The introduction of “Beer and Circus” provides definitions of the four major student subcultures which have long existed in American higher education: the collegiate, the academic, the vocational, and the rebel. In the 1960’s a study done by sociologists Burton Clark and Martin Trow outlined the main characteristics.
The collegiate culture is a world of football, fraternities and sororities, dates, drinking, and campus fun. Many students are involved with this culture.
Academic culture is on every college campus. These students work hard, get the best grades, and obtain as much knowledge and ideas as they can to reach full potential.
Vocational students are married, work 40 to 50 hours a week; college is training for a better job. Hard driven students just want to pass and get their diploma.
The cultures of students who are rebels are nonconformist who mostly exist at liberal arts colleges among many undergraduates. They are deeply involved with ideas in the class room and with current events in society such as art, literature, and politics. Style of the student is aggressive nonconformist. If they don’t agree with the professors curriculum then they find it irrelevant, will not do the work and fail. If they find the class interesting and want to learn the subject then they will surpass expectations and receive a grade of an A.
The introduction gives a quick outline of how students are categorized in the culture of college. It doesn’t really give a glimpse of what the rest of the book will be about but more about the student. Maybe the author giving detail about the student will result in the actions of all the activities that happen on campus, such as the football and basketball games. Each culture is apart of the university and can change things, either good or bad, or nothing at all.
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Chapter 1 Animal House
Chapter 1 is titled “Animal House,” and through out the chapter the author compares the movie “Animal House” to actual college life during the 60’s and 70’s. During this time in America, fraternities were popular and continued to grow rapidly with huge houses of students and overflowing beer cans. The movie has influenced and still does millions of students in college about partying, crazy stunts and getting “loaded”.
In the 1980’s the U.S. Congress passed the law for the legal age to drink to 21 which became like the Prohibition in the 1920’s. No one followed regulations and this forced students off campus because residence halls didn’t allow open drinking. This opened the doors to madness because there were no rules or anyone to control the party animals. “We lined the edges of the balcony and took turns pumping beer from the keg…sometimes a member of the group would fall or jump off the balcony and seriously hurt themselves. But that was part of the revelry” Nationwide students died this way but the surprising thing is students think it is normal and part of the college life. The movie was admired by so many students and the crazy stunts were allowed and were common.
I thought “Animal House” was a great movie, funny and I know it made a lot of money. But I think students tried and still do copy the lifestyle of those characters and took it to another level of insane. Jumping off roofs, not caring about school, and drinking excessive amounts of alcohol to the point of blacking out. I understand everyone should have fun but drinking irresponsibly and hurting yourself is not fun to me. I feel certain fraternities create a bad image for others such as Alpha Phi Alpha, a strong group of people who help the community through out America, develop academic excellence and support each other. The Alpha’s are positive role models and it doesn’t make sense that a group be developed just for partying.
College students during the 60’s and 70’s created a culture that revolutionized partying, literally taking it to new heights. The media talks about how college students do drink a lot and have labeled themselves as a wild group of people. Instead of partying students should focus on other aspects of student life, and then do a little partying. I call it moderation.
Colleges have to control drinking, not stop it, because it is impossible. People must continue to educate students about college life and drinking. It is important to help grow a university of students who understand themselves, are aware, and continue to learn higher education.
In the 1980’s the U.S. Congress passed the law for the legal age to drink to 21 which became like the Prohibition in the 1920’s. No one followed regulations and this forced students off campus because residence halls didn’t allow open drinking. This opened the doors to madness because there were no rules or anyone to control the party animals. “We lined the edges of the balcony and took turns pumping beer from the keg…sometimes a member of the group would fall or jump off the balcony and seriously hurt themselves. But that was part of the revelry” Nationwide students died this way but the surprising thing is students think it is normal and part of the college life. The movie was admired by so many students and the crazy stunts were allowed and were common.
I thought “Animal House” was a great movie, funny and I know it made a lot of money. But I think students tried and still do copy the lifestyle of those characters and took it to another level of insane. Jumping off roofs, not caring about school, and drinking excessive amounts of alcohol to the point of blacking out. I understand everyone should have fun but drinking irresponsibly and hurting yourself is not fun to me. I feel certain fraternities create a bad image for others such as Alpha Phi Alpha, a strong group of people who help the community through out America, develop academic excellence and support each other. The Alpha’s are positive role models and it doesn’t make sense that a group be developed just for partying.
College students during the 60’s and 70’s created a culture that revolutionized partying, literally taking it to new heights. The media talks about how college students do drink a lot and have labeled themselves as a wild group of people. Instead of partying students should focus on other aspects of student life, and then do a little partying. I call it moderation.
Colleges have to control drinking, not stop it, because it is impossible. People must continue to educate students about college life and drinking. It is important to help grow a university of students who understand themselves, are aware, and continue to learn higher education.
Chapter 2 College Sports Winners and Losers
Chapter 2 goes into detail about how a big time sport such as football or basketball at a university sometimes has control over the school, including administration students and alumni. The coaches and athletic directors are sometimes more influential than the president of the university.
The beginning of the chapter starts with the author describing how Bob Knight, coach of the Indian University basketball team appeared on national television and was asked how he handled the intense pressure involved in coaching a big time college basketball team. Bob Knight compared it to rape,“if rape is inevitable, relax and enjoy it.” When this comment was made, it revealed that he is a macho and isolated man who is oblivious to the women’s movement and feelings people have about rape in America. At this same time, Bob Knight just won his 3rd National championship title becoming the king of Indiana, living above everyone.
It is natural that everyone is upset about the remarks and people complained to the president of the university. So the president, Thomas Ehrlich issued a mild statement about Knight’s comment saying the coach’s views did not represent the view of Indiana University. This infuriated the coach and he threatened to leave to New Mexico University. This argument was taken to the media and everyone knew about it. In the end, Ehrlich apologized to Bob Knight and he stays as coach of Indiana.
After the incident, the Indiana faculty looked at President Ehrlich as weak and ineffectual disagreeing with his decision about Bob Knight. Ehrlich hung around for 6 more years, but that day he and Knight argued it revealed who possessed actual power at Indian University: the coach, not the president.
This incident shows how influential a sport and the people involved in it can be. I feel the main reason Ehrlich kept Bob Knight around and backed down was because Indiana is a big time basketball school which brings in money from alumni, sponsors, and more students. Ehrlich should have stood his ground and told Knight to leave if he doesn’t represent Indiana University the right way. It is important that a person in leadership stands by what they believe.
After the author describes how a coach can control a situation and gain power at a large university he talks about the athletes on the teams. The players have a lot of leniency from a lot of things because they are scoring 30 points a game or throwing touch downs. Athletes are supplied with academic and financial favors and sometimes leave college after 4 years illiterate. Such as Dexter Manley, the NFL pro who admitted that he was unable to read or write. All division 1 schools have cheated to help the athletes. This is crazy! To have a student leave from a four year college illiterate! To me this is unethical and corrupt. A collegiate school should be honest, but I guess it is inevitable that a sport team bend the rules.
Besides the athletes cheating I liked how the author acknowledges how athletes have no time for themselves. Almost 60 hours a week an athlete is involved with their sport only working on bettering themselves for the next game. It is a full time job and I feel a coach can make the players feel that academics are not important and the only commitment should be to their sport. Athletes are not are not student athletes, they are athlete students. Sport comes first then school. I feel athletes can become the victims and are taken advantaged of. But a university is to learn! To be educated! Sports should come second. It doesn’t make sense.
The NCAA is a corrupt organization that contradicts what it is suppose to stand for: To regulate and reform college athletics, but when in reality it is the cause of the corruption. The author states, “Propelling the NCAA’s corruption is the almighty dollar. The total revenue from college football and basket ball games exceeds the riches professional leagues in the world.”
The beginning of the chapter starts with the author describing how Bob Knight, coach of the Indian University basketball team appeared on national television and was asked how he handled the intense pressure involved in coaching a big time college basketball team. Bob Knight compared it to rape,“if rape is inevitable, relax and enjoy it.” When this comment was made, it revealed that he is a macho and isolated man who is oblivious to the women’s movement and feelings people have about rape in America. At this same time, Bob Knight just won his 3rd National championship title becoming the king of Indiana, living above everyone.
It is natural that everyone is upset about the remarks and people complained to the president of the university. So the president, Thomas Ehrlich issued a mild statement about Knight’s comment saying the coach’s views did not represent the view of Indiana University. This infuriated the coach and he threatened to leave to New Mexico University. This argument was taken to the media and everyone knew about it. In the end, Ehrlich apologized to Bob Knight and he stays as coach of Indiana.
After the incident, the Indiana faculty looked at President Ehrlich as weak and ineffectual disagreeing with his decision about Bob Knight. Ehrlich hung around for 6 more years, but that day he and Knight argued it revealed who possessed actual power at Indian University: the coach, not the president.
This incident shows how influential a sport and the people involved in it can be. I feel the main reason Ehrlich kept Bob Knight around and backed down was because Indiana is a big time basketball school which brings in money from alumni, sponsors, and more students. Ehrlich should have stood his ground and told Knight to leave if he doesn’t represent Indiana University the right way. It is important that a person in leadership stands by what they believe.
After the author describes how a coach can control a situation and gain power at a large university he talks about the athletes on the teams. The players have a lot of leniency from a lot of things because they are scoring 30 points a game or throwing touch downs. Athletes are supplied with academic and financial favors and sometimes leave college after 4 years illiterate. Such as Dexter Manley, the NFL pro who admitted that he was unable to read or write. All division 1 schools have cheated to help the athletes. This is crazy! To have a student leave from a four year college illiterate! To me this is unethical and corrupt. A collegiate school should be honest, but I guess it is inevitable that a sport team bend the rules.
Besides the athletes cheating I liked how the author acknowledges how athletes have no time for themselves. Almost 60 hours a week an athlete is involved with their sport only working on bettering themselves for the next game. It is a full time job and I feel a coach can make the players feel that academics are not important and the only commitment should be to their sport. Athletes are not are not student athletes, they are athlete students. Sport comes first then school. I feel athletes can become the victims and are taken advantaged of. But a university is to learn! To be educated! Sports should come second. It doesn’t make sense.
The NCAA is a corrupt organization that contradicts what it is suppose to stand for: To regulate and reform college athletics, but when in reality it is the cause of the corruption. The author states, “Propelling the NCAA’s corruption is the almighty dollar. The total revenue from college football and basket ball games exceeds the riches professional leagues in the world.”
