate themselves from the masses of other applicants they are likely to be competing against.

            

Another program that implements this system, if to a lesser extent than nursing, is teaching. People who want to teach children can’t just go into that field without some experience with how to deal with children, they should be ready for all the gum, screaming, and glue-eating that they will likely encounter. This helps education majors gain some time and experience in the teaching world, meaning they will be much better prepared for their future jobs. It also gives them a chance for a change of heart, either in major or intended age group to teach, helping prevent a bad career choice. This method works well for teachers and nurses, as well as a few others, but why not for chemists, psychology majors, Spanish majors or engineers? Everyone could benefit real-life experience. Some things simply cannot be learned by cramming chapters in the middle of the night.

            

The business department, for one, would be well served by implementing these methods as well. Like people wanting to be secretaries, they should go into a business and see what it is like, feel the pressure of keeping a business organized and set up scenarios for the student secretary, like a document misplacement, and the consequences of losing such papers. Accountants should do the same, they should see what it is like to keep an organizations numbers to the correct balance and what would happen if some numbers come up wrong. That would show them what could happen to a business from such a small mistake.

            

After all, most students don’t go to college to learn art appreciation, or composition, they have a career in mind. Although a well-rounded education produces a well-rounded, culturally and intellectually competent individual, students need experience to really be balanced. Not only would this help the job market, but it would help students to make advised decisions as to their futures.

Identification of Ampliconic regions on Zebra Finch Z Chromosome

Nitish Narula, Honors College biology student, submitted this abstract to the Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students.

Sex determination in mammals and birds is governed by sex chromosomes. Mammals have an X-Y sex chromosome system where males are XY and females XX. In contrast, birds have a Z-W system where males are ZZ and females are ZW. Finished sequences of avian and mammalian sex chromosomes have revealed the presence of large arrays of repeated segments, called amplicons. Amplicons are large, euchromatic, highly identical repeats. Ampliconic genes are predominantly expressed in the testis. Additionally, these regions evolve rapidly through gene acquisition, gene amplification and gene conversion. To study the evolution of ampliconic sequences in birds, we compared the genome of the zebra finch (Taeniopygia guttata) to the only other sequenced bird, the chicken (Gallus gallus). The chicken Z amplicon is 11 Mb long, comprising of 15% of the chicken Z chromosome and 1% of the total genome. It contains four families of genes that are expressed in the testis. We find that genes in the zebra finch that are homologous to those of the chicken Z amplicon are not amplified in the zebra finch genome. Instead, the zebra finch Z chromosome has independently amplified different sets of genes, consistent with the observation that amplicons are rapidly evolving. From these preliminary results, we predict that the zebra finch Z chromosome does have amplicons that have not been captured in whole genome shotgun (WGS) sequence. BAC-based finish sequencing will be necessary to reveal their structures. Given that genes in sex chromosome amplicons are predominantly expressed in the testis, these zebra finch Z ampliconic genes are likely to be involved in male fertility.

Scavenger Hunt 2010

Honors College 2010 Scavenger Hunt

Find the following SAU locations. Get a picture of the original location if possible. Take a picture of that location today. Begin on Friday, October 8 and finish by class time on Friday October 15. Each group should submit one set of answers USING A WORD PROCESSOR and giving me hard copy. For each answer, tell how you got it. Pictures of the locations today should be in .jpg format and should be e-mailed to me. DO NOT SEND MORE THAN 4 pictures per e-mail. CLEARLY IDENTIFY each picture. Graphical material showing the locations in the past may be xeroxed, scanned, or photographed. Submit those the easiest way for your group.

Good Luck! The deadline is FIRM. Yes, I know one class gets an extra hour, deal with it. Prizes will be awarded.

1. Aggie Hill
2. Smith Field
3. The Clubhouse
4. Lone Pine Tree
5. Caraway Hall
Tiebreaker: Who was it named after?
Ballbreaker: Who's daughter is named after that person?
6. Student Teacher Training School
7. Dog Hall
8. Faculty (Housing) Row
Tiebreaker: I lived in faculty housing twice at SAU. In which house did I live the second time?
Ballbreaker: Who lived there before me? (BTW, one of you has personal knowledge of this answer, sorry.)
9. Blue and Gold Station
10. Old Man's Place
11. President's Home
12. Wilkinsville
13. First Campus Library
14. Married Student's Apartments
15. Original Tennis Courts
16. What building stood just West of the building in question 5?
Tiebreaker: Who was it named after?
18. Peace Hall now houses the Behavioral & Social Sciences Department (and Honors, for now). What departments or units were in Peace Hall before BSS?
Ballbreaker: What did Dr. Bruce always carry in his hip pocket?
19. Find Jake Whitehead and get him to sign something for you. He's on campus most mornings.
20. I have had three offices on campus. Where were the first two?
Tiebreaker: How many windows were there in my second office?
21. Where is the Art Cube?
Tiebreaker: What was removed on either side of the Art Cube? (Look for old pictures.)

