Another hot and sticky day in Mobile
Like I said in yesterday's post, there is a lack on GA's to fill the all of the available slots. There are four of us american students who are GA's (I won't name names here), then the rest are of, what I will generalize as 'middle eastern' origin. I ask myself, why is there such a disparity between these foreign students and american students as GA's? Well, you have to admit, unless you get one of the 'special' GA's the money is not attractive in the least. I have been able to survive because I have a family which have gone out of their way to help me get to this point.
But, going beyond the monitary focus, its yet another obvious point of a generalized lazy america. The number of caring and dedicated students to careless students continues, from my point of view, to rise in the unfavorable direction. I dare say, neary every person who reads this blog cares about their education and went to great lengths to gain as much useful knowledge they could get out of their education. While Mobile is not a technology town by any means, if they wanted to help bring in more tech Mobile is in a very good geographical location for technological growth. Many students think that since they pay the money to the school, they deserve a good grade. That they are just there to put in the time and get the degree at the end to help them get a job and make money.
I do not want the readers to think that all foreign students are like what I am about to state. I have a few friends who have traveled to America for their education, and those who I count as friends take their classes and education seriously. But I have seen and heard about several incidents of, what I would consider, boarderline of blatant Academic Misconduct. I reported one such incident to a professor of a graduate course, one I did notice failed not recieve a GA the next semester (unsure if he was a GA when the incident happened or not) however the other 'offender' did and continues to recieve a GA in the CIS department. Many think they can barter their way out of trouble or into a better grade in their courses. Some have found that will the right amount of brown nosing and ego stroking of the faculty, they can get their good grade. I am not a brown noser and I do not stroke egos. You may think that I am pompous or I disrespect authority but ask any of my friends and I believe that they will tell you the same thing. Off the top of my head there are two professors that I have utter respect for, Skrubby and Dr. Langan.
With this said, how do you get students of all nationalities to respect their education and universities? Well, we need professors who deserve respect and push their students to do more, be better and work harder. There are several professor's classes which are insanely easy, if you can hit a couple of their key words and brown nose them in your discussion answers then you can pass with flying colors. You can hear about stuff like this at every university. Do people value their degree? From where I am sitting, not enough of them are. Every person who graduates with the same degree that you have also bears witness to you and every student who comes after them. If you apply for a job and they have tried any number of graduates from your program with dismal failures then the probablility of your application landing in the garbage is quite high.
On another note, I have to say that The Wedding Crashers was a great movie. Vince Vaughn was at his usual brilliance. Owen Wilson was good as well and the female leads were great. If you have not seen it, like comedy, don't mind some language and can overlook the short topless scene then I would highly recommend this movie. The character Gloria, Isla Fisher, was the best and hottest of the cast if I do say so myself.
What have we learned today: 1) The Wedding Crashers is very funny, 2) we need more good professors, and 3) education is undervalued. Now, leave some comments and tell me what your thoughts are about this and what you think could be done to help improve this.
But, going beyond the monitary focus, its yet another obvious point of a generalized lazy america. The number of caring and dedicated students to careless students continues, from my point of view, to rise in the unfavorable direction. I dare say, neary every person who reads this blog cares about their education and went to great lengths to gain as much useful knowledge they could get out of their education. While Mobile is not a technology town by any means, if they wanted to help bring in more tech Mobile is in a very good geographical location for technological growth. Many students think that since they pay the money to the school, they deserve a good grade. That they are just there to put in the time and get the degree at the end to help them get a job and make money.
I do not want the readers to think that all foreign students are like what I am about to state. I have a few friends who have traveled to America for their education, and those who I count as friends take their classes and education seriously. But I have seen and heard about several incidents of, what I would consider, boarderline of blatant Academic Misconduct. I reported one such incident to a professor of a graduate course, one I did notice failed not recieve a GA the next semester (unsure if he was a GA when the incident happened or not) however the other 'offender' did and continues to recieve a GA in the CIS department. Many think they can barter their way out of trouble or into a better grade in their courses. Some have found that will the right amount of brown nosing and ego stroking of the faculty, they can get their good grade. I am not a brown noser and I do not stroke egos. You may think that I am pompous or I disrespect authority but ask any of my friends and I believe that they will tell you the same thing. Off the top of my head there are two professors that I have utter respect for, Skrubby and Dr. Langan.
With this said, how do you get students of all nationalities to respect their education and universities? Well, we need professors who deserve respect and push their students to do more, be better and work harder. There are several professor's classes which are insanely easy, if you can hit a couple of their key words and brown nose them in your discussion answers then you can pass with flying colors. You can hear about stuff like this at every university. Do people value their degree? From where I am sitting, not enough of them are. Every person who graduates with the same degree that you have also bears witness to you and every student who comes after them. If you apply for a job and they have tried any number of graduates from your program with dismal failures then the probablility of your application landing in the garbage is quite high.
On another note, I have to say that The Wedding Crashers was a great movie. Vince Vaughn was at his usual brilliance. Owen Wilson was good as well and the female leads were great. If you have not seen it, like comedy, don't mind some language and can overlook the short topless scene then I would highly recommend this movie. The character Gloria, Isla Fisher, was the best and hottest of the cast if I do say so myself.
What have we learned today: 1) The Wedding Crashers is very funny, 2) we need more good professors, and 3) education is undervalued. Now, leave some comments and tell me what your thoughts are about this and what you think could be done to help improve this.
posted by Brian Wright at 11:38 AM
2 Comments:
Well as someone that just could not sit still long enough to finish college I am getting my edu the hard way. Everyday that I learn something new I am more val. to my employer. With a college or a uni. I see it this way. You have asked to go there and you have paid money to go there. It is and should be alot harder then high school. It should be up to the student to earn grade via work and not brown nosing. When I go back to college I want to walk in there with pride and say I have Prof X and I earned my grade. But I have heard the stories and yea I don't like the fact Prof's are doing now days. I good prof is one that makes me think and makes me want to learn.
LP
Well I have had both of those types of profs. Both have taught me things and I have enjoyed both types as well. Granted, it does erk me when a student never comes to class, and still manages to pass. I pay hard earned money, come to class every time it meets, and work my butt off if needed. I get the good grades and are still in classes with slackers. It does make me mad. You would think that if a student is lazy/sorry/etc they would never make it to grad but life sucks and thats how it goes I guess.
MadDogGTO
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