Ch3. The NCAA, The Tube, and The Fans
The author starts the chapter by defining the motivation of the men who direct big time intercollegiate athletics: “There are three definitions…Greed, greed, and greed.” The NCAA has become a very big business and as always it comes down to money. As expenses increase, the athletic departments have to find a way to pay the bills. Getting that money from basketball and football is one way to do that. So the NCAA began working closely with ESPN who shows sports 24 hours. It broadcasted hundreds of regular season games, increasing the fan base for college teams all over the country, multiplying the audience for basketball tournaments such as March Madness. As ESPN and the NCAA joined forces with television, March madness became the NCAA’s major money machine. Many of the decisions made by the NCAA are made because of money and it seems that it is the only thing that matters to people. It is a selfish world.
ESPN transformed sports creating a level of intensity that is fun for everyone, especially college students. ESPN caused people to be obsessed with the 24 hours highlights and shows to entertain new fans and caught the attention of nonfans.
The term “doublethink” is used in this chapter and is defined as the “ability to believe contradictory ideas simultaneously, such as acknowledging the dysfunction of sports while fervently following its teams and games.” The younger generations of today accept and are much more tolerant about off field problems of a sport, such as the commercialization in sports. The older fans believed alcohol shouldn’t be allowed as sponsors of sporting events, whereas two thirds of the young fans have no problem. The younger generation does not understand and don’t really care about what happens off the field. As long as the teams win and the students get to party, and the NCAA gets their money, which is what really matters.
ESPN transformed sports creating a level of intensity that is fun for everyone, especially college students. ESPN caused people to be obsessed with the 24 hours highlights and shows to entertain new fans and caught the attention of nonfans.
The term “doublethink” is used in this chapter and is defined as the “ability to believe contradictory ideas simultaneously, such as acknowledging the dysfunction of sports while fervently following its teams and games.” The younger generations of today accept and are much more tolerant about off field problems of a sport, such as the commercialization in sports. The older fans believed alcohol shouldn’t be allowed as sponsors of sporting events, whereas two thirds of the young fans have no problem. The younger generation does not understand and don’t really care about what happens off the field. As long as the teams win and the students get to party, and the NCAA gets their money, which is what really matters.
Chapter 4 Corporate Beer and Circus
Chapter 4 discusses the marketing strategies used by beer corporations such as Miller Light and Coors Light to make money off of student’s at large universities. The strategy was to target universities that had large an influential collegiate subcultures, flourishing intercollegiate athletic departments, a well earned reputation as a party school and administrators who emphasized research and graduate programs over undergraduate education ones.
Large universities are no place to learn. It is shown a big time sport school is ran by the athletic department and a school such as USC would rather be a part of large drunken festivities and a NCAA title rather than have good academics. The more I learn about the “business world” the more I noticed that a lot of things are influenced by money. People are selfish and will do anything to get as much money as they can, even if it means to give the students alcohol poisoning.
Alcohol producers at sporting events spend disproportionate amounts of their advertising budgets on campaigns aimed at college age drinkers and more specifically sports fans. The goal was to turn the major characteristic of college sports fans that have personal loyalty to their teams into an allegiance to their favorite alcohol brands.
Is it immoral to market to these young and immature college students who are underage? Has the market campaign caused any negative effects? What is the schools intention for the good of the students? These are some questions that should have been asked or researched by the school. I feel the intention of the school is just to make money and not care what the students learn as long as they get tuition money. Schools are becoming more of a business environment rather than a learning environment.
The marketing strategies used by beer companies during this time were manipulative and shouldn’t have been done. I feel administrators at universities are learning to control the parties and from students who drink excessive amounts of alcohol and don’t want the drunken festivities to ruin the “good” reputation of the university. I just hope college doesn’t turn into a ruthless business enterprise hungry for money.
Large universities are no place to learn. It is shown a big time sport school is ran by the athletic department and a school such as USC would rather be a part of large drunken festivities and a NCAA title rather than have good academics. The more I learn about the “business world” the more I noticed that a lot of things are influenced by money. People are selfish and will do anything to get as much money as they can, even if it means to give the students alcohol poisoning.
Alcohol producers at sporting events spend disproportionate amounts of their advertising budgets on campaigns aimed at college age drinkers and more specifically sports fans. The goal was to turn the major characteristic of college sports fans that have personal loyalty to their teams into an allegiance to their favorite alcohol brands.
Is it immoral to market to these young and immature college students who are underage? Has the market campaign caused any negative effects? What is the schools intention for the good of the students? These are some questions that should have been asked or researched by the school. I feel the intention of the school is just to make money and not care what the students learn as long as they get tuition money. Schools are becoming more of a business environment rather than a learning environment.
The marketing strategies used by beer companies during this time were manipulative and shouldn’t have been done. I feel administrators at universities are learning to control the parties and from students who drink excessive amounts of alcohol and don’t want the drunken festivities to ruin the “good” reputation of the university. I just hope college doesn’t turn into a ruthless business enterprise hungry for money.
Chapter 5 Admissions Office Scams
From what I have read so far in this book about college programs and how it functions, I have concluded that college is a business and admissions has transformed into a sales campaign involving clever scams. “Colleges [and universities]…are business enterprises competing for a limited clientele: the students… They pump so much money into… promotional material that becomes a blizzard of hard-to-distinguish hype” The marketing strategies used by big time universities use their sport programs to their advantage arranging “fun weekends” for potential students, which includes free football or basketball tickets. College institutions believe they can clinch the application-and-enrollment deals if they could “get the buyer inside the store,” which is considered the campus. A lot of colleges create false advertisement to people on tours, through brochures and in other advertisement.
Many people fell into the admissions trap set by a majority of institutions who created a false sense of college atmosphere. During tours students and their parents learn about festive occasions at the schools, but not who teaches the undergraduate classes. The tour visited the student union but not the library. Visitors heard about “keg parties,” not about concerts and lectures. It is assumed people would have had the impression that a college campus was a place with an abundant social life and education was ignored.
This book is revealing how college campuses in the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s advertised college as a big party. Learning and educating people seemed to be the last thing on administrations mind when they realized sports attract thousands of people and is a way to promote the school. It seems like it wasn’t a smart thing to do. Colleges and universities show the exterior part of the campus but never go into detail about what the school is really like. The outside of a building is beautiful but the inside is empty and has nothing to educate the students, just rooms to sit in.
It is interesting to notice some of the same things when I was going on college tours and even now to go to a large university and see how sports is a big influence and the student life is completely different because of it. College is supposed to be about learning and maturing into an educated person. I feel by attending ECSU I am obtaining my desires of a student without all of the sport activities that big universities offer.
Many people fell into the admissions trap set by a majority of institutions who created a false sense of college atmosphere. During tours students and their parents learn about festive occasions at the schools, but not who teaches the undergraduate classes. The tour visited the student union but not the library. Visitors heard about “keg parties,” not about concerts and lectures. It is assumed people would have had the impression that a college campus was a place with an abundant social life and education was ignored.
This book is revealing how college campuses in the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s advertised college as a big party. Learning and educating people seemed to be the last thing on administrations mind when they realized sports attract thousands of people and is a way to promote the school. It seems like it wasn’t a smart thing to do. Colleges and universities show the exterior part of the campus but never go into detail about what the school is really like. The outside of a building is beautiful but the inside is empty and has nothing to educate the students, just rooms to sit in.
It is interesting to notice some of the same things when I was going on college tours and even now to go to a large university and see how sports is a big influence and the student life is completely different because of it. College is supposed to be about learning and maturing into an educated person. I feel by attending ECSU I am obtaining my desires of a student without all of the sport activities that big universities offer.
Chapter 6 The Flutie Factor
In the mid 1980’s Doug Flutie threw a last second “Hail Mary” pass on national television during a Thanksgiving weekend game, enabling Boston College to beat a heavily favored Miami. It was one of the most memorable moments of sports during the 1980’s. Since that amazing throw on national television, watched by thousands of people, the applications for admission to Boston College rose 25% in the year following Doug Flutie’s year as quarterback at BC. This shows that athletic success can influence enrollment to colleges and increase the amount of tuition received.
Since then every admissions office in the country wanted the “Flutie Factor” to hit their schools. Because of the Flutie phenomenon during that time, many students were enrolling, not because of the academics but because BC became a “hot college town,” popular for its bars, sports and expanding party scene. BC continued to rise in sports fame but when BC football players were involved in an ugly gambling scandal; the media attention damaged the school reputation. Applications to BC dipped and then remained at the ordinary plateau, as it was in the past.
The Flutie Factor shows how influential a sport can be in society. Many people look at sports and relate it to how a school performs academically. At many schools that the sports program is ranked in the top ten in the country but have horrible undergraduate programs. For example, Florida State University has achieved a very high recognition of football achievement. It is stated in the book, that FSU has “an almost permanent Flutie Factor.” FSU has always been at the top of national football polls. It has also been at the top of the list of party schools as well. The school has had many titles and is a prime example of an institution that provided it students with beer and circus and not much of any undergraduate education.
Undergraduates at schools with big time sports teams are do not get proper education in the class room. At the University of Buffalo, undergrad classes have 400 to 500 people in a classroom where professors don’t know the students names or even answer many questions. UB neglects undergraduate studies and is a situation that many universities are in, and is an unfortunate situation. I feel the president of NYU Jay Oliva said it best. “Every school wants to believe they will be the one to make it big in college sports, but they mainly end up wasting huge amounts of money on the effort, funds that could be spent on academics.” I feel this is very true. Many colleges fail at using their sports to bring in money, but usually they lose money and the teams lose. Let us stick to what college is all about. Learning and developing into a better person. Not learning how to do a funnel, but to actually write a paper. Social life is important but should not be the main focus.
College life should be looked at and thought about more in depth, especially by the student. A student should understand and realize why they are there. They shouldn’t choose a college because its football team is top ten in the country. I am realizing how sports can be corrupt and is emphasized over studies. It is crazy how a president of a university and professors let this happen. But I’m going to be honest. I went to a basketball game instead of studying.
Since then every admissions office in the country wanted the “Flutie Factor” to hit their schools. Because of the Flutie phenomenon during that time, many students were enrolling, not because of the academics but because BC became a “hot college town,” popular for its bars, sports and expanding party scene. BC continued to rise in sports fame but when BC football players were involved in an ugly gambling scandal; the media attention damaged the school reputation. Applications to BC dipped and then remained at the ordinary plateau, as it was in the past.
