Entrance Exams

PamelaSara Head

Some students claim that colleges should not put so much weight on entrance exams when considering student admission applications because they do not accurately measure student intelligence. However, colleges do put a significant amount of weight on entrance test scores for justified reasons. Specifically, entrance exams such as the SAT and ACT provide college admission boards with a standard, informed method of comparison between student applicants. If students who believe that these tests should be done away with considered how difficult it is to distinguish between students based on more personal criteria, maybe they could see the logic that underlies entrance exam requirements for college admissions.

According to Tabitha Miley, “[c]ollege entrance exams… should not be such a significant factor in determining college entrance.” She feels that such exams do not portray a student’s true intelligence and therefore provide a poor measure of how smart applicants truly are. Although Tabitha Miley makes a good point, that one of two standardized tests may not portray a student’s complete academic intelligence or ability to succeed in higher education, she neglects to realize the usefulness of such tests.

College admission boards receive hundreds to thousands of applications every year, and if they tried to consider every applicant based on completely personal criteria it would take way too long to decide who to admit and who to reject. According to Julia Aydin, “there needs to be some uniformity in testing or it will be impossible to understand where one student stands among millions of others.” In addition, it is crucial to remember that although test scores play a major role in admissions, they are not the only criteria. Colleges also look at GPAs and class rank when considering potential students. Entrance exams play a crucial role in college admissions for important reasons.

Some students claim colleges should not place so much weight on entrance exams because they do not reflect a student’s intelligence. However, these tests need to be utilized by colleges because there needs to be an informed method of comparison between the large number of student applicants. If students who believe that these tests should be done away with considered how difficult it is to distinguish between students based on more personal criteria, maybe they could see the logic that underlies entrance exam requirements for college admissions.

Altruism in community service

By Farzon Lotfi

An altruistic society provides selfless concern for the welfare of others, motivated only by personal virtue. Such a society cannot exist in a society driven by profit or coercion. In the profit driven society the incentive to act altruistically dies a silent death as people only act for an expected pay day. In a coercive society altruism also disappears as genuinely of actions is done out of fear of retribution instead of personal virtue. As this is the case how do we promote altruism in the current college generation without destroying it in the process? Furthermore, if we incentivize altruism even a small amount do we really destroy it and is it better than coercing altruistic action?

The White House has taken a two tier method of tackling the problem. The first method the White House has used is public relations efforts to promote community service projects either through speeches or through advertisements. This method inspires altruism without any other adverse effects. The White House's second method for promoting community service is by adding 5.7 billion dollars to national service programs over eight years. The money would help students pay for college.

In a strict definition of altruism, such an action would hurt altruism. This is not the case in the real world as other factors need to be taken into account such as man hours that could have been spent studying or performing a real job with better economic benefits. Other factors that need to be taken into account is our own society which is profit driven. Since we living in a capitalistic society that stifles altruism, it is no surprise that pure altruism cannot survive. Taking into account all of these external factors the economic incentive provide for community service do not asphyxiate altruism.

Other plans to promote community service are to make it mandatory in universities. The purpose would be to broaden a student's humanity, teach teamwork, promote ethical behavior, and to sharpen leadership and problem solving skills. The problem here is that these are benefits of altruistic service, benefits that are lost when one is no longer driven by selfless concern but by requirement. What I mean by this is that when the concern of the person being served is lost for concern of one's own self a student's benefits like a person's humanity are not gained because social problems are seen just like math problems, things we have to do.

Video Game: New Addiction

PJ Poomrapee Jewanarom

According to Cnet News Dennis Bennett was failing his college classes, his marriage was in trouble, and he wasn't being much of a father to his 1-year-old son. But he had progressed to Level 58 as Madrid, the Great Shaman of the North, his character in the online role-playing gaame "EverQuest," and that was all that mattered at the time. Game addiction has risen to become one of the main issues in the world today. Commitment to video games is very time consuming. That being said, college students do not have time to lose in the first place. College students that are addicted to video games would have a hard time maintaining their academic goals. Addicts often commit majority of their time to the game and loses their interests in other important matters. Children and even adults can be addicted to video games. Video game companies are finding ways to attract players. With all the technological advances, video games are made to be very entertaining and addicting more now than ever. Many video games today are online-based which introduced new aspect to the addiction. Online-based video game raises social network among players that gives players a reason to not leave their game and do other activities. Nicolas Yee, a psychology researcher of Hanford University made remarks about the addiction to video game: "[Online video games] can help a person if they're shy or have trouble forming social relationships," he said. "They have this environment where they can safely try new things out. They can experiment with being more vocal, or they can try out a leadership role, which may not be an opportunity they have in real life. Especially for teenagers, it lets them try out different roles and identities at a time when they may be really struggling with those kinds of issues." Video game addiction has been an important issue in society that has yet to be solved.