Gurung, Anu: Paglia

 Education is the means of gaining knowledge. In today’s world, it means adding a degree to your name, getting a good job, and earning money.The concept of getting an education has been understood in a way that is so widely accepted that it has become the norm. Until high school education is a child’s right. Further education is a matter of trend or of necessity, depending upon the person.

Growing up in a family that gave the utmost importance to formal education, I have always believed in the importance of a degree and the value of going to college. College is where students learn lessons of a lifetime. They learn things, grow up, and evolve in a new light. It is a process of learning to become better person. I always stood by the idea that I needed a university degree to land a respectable position.

        

 On the contrary, some people argue that a college education does not help much in making  person skilled and experienced enough to have a fulfilling career. The argument is supported by examples from fields such as the movies, arts, and manual labor that do not need a college degree, instead they require ideas and creativity. These fields do not evaluate people’s qualifications based on paper, they require real experiences.

           

Similarly, others have questioned the credibility of colleges that inspire thousands of aspiring graduates, every year, with dream of a better life. Is the time and money spent on gaining these degrees worth the toll? With the skyrocketing fee structure of colleges the cost of paying college tuition is a big expense for a family and may lead to many adjustments in the quality of life and living style. The burning issue at the present time is that a lot of bright college graduates are staying unemployed or under-employed. They are demoralizing sight  for the current  students who want to gain an education to get a good job, support a family, earn good money and achieve  a good status in  society.

           

A few years ago, the qualification for a good job was believed to be a good degree. Now, that concept is changing. There are some who still believe that a formal education is a necessity while there are others who believe that people do not need a degree to have a good job and a status. There are a lot of discussions on this topic in among a wide range of people, with each side trying to get the edge over the other.

              

In conclusion, getting a formal education is important. A formal educational system should include more skill-oriented education that can make students grow up more quickly as qualified candidates in this cut-throat competitive world. That way educated scholars should not have to get stuck in jobs which do not value their qualifications and interests. Then, when they graduate they can get  status-oriented jobs as well as personally fulfilling careers.

Rives, Tyler: Paglia

Insulting at the least, Camille Paglia’s article “Revalorizing the Trades” is nothing more than pessimistic banter.  Yes, it is clear that the global economy is not exactly performing to the highest standards (congratulations on figuring that one out), but is this necessarily a bad thing in the realm of higher education?

Speaking in reference to Southern Arkansas University, admissions are at an all time high. The reason for that just might be the receding economy.  With fewer jobs requiring skill-less workers, more high school graduates are relying on a form of higher education to find better occupations in the American workforce.  However, Paglia is not a believer in today’s form of higher education stating that, “college education is doing a poor job in preparing young people for a life outside of the narrow band of the professional class.” Devoted to joining the professional class, my opinion is truly obsolete and possibly biased, but I have to disagree with Paglia on this. Paglia lends blame to the flexibility of the American education system stating that the system leaves very little room for “alternative career tracks.” To me, this idea is nonsense, the university is built on the idea of flexibility and clearly embraces that fact.

Paglia continually reiterates the importance of a job-centered education and stresses that this should be the primary concern of educators.  “The idea that college is a contemplative realm of humanistic inquiry, removed from vulgar material needs, is nonsense.” Now there is an idea that I can agree with Paglia on, but I have a hard time believing that Paglia is actually naïve enough to believe that students are attending college simply for human inquiry.  Camille Paglia is in desperate need of a wake-up call. If what she proposes is true, then honestly the only solution is less flexibility, contradicting some of her previous concerns.  Paglia states that, “[she] was lucky enough to experience college in the 1960s.” So, what gives her the expertise to write on the problems of the internal structure of the American collegiate system today?  Paglia clearly has strong opinions of the higher education system of the Western world most of which appear to me to be assumptions that lack verity.

Possibly, I am the one out of the loop and I am naïve to believe that my university is preparing me for a career, but as a student, an internal and pivotal part of the collegiate system, I cannot find a stitch of truth within “Revalorizing the Trades.” And too as an admirer of the professional class, I am an exception according to the article, which may explain why I so strongly disagree with Paglia. Either way, the ideas expressed within Paglia’s article were certainly polarizing and definitely got my gears going.