The Flutie Factor shows how influential a sport can be in society. Many people look at sports and relate it to how a school performs academically. At many schools that the sports program is ranked in the top ten in the country but have horrible undergraduate programs. For example, Florida State University has achieved a very high recognition of football achievement. It is stated in the book, that FSU has “an almost permanent Flutie Factor.” FSU has always been at the top of national football polls. It has also been at the top of the list of party schools as well. The school has had many titles and is a prime example of an institution that provided it students with beer and circus and not much of any undergraduate education.
Undergraduates at schools with big time sports teams are do not get proper education in the class room. At the University of Buffalo, undergrad classes have 400 to 500 people in a classroom where professors don’t know the students names or even answer many questions. UB neglects undergraduate studies and is a situation that many universities are in, and is an unfortunate situation. I feel the president of NYU Jay Oliva said it best. “Every school wants to believe they will be the one to make it big in college sports, but they mainly end up wasting huge amounts of money on the effort, funds that could be spent on academics.” I feel this is very true. Many colleges fail at using their sports to bring in money, but usually they lose money and the teams lose. Let us stick to what college is all about. Learning and developing into a better person. Not learning how to do a funnel, but to actually write a paper. Social life is important but should not be the main focus.
College life should be looked at and thought about more in depth, especially by the student. A student should understand and realize why they are there. They shouldn’t choose a college because its football team is top ten in the country. I am realizing how sports can be corrupt and is emphasized over studies. It is crazy how a president of a university and professors let this happen. But I’m going to be honest. I went to a basketball game instead of studying.
Chapter 7 Shaft the Undergraduates
In this chapter it focuses on universities striving for research fame, and neglecting undergraduate education, and promoting their college sports franchises.
It seems that colleges are selfish and only care about money and being recognized for things that really don’t matter. Shouldn’t the students be the most important focus? I think so. When I read this chapter, it talked about colleges trying to save money by using part time “professors” who don’t know what there talking about. If was a student at that university I would be offended. All the money they “save” goes to graduate schools, research programs and faculty who are involved. I wouldn’t want to go to a school with teachers who don’t know what they are talking about.
The concept of “Upward Drift” was discussed in this chapter which is when a university, whether they can afford it or not, that relentlessly added graduate and doctoral programs in order to compete in the research prestige race. Upward Drift universities put scarce dollars into their graduate schools and neglected undergraduate education. It is the pursuit of fame and prestige which were the “potent drivers of institutional direction and decision making.” It is wrong to have such things motivate a school. This situation accelerated the decline of undergraduate education. In the 1987 Time Magazine noted that 40 to 70% of faculty involved in college undergraduate programs were part time professors. Most of the part time teachers don’t know anything about their subjects, and even the TAs who are in the graduate program don’t know how to teach because when in the undergrad program, they were in a class of 500 and a part time professor was teaching.
Many universities have no teacher training and spending years doing research and little time learning how to teach. This creates difficulties in the classroom. Teaching and research don’t go together and it is unfortunate that this has and is happening in our schools across the country. It must be discovered how to balance the undergraduate and graduate programs. The general public sees that teaching undergraduates is the primary mission of higher education. Administration and faculty must focus on the student, developing them into an educated individual. It is very important and should be the goal. Not to be prestigious and rich.
It seems that colleges are selfish and only care about money and being recognized for things that really don’t matter. Shouldn’t the students be the most important focus? I think so. When I read this chapter, it talked about colleges trying to save money by using part time “professors” who don’t know what there talking about. If was a student at that university I would be offended. All the money they “save” goes to graduate schools, research programs and faculty who are involved. I wouldn’t want to go to a school with teachers who don’t know what they are talking about.
The concept of “Upward Drift” was discussed in this chapter which is when a university, whether they can afford it or not, that relentlessly added graduate and doctoral programs in order to compete in the research prestige race. Upward Drift universities put scarce dollars into their graduate schools and neglected undergraduate education. It is the pursuit of fame and prestige which were the “potent drivers of institutional direction and decision making.” It is wrong to have such things motivate a school. This situation accelerated the decline of undergraduate education. In the 1987 Time Magazine noted that 40 to 70% of faculty involved in college undergraduate programs were part time professors. Most of the part time teachers don’t know anything about their subjects, and even the TAs who are in the graduate program don’t know how to teach because when in the undergrad program, they were in a class of 500 and a part time professor was teaching.
Many universities have no teacher training and spending years doing research and little time learning how to teach. This creates difficulties in the classroom. Teaching and research don’t go together and it is unfortunate that this has and is happening in our schools across the country. It must be discovered how to balance the undergraduate and graduate programs. The general public sees that teaching undergraduates is the primary mission of higher education. Administration and faculty must focus on the student, developing them into an educated individual. It is very important and should be the goal. Not to be prestigious and rich.
Chapter 8 The Great Researcher = Great Teacher Myth
It is a myth that a person who is a great researcher is a great teacher. This is what the chapter is about. Patrick Terenzini and Ernest Pascarella, who are education professors, examined the myth very closely, concluding that a person who does research might not be able to teach the subject they are researching.
Universities hire prestigious award winning researchers but are boring and inactive with the students in the classroom. The attitudes of many researchers toward undergraduate education are negative. A professor at the University of Michigan makes the comment, “Every minute I spend in an undergraduate classroom is costing me money and prestige.” A comment like this from a professor is shocking because one would think a professor would be motivated to teach a university to young students. It is a bad attitude that creates a bad atmosphere and environment in the classroom, causing students to skip class and day dream not listening to the professor. Students need to bring a high amount of self motivation to class because of the attitude the teachers has.
The class room suggests different methods of learning. It includes small changes like a major attitude shift for faculty, actually listening to the students, not facing the blackboard the entire time, providing frequent feedback, and taking student questions. Faculty members need to take the students comments seriously and most of they seem to be arrogant and don’t care.
In contrast to the passive roles, students can be encouraged to speak and take action in the class room by collaborative work with the teacher, learning from one another. This can produce greater gains in academic content and skills. Students cry for individual instruction. The lecture creates a classroom full of students learning at the same rate, same notes, same exams and same activities. No one learns the same! How can we teach someone something the same why to everyone, especially in a class room full of 500 students? “Lecturing produces student passivity, absence of intellectual curiosity…prof fail to engage their brains…always in a hurry to leave as the class ends.” This is very true! Sometimes teachers ramble on and on about nothing and then blame the student, the victim, for not understanding and not paying attention. I’ve been through it and many many people have been through it.
Fortunately, there are excellent universities that exist, and faculty who provide students with individual attention and a multitude of active learning situations. From reading the past two chapters, maybe it isn’t the athlete who is at full fault for not doing going to class. Maybe part of the issue has to do with the professor or the classroom environment. Class might not be interesting or active enough and the athlete feels it isn’t important. It is just a thought but it would be interesting to hear the comment of an athlete and what they think of the classroom experience.
Universities hire prestigious award winning researchers but are boring and inactive with the students in the classroom. The attitudes of many researchers toward undergraduate education are negative. A professor at the University of Michigan makes the comment, “Every minute I spend in an undergraduate classroom is costing me money and prestige.” A comment like this from a professor is shocking because one would think a professor would be motivated to teach a university to young students. It is a bad attitude that creates a bad atmosphere and environment in the classroom, causing students to skip class and day dream not listening to the professor. Students need to bring a high amount of self motivation to class because of the attitude the teachers has.
The class room suggests different methods of learning. It includes small changes like a major attitude shift for faculty, actually listening to the students, not facing the blackboard the entire time, providing frequent feedback, and taking student questions. Faculty members need to take the students comments seriously and most of they seem to be arrogant and don’t care.
In contrast to the passive roles, students can be encouraged to speak and take action in the class room by collaborative work with the teacher, learning from one another. This can produce greater gains in academic content and skills. Students cry for individual instruction. The lecture creates a classroom full of students learning at the same rate, same notes, same exams and same activities. No one learns the same! How can we teach someone something the same why to everyone, especially in a class room full of 500 students? “Lecturing produces student passivity, absence of intellectual curiosity…prof fail to engage their brains…always in a hurry to leave as the class ends.” This is very true! Sometimes teachers ramble on and on about nothing and then blame the student, the victim, for not understanding and not paying attention. I’ve been through it and many many people have been through it.
Fortunately, there are excellent universities that exist, and faculty who provide students with individual attention and a multitude of active learning situations. From reading the past two chapters, maybe it isn’t the athlete who is at full fault for not doing going to class. Maybe part of the issue has to do with the professor or the classroom environment. Class might not be interesting or active enough and the athlete feels it isn’t important. It is just a thought but it would be interesting to hear the comment of an athlete and what they think of the classroom experience.
Chapter 9 SIWASH IN RED INK
In chapter 9 it is discussed that the quality of undergraduate education declined and the price of tuition increased dramatically, leaving people dumbfounded, wondering why. Higher education is compared to the titanic sinking, and Arthur Levine, president of Teachers College at Columbia University, starts off the chapter with a metaphor:
“All in all, our actions [in higher education] are akin to a boat hitting an iceberg and the captain announcing that his highest priority, as the boat sinks, is saving the crew. The next priority is avoiding any inconvenience by continuing all activities-the midnight buffet, the bingo game, the shuffleboard tournament. The third priority is repairing the boat. And the fourth and final one, should time permit, is saving the passengers.”
In the 1990’s the competition for research prestige, money and undergraduate enrollment was cutthroat. The author suggests that higher education can be compared to corporate America.
The ideas above were the only things in chapter 9 that interested me. Through out the chapter I felt the author was repetitive, saying the same thing that was said in the last chapter. Teach more and research less.
“All in all, our actions [in higher education] are akin to a boat hitting an iceberg and the captain announcing that his highest priority, as the boat sinks, is saving the crew. The next priority is avoiding any inconvenience by continuing all activities-the midnight buffet, the bingo game, the shuffleboard tournament. The third priority is repairing the boat. And the fourth and final one, should time permit, is saving the passengers.”
In the 1990’s the competition for research prestige, money and undergraduate enrollment was cutthroat. The author suggests that higher education can be compared to corporate America.
The ideas above were the only things in chapter 9 that interested me. Through out the chapter I felt the author was repetitive, saying the same thing that was said in the last chapter. Teach more and research less.
Chapter 10 Student Mix and Match
Students filter their reactions through the true center of their college lives, the subcultures to which they belong to. This chapter examines the current state of the traditional subcultures—collegiate, academic, vocational, and rebel—and how these shape student attitudes toward the education, or the lack of it, that they receive at their universities.