Preparedness: Bridging the gap, or not so much

Emily Korby

Many students believe that a high school diploma and a college acceptance letter are enough to prepare them for college. However, what many people fail to realize is society's education system tends to end after senior year. Many students are then left unprepared to face college alone. Raymond Simon, a former deputy secretary of education, argues "We really don't have a K-16 system. We have a K-12 system, and we have higher education." In other words, Simon believes that the current education system disconnects higher education and high school. Many high school students then enroll in college unprepared for the tough courses that encumbers their schedule for the next several years. According to a study by Strong American Schools, one-third of college freshman have to take remedial courses in order to catch up with higher education’s curriculum.

High school and higher education need to bridge the gap of knowledge in order for freshman students to be more prepared for college curriculum. If high schools encourage students to take more challenging courses then students will be better prepared for challenging courses that await them in college. For many high schools their top goal is to have their students graduate. This is a problem because they do not focus on preparing students for higher education. Many freshman students are then not only forced to adapt to a new lifestyle, but they must also adapt to an academic challenge that they are not prepared for. In order for students to be more prepared for college, high schools and higher education need to coordinate and help students transition better into college.

Recorded Lectures

Rebecca Copeland

Many college professors are now considering recording their lectures and posting them online, but some are concerned that students will be more likely to skip class. According to Steve Kolowich, “students’ likelihood of skipping class has no correlation with whether a professor decides to capture her lecture and post it the Web.” Contrary to Kolowich, recorded lectures will cause students to be more likely to skip class. Students who simply do not feel like waking up to go to class will feel like they do not have to go anymore because they can just watch the lecture on the web later. Professors can do things like give small quizzes to encourage attendance to class. Many students may decide the quizzes are not worth enough points to come to class, but students who care about their grade will come.

Although recorded lectures may discourage some students from attending class, they could prove to be a very useful resource for students. Students who miss a class because they are sick can then see the lecture online to find out what they missed. This way they will not fall too far behind in class. The recorded lectures are also useful to students who went to class. If a student missed something the professor said or just wanted to listen to something again to help clarify what was being taught, they can then go online and listen to the part of the lecture they want to hear. So although some students may chose not to go to class, recorded lectures are still a valuable advancement in technology.

And General Education for All...

Nick Rentz

According to Mary Beth Marklein, the United States ranks third in the percentage of students enrolling in college (35%) while Japan does not even rank in the top twenty-five. At the same time Japan ranks first in percentage of student completing college (26%) while the United States ranks sixteenth (17%). But the question remains is college participation better or college graduation?

Since the United States has a higher percentage of students enrolled in post-secondary institutions, they still have the capability to produce more graduates with a general knowledge. Since more people are enrolled this allows for a larger range of people with different levels of intelligence to participate in higher education. Since Japan has such an exclusive higher education system, only the most exceptional students are given the opportunity to advance. Which system is better? According to Amelia Newcomb, China, one of the largest economic powers in the world, is striving to raise its college participation from twenty percent to fifty percent in the next forty years. This more general education can be beneficial in several ways. For one, it allows more people to get a higher education. This means that there is a smaller gap between the powerful and knowledgeable and the wage earners that earned a high school diploma. This system is able to do this by offering prestigious schools for the exceptional students but also smaller universities for average or slightly above average students. Both systems still foster a wage earning class and not everyone can obtain a higher education. However, this is simply how the system works. The world needs wage earners, CEOs, and everything in between. The best educational system to produce this is a more general higher education system.

Making the Most Out of College

Pushkara Chaganti

As the video above demonstrates, most high school graduates are excited about going to college. They are excited about the new atmosphere, new friends, an independent life and a whole new experience. What most high school graduates forget to think about are the responsibilities that come along with all this excitement. Understanding these responsibilities and fulfilling them is what helps students make the most out of their college life.

On September 8^th, in a national address to students , President Obama said “We can have the most dedicated teachers, the most supportive parents, the best schools in the world — and none of it will make a difference, none of it will matter unless all of you fulfill your responsibilities.” In other words, unless students fulfill their responsibilities, there is no point of education. There are some common responsibilities that most college students have and will have to fulfill in order to get the most out of college experience.

According to this website “The purpose of a college education, as far as the student is concerned, is to equip him with knowledge that he can use throughout his life. He endeavors in his pursuit of excellence.” In other words every college student must aim upon making use of his/her college education to design his/her future. This process includes choosing the appropriate classes, doing the homework, getting good grades, working towards internships and research opportunities, networking, and remaining motivated throughout college. However, fulfilling these responsibilities does not imply neglecting the fun filled social life of college that most high school graduates look forward for.

Thus a balance between a fulfilling the responsibilities as a college student and the exciting non-academic part of college is what helps students make the most out of their college life.