Student Activism
I picked up my copy of the Hate Issue over the weekend when I was able to get on campus.
I didn’t read the copy before it went out—not that I’m complaining, I enjoy fresh material. Mortis the Pestilent’s hate column on student protests caught my eye. The column grabbed my attention because I’d just reread this article prior to the “I Hate Student Protests” one.
Yes, we’ve known about this issue since January, the article is from then as well, but seeing friends graduate and parents wander around the campus like Japanese tourists (some of whom probably were Japanese tourists) reminded me of what I’ll be facing next spring when I graduate.
And then it got me angry. Not at the University, because well, fuck them as is.
Every single day when you walk by the EMU amphitheater some dim-witted OSPIRG brainwash with a clipboard tries to assault students with the “environmental cause” or the “I hate Bush cause” or my personal favorite “the student cause.”
These priviledged, ignorant “students” will protest the most hopeless causes to death. Darfur, the Russel Athletic Contract, white privilege, racism, whatever.
But when it comes to something that’s close to home, like the University out-right picking the Athletic Department over students, no one said a word except one lonely article in the ODE and a few angry comments under CJ’s post about it.
Beyond being lost in their own rhetoric maybe, just maybe even the goons in the Insurgent could have mustered up some kind of crazy, hippy rage over this. No one has bothered to protest this. Two professors came out against it in the media, Nathan Tublitz and Bill Harbaraugh. The School of Music supported the decision, to be honest, fuck the school of music.
Is it just me or is this not something to get indignant about? It’s one thing to protest Darfur. Most of the kids protesting that will never go to Darfur, will never meet a real African and in all likelihood all they did was buy a t-shirt that sent 10 dollars to the Red Cross and not Darfur. Sure they might not wear Russell Athletics clothes but who cares, they all wear Nike anyway.
This seems, to me, like something for the general student to protest. It might be something that I would take a flyer for. It’s an event that really proves how much the University caters to Athletics over Academics. Myself, I normally don’t care because it’s not really affecting the educational quality of the Univeristy, non-diverse (in all aspects politically, ethnically, whatever) faculty and bureaucratic bullshit affect the quality of education here.
However, this feels like a slap in the face.
Now, the important question, will I protest?
No.
Mostly this is just indignant anger. Mostly the lack of response of by 98% of the UO community has created in my apathy towards protesting for the betterment of those people. If I were to protest it would be for me. To be honest, it’s a little selfish to protest for yourself, make it a little bigger in my head and I might. For now, no.
Raising standards would almost certainly cause a massive spike in drop-outs and a sharp decline in the number of people being sent acceptance letters.
This is not a bug, it is a feature.
I’ve been out of the University for a while and in the business world where I have interviewed and hired a lot of graduates. The average “product” turned out by our higher education system is crap. The worst product is the “Business School” graduate (me being an example with a graduate degree in business). Much of the system is a scam and a sham: Pretending to know something of value. Pretending to be able to teach it. Pretending to teach it. Unfortunately, many students share equal blame with the system. Unthinking. Unquestioning. Ticket punching.
The standards can’t be raised without persons currently in power being forced to admit that the system they perpetrate is a failure. And without sacrificing the sacred athlete.
But what can they do in a system that focuses on sports and greek life more than advising and mentorship to help people actually learn shit.
Increase standards.
The horse-shit antics of this university are ridiculous. It’s not just this outrage, but it is outrage I have at all levels. The UO is a joke. At least it looks decent on paper, for being so glamorous as a state school. We spend ALL the cash on looking good.
What really kills me though is the lack of admissions standards. You can basically walk in off the street, ESPECIALLY if you are an athlete that they want to play for us, and do anything you want. I am so sick of shameless clowns coming into class 30 minutes late and watching ESPN clips on youtube, people who DO NOT have any business opening their mouth about literature hogging class time asking retarded questions, PoliSci douches who are seniors and can’t hold a basic conversation about election politics, low grading standards, lowered expectations for learning, et cetera, et cetera. What I find is that the majority of professors are just as frustrated as I am about idiots in college. But what can they do in a system that focuses on sports and greek life more than advising and mentorship to help people actually learn shit.
My favorite quote:
” If you want to get laid, go to college, but if you want to get an education, go to the library.” Frank Zappa
Good idea.
My current plan is to give 3 midterms that term en lieu of my usual 2 midterms and a final, so that I can wrap the class up (in terms of serious graded content at least) at the end of week 9. It will benefit not only any graduating students I have, but also myself as I will be getting my PhD and will be in no mood to have final exam-related chores hanging over my head.
I imagine most people still don’t know about it.
It’s still a terrible decision that was made and will be a headache for everyone except for the Track & Field people.
I’m thinking that I will just give my finals on Friday of Week 10 in all of my classes and do my part to mitigate the stupidity.