It is interesting to read as a college student, about how other college student’s act during the years they are in college. I can compare and contrast. I can relate or even disagree with what they did or said, compare experiences and learn from them. The best part I think from college is the people you meet, the experiences one goes through and growing and developing as a person.
In the chapter the author quotes college students who are in different subcultures. The rebels are into the grateful dead, drugs and go to the bar. The collegiate students just party and don’t care. Academic students, also known as the “nerds” do their homework and that’s about it. The one subculture I like and can kind of relate to are the vocational students who I feel are well rounded and can balance a lot of things at the same time. They are all in one; a rebel, a jock, nerdy and motivated. All of these subcultures are influences, and it is a strong influence which decides a person’s path through out college. One will decide which fits at the time and learn and experience from it.
“The student’s peer group is the single most potent source of influence on growth and development during the undergraduate years, and the student’s values, beliefs, and aspirations tend to change in the direction of the dominant values, beliefs, and aspirations of the peer group.”
It is very interesting to see a student change from freshman year to senior year who hopefully has changed subcultures and created different opportunities and experiences for themselves.
The chapter reveals that college is more than just a place to party and watch sports. College is a culture of its own, and within it are lots of subcultures. In those subcultures is where the students differ and go through phases creating experiences and learning about themselves, and the world around them. The author brought the context away from sports for a little bit and examined the students. At their age during college, students want to explore, and being in class and trying to learn from a boring teacher won’t work. Then the author brought it back to sports and put it simply that in terms of beer and circus—the party scene accompanying big time college sports is this:
“A majority of schools earning very negative ratings in academic categories feature beer and circus; on the other hand, almost every institution achieving high positive ranking in academic categories is not involved in major intercollegiate athletics and none are on the “Party schools” list.”
According to the author, sports distract and hurt students academically. Why? Because sports at Big Time Universities are emphasized more than academics. With sports come celebrations and drinking. Schools that do well academically emphasize academics and stunts the growth of collegiate subculture. Everything depends on which subculture is strongest.
It is interesting to read as a college student, about how other college student’s act during the years they are in college. I can compare and contrast. I can relate or even disagree with what they did or said, compare experiences and learn from them. The best part I think from college is the people you meet, the experiences one goes through and growing and developing as a person.
In the chapter the author quotes college students who are in different subcultures. The rebels are into the grateful dead, drugs and go to the bar. The collegiate students just party and don’t care. Academic students, also known as the “nerds” do their homework and that’s about it. The one subculture I like and can kind of relate to are the vocational students who I feel are well rounded and can balance a lot of things at the same time. They are all in one; a rebel, a jock, nerdy and motivated. All of these subcultures are influences, and it is a strong influence which decides a person’s path through out college. One will decide which fits at the time and learn and experience from it.
“The student’s peer group is the single most potent source of influence on growth and development during the undergraduate years, and the student’s values, beliefs, and aspirations tend to change in the direction of the dominant values, beliefs, and aspirations of the peer group.”
It is very interesting to see a student change from freshman year to senior year who hopefully has changed subcultures and created different opportunities and experiences for themselves.
The chapter reveals that college is more than just a place to party and watch sports. College is a culture of its own, and within it are lots of subcultures. In those subcultures is where the students differ and go through phases creating experiences and learning about themselves, and the world around them. The author brought the context away from sports for a little bit and examined the students. At their age during college, students want to explore, and being in class and trying to learn from a boring teacher won’t work. Then the author brought it back to sports and put it simply that in terms of beer and circus—the party scene accompanying big time college sports is this:
“A majority of schools earning very negative ratings in academic categories feature beer and circus; on the other hand, almost every institution achieving high positive ranking in academic categories is not involved in major intercollegiate athletics and none are on the “Party schools” list.”
According to the author, sports distract and hurt students academically. Why? Because sports at Big Time Universities are emphasized more than academics. With sports come celebrations and drinking. Schools that do well academically emphasize academics and stunts the growth of collegiate subculture. Everything depends on which subculture is strongest.
Chapter 11 Faculty/Student Nonaggression Act
Chapter 11 provides information into why many undergraduates accept beer and circus as a substitute for a meaningful education.
The main concept in this chapter is a nonaggression pact between lazy students and even lazier professors. In other words “I won’t bother you if you don’t bother me.” –Anne Matthews, higher education writer.
From research at colleges there have been encounters where there was a general agreement that academics were weak, and faculty and students had a tacit agreement not to burden one another. This is how Big time Universities handle their undergraduate programs. They establish a truce between faculty who want to spend as little time in undergraduate classrooms and students who want to obtain a degree as easily as possible.
I consider this crazy! It’s crazy because a school would let this happen. It seems some colleges are just taking the money from undergraduate students and just putting them in a room, not doing anything, wasting time and money. I wouldn’t want to be in a class taught by a teacher who doesn’t care about the students. Students who want to learn are turned off by how higher education is organized. “As a result, freshmen—who need the very best teaching—may actually receive the worst.” The substitute for genuine learning is an easily obtained diploma, and a “fun experience.” Students accept this because they arrive on campus to the collegiate subculture and become immersed in it and accept the universities deal of easy schoolwork and football.
At Indiana University, only 14% of the students felt that “students come first”, and the same percentage also felt that students are “intellectually engaged” in their academic work. Professors don’t care about the students and when the students know that the professors don’t care, and then the students’ attitude towards learning is negative.
Teachers who are charismatic, fun and excited about class are needed by students, to create a love for learning. It is apart of teaching to be bothered by students, parents, deans, and heads of departments. I know I have been apart of classes and just wanted to get the best grade I could because the teacher was boring and didn’t want to waste of time. I want to be active in class, learn from experience, go on a trip and meet a person who can give advice and is interesting. Maybe the definition of learning we all have is different or maybe just wrong. The different styles of teaching needs to change, but how can it be done in a class of 500 plus? Is there a way to change the boring classes and invisible professors? The nonaggression act continues and will continue and eventually students won’t learn anything.
The main concept in this chapter is a nonaggression pact between lazy students and even lazier professors. In other words “I won’t bother you if you don’t bother me.” –Anne Matthews, higher education writer.
From research at colleges there have been encounters where there was a general agreement that academics were weak, and faculty and students had a tacit agreement not to burden one another. This is how Big time Universities handle their undergraduate programs. They establish a truce between faculty who want to spend as little time in undergraduate classrooms and students who want to obtain a degree as easily as possible.
I consider this crazy! It’s crazy because a school would let this happen. It seems some colleges are just taking the money from undergraduate students and just putting them in a room, not doing anything, wasting time and money. I wouldn’t want to be in a class taught by a teacher who doesn’t care about the students. Students who want to learn are turned off by how higher education is organized. “As a result, freshmen—who need the very best teaching—may actually receive the worst.” The substitute for genuine learning is an easily obtained diploma, and a “fun experience.” Students accept this because they arrive on campus to the collegiate subculture and become immersed in it and accept the universities deal of easy schoolwork and football.
At Indiana University, only 14% of the students felt that “students come first”, and the same percentage also felt that students are “intellectually engaged” in their academic work. Professors don’t care about the students and when the students know that the professors don’t care, and then the students’ attitude towards learning is negative.
Teachers who are charismatic, fun and excited about class are needed by students, to create a love for learning. It is apart of teaching to be bothered by students, parents, deans, and heads of departments. I know I have been apart of classes and just wanted to get the best grade I could because the teacher was boring and didn’t want to waste of time. I want to be active in class, learn from experience, go on a trip and meet a person who can give advice and is interesting. Maybe the definition of learning we all have is different or maybe just wrong. The different styles of teaching needs to change, but how can it be done in a class of 500 plus? Is there a way to change the boring classes and invisible professors? The nonaggression act continues and will continue and eventually students won’t learn anything.
Chapter 12 Cheating
According to many studies, cheating by undergraduates has reached epidemic levels, but many faculty members at research universities don’t do anything about it.
Cheating has been a tradition at many universities and little discouragement is being done to short circuit cheating. In 1999, an authoritative poll stated that “three quarters of college students confess to cheating at least once.” It comes down to the question of why is cheating so widespread?
Before reading the chapter I thought about why students would cheat. I believe students cheat because they don’t care to learn the material presented to them in a boring lecture. Any many universities I feel teachers give work out or give exams that can be easily be obtained by outside sources such as cliff notes, or other students who have passed along the tests year after year. These are my thoughts on why. After reading the chapter I was a little close, but there was more detail.
In the 1990’s studies on the issue of cheating was concluded from a survey of thirteen thousand undergraduate students. “A major factor determining whether a student will cheat or not is the academic culture of the specific institution that he or she attends.” Students who attend large universities who are in large lecture courses with distant, frigid, or inexperienced professors, or a TA, tend to cheat. One of the reasons is contempt for a contemptible system. A Michigan State sophomore described how he studied. “Rarely attended, bought lecture notes from an off campus service, and cheated on papers and exams. It’s an eye for an eye, it’s my insults for the school’s insults.” The student cheats because he feels his professors and the school is cheating him out of an education due to the professors and other faculty being inattentive and inaccessible.
I agree with the student’s complaint of a professor who is unreachable and is lazy. Why would a student want to listen to a professor talk about the interesting material in the most boring way class after class and not learning anything? As I said in the last blog, the teaching methods are mind-numbing and need to be changed.
The students who cheat are in classes with hundreds of students. It is easy to cheat. When a student respects and knows his professor personally the student is less likely to cheat. Every student can and should act as a responsible and ethical individual. However, the neglect of undergraduate programs by research universities can explain the large amount of students cheating. Basically, professors and many other people don’t want to deal with students who cheat. Said by professors, “it is too much effort.”
A professor is quoted at the University of Texas saying, “We [professors] are smart, you [undergraduates] are stupid. We lecture, you take notes.” This is an example of how professors at Big-time universities feel about undergraduates. A negative and condescending remark made by a person who “teaches.” It is crazy to want to learn after a comment like that. It still boggles my mind to why professors don’t care about undergraduates. There are many young students who are talented and have lots of potential but is wasted because a professor feels he is wasting his time. I’m disgusted, appalled to read how professors feel and treat other students.
The author then brings the cheating back to sports and athletes for a little bit. The thought of a student or a tutor would help an athlete cheat. Many of the interviews and quotes from students would help a star athlete get a good grade in class. There was a mixture of responses. Some said they would help the athlete study but not cheat. Others said they could care less and let them fail. I feel either way the student athlete would get eligibility just because they are an athlete and how the system works. In many cases there is proof of tutors or TAs writing papers for athletes and the school is directly responsible for cheating. “A tutor for the University of Minnesota revealed that she had written over 400 papers for 20 varsity men’s basketball players between 1993 and 1998.” Another incident at Minnesota happened when a tutor composed papers, take home exams, and was encouraged and rewarded by the athletic department. It is suspicious and many professors realize it but brush it off because nothing can really be done.
Some athletes say they have an excuse for cheating. Many of the young athletes spend 40 to 50 hours a week with their sport and have no time or energy to study. But do they have a right to cheat? Does anyone feel guilty? The athletic departments order the tutors to keep the jocks eligible any way they can. Other critics say the athletes are victims who are apart of a complex and exploitative system.
The reasons why athletes and other students cheat are very complicated, but there are many student athletes who do not cheat, some honest undergraduates do exist.
Chapter 12 about cheating is very deep and detailed and is my favorite chapter yet. I was very interested about what the author discovered based upon the studies done and what student were saying about the schools and professors. There were many points I agreed with. I felt this chapter opened up a lot of ideas for me and brought me to both sides of the stories for athletes and other students on a college campus. It is an interesting topic and would like to read more about it.
Cheating has been a tradition at many universities and little discouragement is being done to short circuit cheating. In 1999, an authoritative poll stated that “three quarters of college students confess to cheating at least once.” It comes down to the question of why is cheating so widespread?
Before reading the chapter I thought about why students would cheat. I believe students cheat because they don’t care to learn the material presented to them in a boring lecture. Any many universities I feel teachers give work out or give exams that can be easily be obtained by outside sources such as cliff notes, or other students who have passed along the tests year after year. These are my thoughts on why. After reading the chapter I was a little close, but there was more detail.
In the 1990’s studies on the issue of cheating was concluded from a survey of thirteen thousand undergraduate students. “A major factor determining whether a student will cheat or not is the academic culture of the specific institution that he or she attends.” Students who attend large universities who are in large lecture courses with distant, frigid, or inexperienced professors, or a TA, tend to cheat. One of the reasons is contempt for a contemptible system. A Michigan State sophomore described how he studied. “Rarely attended, bought lecture notes from an off campus service, and cheated on papers and exams. It’s an eye for an eye, it’s my insults for the school’s insults.” The student cheats because he feels his professors and the school is cheating him out of an education due to the professors and other faculty being inattentive and inaccessible.
I agree with the student’s complaint of a professor who is unreachable and is lazy. Why would a student want to listen to a professor talk about the interesting material in the most boring way class after class and not learning anything? As I said in the last blog, the teaching methods are mind-numbing and need to be changed.
The students who cheat are in classes with hundreds of students. It is easy to cheat. When a student respects and knows his professor personally the student is less likely to cheat. Every student can and should act as a responsible and ethical individual. However, the neglect of undergraduate programs by research universities can explain the large amount of students cheating. Basically, professors and many other people don’t want to deal with students who cheat. Said by professors, “it is too much effort.”
A professor is quoted at the University of Texas saying, “We [professors] are smart, you [undergraduates] are stupid. We lecture, you take notes.” This is an example of how professors at Big-time universities feel about undergraduates. A negative and condescending remark made by a person who “teaches.” It is crazy to want to learn after a comment like that. It still boggles my mind to why professors don’t care about undergraduates. There are many young students who are talented and have lots of potential but is wasted because a professor feels he is wasting his time. I’m disgusted, appalled to read how professors feel and treat other students.
The author then brings the cheating back to sports and athletes for a little bit. The thought of a student or a tutor would help an athlete cheat. Many of the interviews and quotes from students would help a star athlete get a good grade in class. There was a mixture of responses. Some said they would help the athlete study but not cheat. Others said they could care less and let them fail. I feel either way the student athlete would get eligibility just because they are an athlete and how the system works. In many cases there is proof of tutors or TAs writing papers for athletes and the school is directly responsible for cheating. “A tutor for the University of Minnesota revealed that she had written over 400 papers for 20 varsity men’s basketball players between 1993 and 1998.” Another incident at Minnesota happened when a tutor composed papers, take home exams, and was encouraged and rewarded by the athletic department. It is suspicious and many professors realize it but brush it off because nothing can really be done.
Some athletes say they have an excuse for cheating. Many of the young athletes spend 40 to 50 hours a week with their sport and have no time or energy to study. But do they have a right to cheat? Does anyone feel guilty? The athletic departments order the tutors to keep the jocks eligible any way they can. Other critics say the athletes are victims who are apart of a complex and exploitative system.
The reasons why athletes and other students cheat are very complicated, but there are many student athletes who do not cheat, some honest undergraduates do exist.
Chapter 12 about cheating is very deep and detailed and is my favorite chapter yet. I was very interested about what the author discovered based upon the studies done and what student were saying about the schools and professors. There were many points I agreed with. I felt this chapter opened up a lot of ideas for me and brought me to both sides of the stories for athletes and other students on a college campus. It is an interesting topic and would like to read more about it.
Chapter 13 Undergraduate Education Triage: Honors Program Lifeboats
While the undergraduate suffers from bad teachers and oversized classes the honors program at many universities sit comfortably in classes of 25 people, developing and articulating their own perspectives. It was said by Dr. Joan Digby, editor of Peterson’s Honor’s Programs that honors class’s help students mature intellectually and prepare them to engage in their own explorations and research.
It has been said numerous times throughout the chapter that honors programs “empowers students to see themselves as generators of knowledge rather than as passive transmitters,” taking notes and regurgitating information on exams. In the honors courses students create and learn knowledge, not memorizing facts to write on a test.
The same ideas have been thrown around through out the chapter. The author is giving many examples of the way the honors programs at many universities are “special,” meaning they have benefits and privileges in a way. Honors students are better students because they get the personal direction from a full time faculty member, who actually cares about teaching and the students. The teachers are usually specially selected and have won teacher awards, who encourage a interactive class atmosphere.
So what happens to the undergraduate programs with 500 students in a class room with an idiot professor? They are left sitting hopeless and are lost in a sea of thousands of other students in the same situation. An honors student at the University of Texas makes a comment about his experiences in the honors program:
“I have many privileges here which make my undergraduate education particularly strong. But I hear awful stories…about (non honors students) poor advising, about being signed up for the wrong courses, wasting whole semesters and years not fulfilling graduation requirement. It sounds grim, and I’m thankful that I have a great faculty advisor.”
This comment from the honors student exemplifies the way undergraduate and honors students compare. But they really don’t. As money goes to the honors programs and none to the undergraduate programs the inevitable will happen. Undergrads will not learn much of anything and will rot away unless something drastic is changed within the system of undergraduate education.
I was thinking about all the ideas in the chapter and realize that students don’t have a lot attention in undergrad programs, but if one wants to really learn and succeed they will find a way to do it. One can learn the skills of writing, speech and many other skills by joining a club or organization. One has to be motivated to do well for himself. Once the mindset of a person is focused then it is only a matter of time that they accomplish their goal.
It has been said numerous times throughout the chapter that honors programs “empowers students to see themselves as generators of knowledge rather than as passive transmitters,” taking notes and regurgitating information on exams. In the honors courses students create and learn knowledge, not memorizing facts to write on a test.
The same ideas have been thrown around through out the chapter. The author is giving many examples of the way the honors programs at many universities are “special,” meaning they have benefits and privileges in a way. Honors students are better students because they get the personal direction from a full time faculty member, who actually cares about teaching and the students. The teachers are usually specially selected and have won teacher awards, who encourage a interactive class atmosphere.
So what happens to the undergraduate programs with 500 students in a class room with an idiot professor? They are left sitting hopeless and are lost in a sea of thousands of other students in the same situation. An honors student at the University of Texas makes a comment about his experiences in the honors program:
“I have many privileges here which make my undergraduate education particularly strong. But I hear awful stories…about (non honors students) poor advising, about being signed up for the wrong courses, wasting whole semesters and years not fulfilling graduation requirement. It sounds grim, and I’m thankful that I have a great faculty advisor.”
This comment from the honors student exemplifies the way undergraduate and honors students compare. But they really don’t. As money goes to the honors programs and none to the undergraduate programs the inevitable will happen. Undergrads will not learn much of anything and will rot away unless something drastic is changed within the system of undergraduate education.
I was thinking about all the ideas in the chapter and realize that students don’t have a lot attention in undergrad programs, but if one wants to really learn and succeed they will find a way to do it. One can learn the skills of writing, speech and many other skills by joining a club or organization. One has to be motivated to do well for himself. Once the mindset of a person is focused then it is only a matter of time that they accomplish their goal.
Chapter 14 Cheap Beer: The Oxygen of the Greek System
Everyone knows that college is an environment of drugs and alcohol, where many students are on their own for the first time and want to experiment. But at many big universities, there have been fraternities who transcend the regular party scene. Many frats copy the movie Animal House consisting of drunk, rude womanizing morons in a decrepit, sloppy house on campus. These types of groups cause a lot of harm to the school and the students. Throughout the 1990’s, binge drinking became a national issue and one of the main causes everyone was talking about were the Greek Organizations. It came to the idea that fraternities can’t exist without drinking but it would never happen due to the fact that mayhem would be raised if a ban was put into action. It would be like the 1920s during the prohibition era.
Due to increased binge drinking, many students have died because of excessive drinking at fraternity houses. The death of a Louisiana State University student from alcohol poisoning calls attention to the irresponsible and destructive behavior associated with college fraternities. A 19 year old Indiana University student choked to death on his vomit after drinking alcohol at a party at his fraternity. These are examples from the book showing how fraternities have been responsible for deaths of students because of excessive drinking at the frat houses. But is it all the fraternity’s fault? I know ECSU provides alcohol awareness to the students before they even come to Eastern as freshman and have programs at student orientation, also a strict policy in housing. Students need to understand and learn how to be responsible as well, and help each other in situations like the examples provided.
As a Resident Assistant at the ECSU campus I have been involved in documenting residents in alcohol incidents. It is very serious when student put themselves in vulnerable situations on and off campus. The other week a young girl had to be transported by the ambulance because she was “dumb drunk.” She couldn’t walk, talk, and she hit her head. Watching a girl unable to function being carried off on a stretcher is very serious and eye opening. A person, especially a female, can put themselves in very difficult situations and can be sexually assaulted and ruin a person’s life.
Binge drinking is a very serious issue and it is almost impossible to stop. I feel the only thing a college can do about it is control the problem by intervention of some sort or create awareness on becoming a responsible drinker and keeping everyone as safe as possible. Or maybe a near death experience can do the job as well.
Due to increased binge drinking, many students have died because of excessive drinking at fraternity houses. The death of a Louisiana State University student from alcohol poisoning calls attention to the irresponsible and destructive behavior associated with college fraternities. A 19 year old Indiana University student choked to death on his vomit after drinking alcohol at a party at his fraternity. These are examples from the book showing how fraternities have been responsible for deaths of students because of excessive drinking at the frat houses. But is it all the fraternity’s fault? I know ECSU provides alcohol awareness to the students before they even come to Eastern as freshman and have programs at student orientation, also a strict policy in housing. Students need to understand and learn how to be responsible as well, and help each other in situations like the examples provided.
As a Resident Assistant at the ECSU campus I have been involved in documenting residents in alcohol incidents. It is very serious when student put themselves in vulnerable situations on and off campus. The other week a young girl had to be transported by the ambulance because she was “dumb drunk.” She couldn’t walk, talk, and she hit her head. Watching a girl unable to function being carried off on a stretcher is very serious and eye opening. A person, especially a female, can put themselves in very difficult situations and can be sexually assaulted and ruin a person’s life.
Binge drinking is a very serious issue and it is almost impossible to stop. I feel the only thing a college can do about it is control the problem by intervention of some sort or create awareness on becoming a responsible drinker and keeping everyone as safe as possible. Or maybe a near death experience can do the job as well.
Chapter 15 Drinking Off-Campus and Far Off-Campus (Spring Break)
This chapter attempted to take the reader on a tour of bar hopping through college towns and spring break locations. It shows the reader that many students drink to their capacity and beyond encouraged by large corporations and a multitude of small businesses who benefit from student drinking. My question is, has college become a breeding ground for alcoholics and ridiculous partying? Are the universities anti alcohol campaigns just being said to calm down parents of students and concerned government officials? Is there any sincerity towards the change of undergraduate behavior?
Students across the country remember college as a time of partying and obnoxious drinking. It seems like everyone is involved and knows it is going on around campus. It doesn’t make any sense when so many underage students are on campus and there are so many advertisements for beer and liquor. Corporate America continuously promotes alcohol than it does tobacco, and with “marketing strategies more pernicious and effective.” Some bars in college towns know students are underage and don’t care. A bar manager explained why: “It’s capitalism in action. Running a bar in a college town is a very competitive business…lots of kids who can’t get into other places start showing up and pay full price for drinks.” It is true and it happens at many schools across the country. Especially in the summer when students go home for the summer, bars let anyone in to get a little bit of money.
Bars or clubs also have themes nights, such as ladies night, a night of for the females to have everything for free, such as cover charge and discounted drinks. The guys pack into the bar and pay full price, and food is sold at high prices, plus the bar or club gets a reputation of a happening place. Money, money, money.
The chapter talks about all the partying and it is making me sick. It kind of makes me think of some of the things my friends and I have done and placed myself in bad situations. Luckily I have learned my lessons and now know what is important. The author I feel is biased and has one side of the story. What else do students do beside drink to keep themselves away? Is Miami Florida the only destination place where students go? There must be some positive things about college. I understand the author is trying to get his point across but I am beginning to believe that all college is a party for four years. Maybe it is to some people but this chapter just set me off, annoying me and bothering me. The author barely touched on sports in this chapter, very lightly, talking about how college is a drunk fest. The last few chapters have become repetitive and the same ideas and concepts are coming up. It just emphasizes more in detail and stories told by students how they drink a lot. I hope the next chapter is better.
Students across the country remember college as a time of partying and obnoxious drinking. It seems like everyone is involved and knows it is going on around campus. It doesn’t make any sense when so many underage students are on campus and there are so many advertisements for beer and liquor. Corporate America continuously promotes alcohol than it does tobacco, and with “marketing strategies more pernicious and effective.” Some bars in college towns know students are underage and don’t care. A bar manager explained why: “It’s capitalism in action. Running a bar in a college town is a very competitive business…lots of kids who can’t get into other places start showing up and pay full price for drinks.” It is true and it happens at many schools across the country. Especially in the summer when students go home for the summer, bars let anyone in to get a little bit of money.
Bars or clubs also have themes nights, such as ladies night, a night of for the females to have everything for free, such as cover charge and discounted drinks. The guys pack into the bar and pay full price, and food is sold at high prices, plus the bar or club gets a reputation of a happening place. Money, money, money.
The chapter talks about all the partying and it is making me sick. It kind of makes me think of some of the things my friends and I have done and placed myself in bad situations. Luckily I have learned my lessons and now know what is important. The author I feel is biased and has one side of the story. What else do students do beside drink to keep themselves away? Is Miami Florida the only destination place where students go? There must be some positive things about college. I understand the author is trying to get his point across but I am beginning to believe that all college is a party for four years. Maybe it is to some people but this chapter just set me off, annoying me and bothering me. The author barely touched on sports in this chapter, very lightly, talking about how college is a drunk fest. The last few chapters have become repetitive and the same ideas and concepts are coming up. It just emphasizes more in detail and stories told by students how they drink a lot. I hope the next chapter is better.
Chapter 16 Party Round the Team
In the late 1990’s Donna Shalala, U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, had offered her suggestions on loosening the beer and circus escapade at the annual NCAA convention. She suggested that a collaborative action was necessary and universities can’t do it by themselves. But stopping drinking all together is impossible to do especially when many students are dependent on alcohol. “I have a lot of friends who won’t go out with me if it doesn’t involve alcohol.” It is so complicated to act upon the issues at college campuses because the students are so complicated themselves, who are still exploring and experimenting with each other and things.
College professors subjected to changing and rescheduling classes because students because students don’t come to class on certain days because they were partying the night before. Many students start their weekends Thursday and don’t end until late Sunday night. So Friday and Monday classes are washed out. It is proven from studies that excessive drinking is due to Greek Fraternities and College sports. The only way to end binge drinking is to end all the things that influence it and that will never happen.
The rest of the chapter was student comments in interviews and their responses to the questionnaire for the book. They are a continuation of how college sports are related to drinking and the devotion to beer and circus, and that is the difference between a school being a high binge or low binge institution.
College professors subjected to changing and rescheduling classes because students because students don’t come to class on certain days because they were partying the night before. Many students start their weekends Thursday and don’t end until late Sunday night. So Friday and Monday classes are washed out. It is proven from studies that excessive drinking is due to Greek Fraternities and College sports. The only way to end binge drinking is to end all the things that influence it and that will never happen.
The rest of the chapter was student comments in interviews and their responses to the questionnaire for the book. They are a continuation of how college sports are related to drinking and the devotion to beer and circus, and that is the difference between a school being a high binge or low binge institution.
Chapter 17 Rally Round the Team—As Long as it Wins and Covers the Spread
This chapter examines the mind set of student fans who bet on college sport teams. The author describes betting on college campuses is just as bad as drinking and drug abuse. Gambling has been an overseen issue and not many studies have been done to determine what should be done.
A former bookmaker, with ties to organized crime explains that college kids bet everything. Usually the bettor is a clever frat boy who gets pumped up by betting on the teams. It is socially acceptable and many people think nothing of it. But it’s risky and can cost a person’s life financially and even more.
There are more than just students betting on games. It is also the athletes who are involved. “More than 5% of football and men’s basketball players have either given inside information to gamblers, bet on games in which they played or [have] shaved points. Also, 72% of athletes had gambled in various other forms.” This shows that athletes might miss a jump shot or the quarterback might throw an interception just to gain some cash.
This is a loss of respect for the sport, the athlete and the coach. Students and athletes gambling is one more evil caused by today’s American culture, and when the media and the public believe that games are fixed, the popularity of the sport declines. Betting on games undermines school spirit and many students all they care about is their bets. There have been games where fans were upset because the team didn’t cover the spread and booed the players.
It is very interesting to me when I read about issues that come from the influences of sport. The way people act because of sports is sometimes unbelievable. What people do for money and to win, for “fun,” and the way sports has corrupted society. Betting is an up and coming concern and just like alcohol, it seems everyone is involved. But the funny thing is that the money the students are betting is their parents’ money.
A former bookmaker, with ties to organized crime explains that college kids bet everything. Usually the bettor is a clever frat boy who gets pumped up by betting on the teams. It is socially acceptable and many people think nothing of it. But it’s risky and can cost a person’s life financially and even more.
There are more than just students betting on games. It is also the athletes who are involved. “More than 5% of football and men’s basketball players have either given inside information to gamblers, bet on games in which they played or [have] shaved points. Also, 72% of athletes had gambled in various other forms.” This shows that athletes might miss a jump shot or the quarterback might throw an interception just to gain some cash.
This is a loss of respect for the sport, the athlete and the coach. Students and athletes gambling is one more evil caused by today’s American culture, and when the media and the public believe that games are fixed, the popularity of the sport declines. Betting on games undermines school spirit and many students all they care about is their bets. There have been games where fans were upset because the team didn’t cover the spread and booed the players.
It is very interesting to me when I read about issues that come from the influences of sport. The way people act because of sports is sometimes unbelievable. What people do for money and to win, for “fun,” and the way sports has corrupted society. Betting is an up and coming concern and just like alcohol, it seems everyone is involved. But the funny thing is that the money the students are betting is their parents’ money.
Chapter 18 College Sports MegaInc
Chapter 18 examines the business side of college sports. The corporate people involved and the amount of money being made.
In the beginning of the chapter the author goes through all the expenses and amount of activities the NCAA or a University is involved in to get media attention. The authors also mentions the millions of dollars spent on athletic events such as Bowl games and Basketball tournaments. It is crazy how much money is spent and used for teams and their comfort. It seems like colleges make tons of money on college sports because of all of the TV coverage and deals made with NBC or CBS. One thinks the athletic department has an unlimited amount of money to do anything they want. But in reality a university loses money when they win a championship game or go to a bowl game.
Division 1 member annually lose millions of dollars as a result of their athletic department deficits and other negative college sport factors. One certain conclusion is that college sports is the most dysfunctional business in America. But no one ever focuses on this fact because the public hears how much money a college takes in from tournaments, and people conclude that “higher education doesn’t need their tax dollars or private contributions.” At most universities athletic departments making money is far from the truth.
Near the end of the chapter I like how the author again emphasizes the fact that college sports are very dysfunctional. The author goes into more detail about why many things the public thinks is true about sports telling the myth first then explaining the reality of it all. It is a surprising and interesting way to reveal it to the reader. The author reveals where a lot of the money goes and most of it used by the AD is wasted and spent lavishly on the team and personal favors.
The chapter exposes the most “tenacious” myth in American society, but it will never die.
In the beginning of the chapter the author goes through all the expenses and amount of activities the NCAA or a University is involved in to get media attention. The authors also mentions the millions of dollars spent on athletic events such as Bowl games and Basketball tournaments. It is crazy how much money is spent and used for teams and their comfort. It seems like colleges make tons of money on college sports because of all of the TV coverage and deals made with NBC or CBS. One thinks the athletic department has an unlimited amount of money to do anything they want. But in reality a university loses money when they win a championship game or go to a bowl game.
Division 1 member annually lose millions of dollars as a result of their athletic department deficits and other negative college sport factors. One certain conclusion is that college sports is the most dysfunctional business in America. But no one ever focuses on this fact because the public hears how much money a college takes in from tournaments, and people conclude that “higher education doesn’t need their tax dollars or private contributions.” At most universities athletic departments making money is far from the truth.
Near the end of the chapter I like how the author again emphasizes the fact that college sports are very dysfunctional. The author goes into more detail about why many things the public thinks is true about sports telling the myth first then explaining the reality of it all. It is a surprising and interesting way to reveal it to the reader. The author reveals where a lot of the money goes and most of it used by the AD is wasted and spent lavishly on the team and personal favors.
The chapter exposes the most “tenacious” myth in American society, but it will never die.
Chapter 19 College Sports MegaInc. Versus Undergraduate Education
Chapter 19 reveals how students truly feel about their Big Time Universities and how sports and undergraduate education compete with each other.
I love how the author involves real people and the studies he has done to make this book true and get real feelings from students who go to these universities. One comment I like is from a Clemson males senior talking about sports over education:
“Rooting for out teams teaches me a lot more than I’ve ever learned in the class. I’ve seen coaches and athletes do great things, and I’ve seen the same people cheat and steal. College sports has introduced me to the real world and, thanks to the Tigers, I’m ready to leave this place and enter that world.”
This comment is funny but disturbing because it shows how people can do something bad and get away with it. The actions done by the coaches and players create a false perception of how things work outside of college. The four years that student is in school he see’s administrators cheat and lie, I call that a bad influence.
When students come home from break and tell people where they go to college the first thing that comes out of someone’s mouth is about the sports team. All of the frequently asked questions from people about the coaches, famous players, and the chants at games. A student then complains about how new athletic facilities were put up right next to an undergraduate building with ceilings falling and old furniture. Also, questions about fraternity parties, such as kegs on the frat houses lawns during football weekend. “I hear that beer flows like water at Wisconsin.” It is interesting to read the questions that come from people. But the perceptions of the schools are given by the media and the many students who come back home to tell stories of the circus they go to instead of class. Sports and everything attached to it overshadows everything else at a university and if someone knows nothing about the school but knows everything about their basketball team then that will be the first thing that comes out of their mouth.
Students apply to schools where they thought they would get a good education but they find out that they have been ripped off and are extremely upset about it. A student at the University of Kansas felt lied to when she read in the Yale Insiders Guide that the school had a very good and serious architecture program. But she finds out her classes “suck” and K State is way down the list of good schools.
The undergraduate responses to the survey for this book indicate very shallow support for big-time college sports among a large part of the undergraduate population. The responses from students make me believe more that the issues of undergraduate programs are real and a big concern.
I love how the author involves real people and the studies he has done to make this book true and get real feelings from students who go to these universities. One comment I like is from a Clemson males senior talking about sports over education:
“Rooting for out teams teaches me a lot more than I’ve ever learned in the class. I’ve seen coaches and athletes do great things, and I’ve seen the same people cheat and steal. College sports has introduced me to the real world and, thanks to the Tigers, I’m ready to leave this place and enter that world.”
This comment is funny but disturbing because it shows how people can do something bad and get away with it. The actions done by the coaches and players create a false perception of how things work outside of college. The four years that student is in school he see’s administrators cheat and lie, I call that a bad influence.
When students come home from break and tell people where they go to college the first thing that comes out of someone’s mouth is about the sports team. All of the frequently asked questions from people about the coaches, famous players, and the chants at games. A student then complains about how new athletic facilities were put up right next to an undergraduate building with ceilings falling and old furniture. Also, questions about fraternity parties, such as kegs on the frat houses lawns during football weekend. “I hear that beer flows like water at Wisconsin.” It is interesting to read the questions that come from people. But the perceptions of the schools are given by the media and the many students who come back home to tell stories of the circus they go to instead of class. Sports and everything attached to it overshadows everything else at a university and if someone knows nothing about the school but knows everything about their basketball team then that will be the first thing that comes out of their mouth.
Students apply to schools where they thought they would get a good education but they find out that they have been ripped off and are extremely upset about it. A student at the University of Kansas felt lied to when she read in the Yale Insiders Guide that the school had a very good and serious architecture program. But she finds out her classes “suck” and K State is way down the list of good schools.
The undergraduate responses to the survey for this book indicate very shallow support for big-time college sports among a large part of the undergraduate population. The responses from students make me believe more that the issues of undergraduate programs are real and a big concern.
Chapter 20 Who Loves the Jocks?
Chapter 20 explains how undergraduates feel about college athletes at their schools. The benefits or special treatments the athletes get just because they are athletes creates hostility on campus. In the eyes of some regular undergraduates, they feel that some athletes come very close to the “dumb jock” stereotype. The interviews and questionnaires done by the author reveal resentment and cynicism about the admission of athletes into their schools.
Question - Should all intercollegiate athletes meet the same university entrance requirements as regular students?
Many of students agreed with the fact even if you’re and athlete you should meet all the same requirements that everyone else has to. Many of the undergrad students feel cheated or think it isn’t fair for an athlete to just walk in with horrible grades and SAT scores. A Georgetown University Junior offers an explanation: “I busted my ass in high school to get into this place, and I know that some of the basketball players here got almost half the SAT score I did…then again, our team would be terrible if only regular Georgetown students played.” The student is upset but at the same time doesn’t really care because the team wouldn’t be as good if it wasn’t for those “dumb jocks.” A lot of doublethink occurs when the students explain how they feel in this chapter about athletes getting all the things they want. They say they’re upset but at the same time go crazy when they see a star athlete from their team.
Some of the things athletes get are free unlimited tutoring and priority scheduling of classes. This might be the cause of the jealousy. One student said, “I can’t believe that schools will ever give the same assistance to regular students that they give athletes.” The responses on special admittance and academic perks for athletes reflect undergraduate attitudes to intercollegiate athletes in the abstract. But opinions were opposite when the celebrity of the player is brought up and becomes important, “triggering a doublethink response.” Regular undergrad students always complain about the athletes special deals, and then they turn around and tell you how excited they were when they saw the star athlete on the basketball team. The students have split personalities, talking bad about the players but become amazed when they meet them. The title of the chapter is “Who loves the Athletes?” The answer to that question is yes, no, maybe, sometimes all three reactions at once.
For whatever reason why the undergraduates have hostility towards athletes is really unknown. But the result of the chapter shows that many regular students have mixed feelings about the jocks, and essentially contradicts what everyone says sports does, and that is, creating school spirit. The author ends the chapter best by acknowledging the true meaning of big time sports which is student recruitment, retention, and alumni donations. The author leaves a thought with the reader wondering what those three things mean.
The chapter and essentially the whole book reveals all the myths about college sports and again it reveals how college athletes are really not liked by the students. The students are kind of fake and don’t care. Well that’s what I think.
Question - Should all intercollegiate athletes meet the same university entrance requirements as regular students?
Many of students agreed with the fact even if you’re and athlete you should meet all the same requirements that everyone else has to. Many of the undergrad students feel cheated or think it isn’t fair for an athlete to just walk in with horrible grades and SAT scores. A Georgetown University Junior offers an explanation: “I busted my ass in high school to get into this place, and I know that some of the basketball players here got almost half the SAT score I did…then again, our team would be terrible if only regular Georgetown students played.” The student is upset but at the same time doesn’t really care because the team wouldn’t be as good if it wasn’t for those “dumb jocks.” A lot of doublethink occurs when the students explain how they feel in this chapter about athletes getting all the things they want. They say they’re upset but at the same time go crazy when they see a star athlete from their team.
Some of the things athletes get are free unlimited tutoring and priority scheduling of classes. This might be the cause of the jealousy. One student said, “I can’t believe that schools will ever give the same assistance to regular students that they give athletes.” The responses on special admittance and academic perks for athletes reflect undergraduate attitudes to intercollegiate athletes in the abstract. But opinions were opposite when the celebrity of the player is brought up and becomes important, “triggering a doublethink response.” Regular undergrad students always complain about the athletes special deals, and then they turn around and tell you how excited they were when they saw the star athlete on the basketball team. The students have split personalities, talking bad about the players but become amazed when they meet them. The title of the chapter is “Who loves the Athletes?” The answer to that question is yes, no, maybe, sometimes all three reactions at once.
For whatever reason why the undergraduates have hostility towards athletes is really unknown. But the result of the chapter shows that many regular students have mixed feelings about the jocks, and essentially contradicts what everyone says sports does, and that is, creating school spirit. The author ends the chapter best by acknowledging the true meaning of big time sports which is student recruitment, retention, and alumni donations. The author leaves a thought with the reader wondering what those three things mean.
The chapter and essentially the whole book reveals all the myths about college sports and again it reveals how college athletes are really not liked by the students. The students are kind of fake and don’t care. Well that’s what I think.
Chapter 21 The New 3 R’s
In the 1990’s undergraduate enrollment and funding decreased. This allowed many universities to turn to professional consultants to tell them how to solve these major problems. The solution is the 3 R’s, which are recruitment, retention and renewal. This concept continues to drive big universities and it seems to have no relation to a better education. What happened to the old 3’R’s? Reading, ’riting, and ’rithmetic—this indicates how far some schools have drifted from their historic missions. The new R’s as always relate to money and shows there is no real value in undergraduate education.
The first R is recruitment. The university pays recruiters to get as many students interested in the school as possible, they are paid per body. The recruiters behave like college sport recruiters, getting around regular admission procedures and lying to the students just to get them in the school and to get paid. There are also so many strategies to keep students on campus to increase the retention rate, the second R, and increase the amount of tuition flowing. There is so much pressure to “win.” Institutions employ a retention formula which is to create a “warm community” on the campus. The students will become so attached to the school community that they won’t leave. They will graduate and then become generous alumni.
The third R is renewal and this has to do with alumni, where the money trail begins. Much of the money donated to the school from alumni isn’t even used for what its purpose, which is education. In reality much of the money from alumni goes to purchase seats at football and basketball games. “At schools where ticket demand outpaces supply, athletic departments call season tickets “priority” items, adding a large “priority” surcharge to the low face value of the seat and pricing the package as high as the market will bear.” Many alumni know that this happens and are resentful. Many schools use a high percentage of the money donated towards sports. A Minnesota Alumni makes a comment: “Minnesota was the meanest institution that I ever dealt with. It was large impersonal, authoritarian, and down right mean…I have given exactly $1 in the 20 years I have graduated.” The graduate of Minnesota is upset because he was treated badly and they expect money from him. He wished the sports teams’ good luck and makes a last comment: “I wish them well, but they have nothing to do with the academic parts of Minnesota and never have or will.” I think this graduate was one of the few who were smart and realized what the university was really about.
Universities mainly revolve around their athletic departments. They often compete with regular university development for dollars from the same alum. The athletic department always needs new and bigger facilities and will try to get wealthy graduates to pay for them after the alumni pay $250,000 for a sport facility they will have no desire to donate any money for an arts or science building.
One of the last things the author mentions about the schools is that universities realize that if they provide mainly beer and circus to their undergraduates, this “insubstantial diet will not build devoted alums, men and women whom the school can count on for ongoing contributions and support.” This makes me believe, again, that people are trying to just take money from you, for their own selfish reasons. They’ll take your money but won’t give you and education. Beer and some fun is all they can give. It is ridiculous to know something like this happens in out country to people who have no idea. The 3 R’s seem to flow into each other creating a cycle of money. So maybe people are right when they say the world is run by money.
The first R is recruitment. The university pays recruiters to get as many students interested in the school as possible, they are paid per body. The recruiters behave like college sport recruiters, getting around regular admission procedures and lying to the students just to get them in the school and to get paid. There are also so many strategies to keep students on campus to increase the retention rate, the second R, and increase the amount of tuition flowing. There is so much pressure to “win.” Institutions employ a retention formula which is to create a “warm community” on the campus. The students will become so attached to the school community that they won’t leave. They will graduate and then become generous alumni.
The third R is renewal and this has to do with alumni, where the money trail begins. Much of the money donated to the school from alumni isn’t even used for what its purpose, which is education. In reality much of the money from alumni goes to purchase seats at football and basketball games. “At schools where ticket demand outpaces supply, athletic departments call season tickets “priority” items, adding a large “priority” surcharge to the low face value of the seat and pricing the package as high as the market will bear.” Many alumni know that this happens and are resentful. Many schools use a high percentage of the money donated towards sports. A Minnesota Alumni makes a comment: “Minnesota was the meanest institution that I ever dealt with. It was large impersonal, authoritarian, and down right mean…I have given exactly $1 in the 20 years I have graduated.” The graduate of Minnesota is upset because he was treated badly and they expect money from him. He wished the sports teams’ good luck and makes a last comment: “I wish them well, but they have nothing to do with the academic parts of Minnesota and never have or will.” I think this graduate was one of the few who were smart and realized what the university was really about.
Universities mainly revolve around their athletic departments. They often compete with regular university development for dollars from the same alum. The athletic department always needs new and bigger facilities and will try to get wealthy graduates to pay for them after the alumni pay $250,000 for a sport facility they will have no desire to donate any money for an arts or science building.
One of the last things the author mentions about the schools is that universities realize that if they provide mainly beer and circus to their undergraduates, this “insubstantial diet will not build devoted alums, men and women whom the school can count on for ongoing contributions and support.” This makes me believe, again, that people are trying to just take money from you, for their own selfish reasons. They’ll take your money but won’t give you and education. Beer and some fun is all they can give. It is ridiculous to know something like this happens in out country to people who have no idea. The 3 R’s seem to flow into each other creating a cycle of money. So maybe people are right when they say the world is run by money.
Conclusion: What Should Happen Versus What Probably Will Happen
The book presents a detailed critique of how college sports have corrupted the current conditions at large, public research universities. The author raises two questions: Can the neglect of general undergraduate education end, and Can genuine reform come to big-time intercollegiate athletics? The answer to that is yes. These two questions then brings up two other questions: Are Big-time U’s willing to alter their values and internal cultures in order to change, and Is College Sports MegaInc. capable of downsizing and allowing the majority of athletes to gain meaningful educations?
The author explains that the aim of what should happen is to nourish the academic culture and “dampen” the collegiate subculture. The goal should be to decrease students who excessively binge drink to low binge drinking. The only way to do this is by deflating beer-and-circus at Big-time Universities. Major changes need to take place and for this to happen universities need to work together to help the student population instead of for their selfish needs. Let’s face it; the only reason many universities continues their undergraduate programs is for money! One high school teacher commented: “If these schools didn’t take kids from the bottom of the academic barrel, many schools would have to fire half their faculty and administrators; a few would have to shut down.” Universities seem very dependent on undergraduate students who shouldn’t be accepted, who take up space and time for other students. The only reason the university keeps them there is to take their money.
Through out the rest of the conclusion of the book the author comes up with detailed proposals about what should be done to solve problems at Big-time U’s. His proposals are:
First Proposal: Large, public research universities must slim down, losing millions of students and, in a trim mode, offer quality undergraduate education to all students who legitimately qualify for entrance.
Second Proposal: Universities should separate pure research from graduate programs.
Third Proposal: Hire, promote, and reward faculty primarily for teaching undergraduates, and very secondarily for research, with some of their research devoted to pedagogy.
Fourth Proposal: Abolish teaching methods that turn undergraduates into passive receptacles; emphasize interactive, inquiry-based learning.
Fifth Proposal: Require all undergraduates to attain a minimum score on the Graduate Record Exam before they receive their bachelor’s degrees.
Final Proposal: End athletic scholarships and allow only need-based grants.
These proposals would be great solutions to the problems of undergraduate programs and solve other issues that relate to it. But can it become a reality? Are schools willing to go back to old traditions of truly giving an education to students, to teach for the love of education? I don’t think it is realistic enough and not enough support will be giving to back it up, but maybe not yet.
“If the NCAA decided to reverse its history and end athletic scholarships, allowing only need-based grants, many other problems in big-time college sports would disappear; however, so would the quality of play, as well as the TV revenue for big-time college basketball and football games, for March Madness and the bowls. With the termination of athletic scholarships, the division III model would prevail, but how many fans would rush to their TV sets to watch an Oberlin versus Antioch basketball game?”
The quote from the author makes a good point. But I feel that it doesn’t seem likely that colleges would give up the quality of sports at their college, tv revenue and the beer and circus surrounding the event. The book presents good proposals of what should and can happen, but the author also reminds the reader that it takes time for things to change. This book was written in the year 2000 and it is now 2008. I believe that this book had a great impact on colleges across the country and has caused controversy and has forced some institutions to change their ways and reflect. I would like the see research for the amount of changes, if any, at big time universities mentioned in the book.
“Beer and Circus,” has been a great book and I have learned a great deal of information that is very helpful to know. I realize that I am very lucky to attend ECSU because the higher education being taught here is what the author believes in and supports. Many of the teachers are great, a new science building has been built and the president of the university has academic goals she is motivated to achieve. I realize why I am here at ECSU and it is to become a better person and to be educated. I am lucky to be surrounded by people who support and help me instead of beer and circus. Getting a higher education should be the primary reason for anyone to go to college.
The author explains that the aim of what should happen is to nourish the academic culture and “dampen” the collegiate subculture. The goal should be to decrease students who excessively binge drink to low binge drinking. The only way to do this is by deflating beer-and-circus at Big-time Universities. Major changes need to take place and for this to happen universities need to work together to help the student population instead of for their selfish needs. Let’s face it; the only reason many universities continues their undergraduate programs is for money! One high school teacher commented: “If these schools didn’t take kids from the bottom of the academic barrel, many schools would have to fire half their faculty and administrators; a few would have to shut down.” Universities seem very dependent on undergraduate students who shouldn’t be accepted, who take up space and time for other students. The only reason the university keeps them there is to take their money.
Through out the rest of the conclusion of the book the author comes up with detailed proposals about what should be done to solve problems at Big-time U’s. His proposals are:
First Proposal: Large, public research universities must slim down, losing millions of students and, in a trim mode, offer quality undergraduate education to all students who legitimately qualify for entrance.
Second Proposal: Universities should separate pure research from graduate programs.
Third Proposal: Hire, promote, and reward faculty primarily for teaching undergraduates, and very secondarily for research, with some of their research devoted to pedagogy.
Fourth Proposal: Abolish teaching methods that turn undergraduates into passive receptacles; emphasize interactive, inquiry-based learning.
Fifth Proposal: Require all undergraduates to attain a minimum score on the Graduate Record Exam before they receive their bachelor’s degrees.
Final Proposal: End athletic scholarships and allow only need-based grants.
These proposals would be great solutions to the problems of undergraduate programs and solve other issues that relate to it. But can it become a reality? Are schools willing to go back to old traditions of truly giving an education to students, to teach for the love of education? I don’t think it is realistic enough and not enough support will be giving to back it up, but maybe not yet.
“If the NCAA decided to reverse its history and end athletic scholarships, allowing only need-based grants, many other problems in big-time college sports would disappear; however, so would the quality of play, as well as the TV revenue for big-time college basketball and football games, for March Madness and the bowls. With the termination of athletic scholarships, the division III model would prevail, but how many fans would rush to their TV sets to watch an Oberlin versus Antioch basketball game?”
The quote from the author makes a good point. But I feel that it doesn’t seem likely that colleges would give up the quality of sports at their college, tv revenue and the beer and circus surrounding the event. The book presents good proposals of what should and can happen, but the author also reminds the reader that it takes time for things to change. This book was written in the year 2000 and it is now 2008. I believe that this book had a great impact on colleges across the country and has caused controversy and has forced some institutions to change their ways and reflect. I would like the see research for the amount of changes, if any, at big time universities mentioned in the book.
“Beer and Circus,” has been a great book and I have learned a great deal of information that is very helpful to know. I realize that I am very lucky to attend ECSU because the higher education being taught here is what the author believes in and supports. Many of the teachers are great, a new science building has been built and the president of the university has academic goals she is motivated to achieve. I realize why I am here at ECSU and it is to become a better person and to be educated. I am lucky to be surrounded by people who support and help me instead of beer and circus. Getting a higher education should be the primary reason for anyone to go to college.
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