GRADES
continued from page 12
;asier books, sign up for easier classes with professors
vho are less challenging or choose to do a project on a
' amiliar topic. Students make this choice rationally, in
)rder to minimize the chance of a poor performance.
iVith fewer students willing to take risks in their edu-
;ation, the personal evolution that comes along with
earning new things and taking on new challenges
joes by unnoticed.
During grade school and college, students learn to
analyze different perspectives and apply newly learned
theories to real-world experiences. By focusing so
much on a final grade, students quickly forget what
they learned in class, ready to move on to the next as
signment, the next test and the next class.
Success does not solely come from the A received
in a quantitative mathematics class. Success also
comes from the ability to remember what was learned
tin statistics and having the ability to apply those les-
jsons to everyday life.
Students with lower grades also tend to have lower
self-esteem, according to several studies publishe y
! the National Institute of Health.
Consistently low scores lessen overall motivation,
creating the impression on the student that they are no
, smart, not hard-working and incapable of performing
as well as their peers, according to the study.
The amount of emphasis placed on grades m the
American educational system pushes many students to
a point where they forget grades do not define them.
Learning in school has lost its appeal to students. The purpose of a college
education now seems to be a simple prerequisite for a stable job and income.
Everyone wants a good job and the ability to support their families, but some
students have forgotten most future employers will not care what grade they
earned for humanities.
Instead, students must remember self-definition comes
from any process undertaken, including education.
Self-definition remains one of the most undervalued
goals in a college education. Value now comes from
the number of “A’s” achieved, the diploma and the
amount offered in the paychecks following college.
Working hard will inevitably produce good grades,
but what is learned during the hard work put in for
those good grades can produce a feeling of accom
plishment that lasts a lifetime.
Learning in school has lost its appeal to students.
The purpose of a college education now seems to be a
simple prerequisite for a stable job and income.
Everyone wants a good job and the ability to support
their families, but some students have forgotten most
future employers will not care what grade they earned
for humanities. Employers want to know what chal
lenges you faced in school, how you managed those
challenges and what experiences changed, or identi
fied, you as a person.
College profoundly affects personal development
and growth, according to a psychological report pub
lished by the Education Resources Information Center.
Students, develop competence, personal integrity
and wholeness, establish identity and purpose, learn to
manage relationships and emotions and even develop
spirituality during college. None of the accomplish
ments found in the report had anything to do with
grades.
Good grades should not be viewed as the founda
tion for a successful future. Rather, students should
acknowledge the challenges they faced during college
and recognize the valuable lessons they learned by
facing those challenges.
Avoid getting stuck in the self-defeating cycle
believing good grades enables passing classes, which
leads to a diploma, which leads to a good job. Instead,
understand while hard work does create good grades,
hard work more importantly improves upon the self
Improving the self is tmly the ultimate goal of col
lege and life.
SODA
continued from page 12
argue for enormous corporations
that market unhealthy products
to a wide audience that includes
children. But soda consumers
cannot remain so lackadaisi
cal about their responsibility.
The companies should not be
punished because their custom-
ers have chosen to consume their
product in excess.
Their goal has always
selling as much soda as possible,
but their tactics have never been
malicious. It is the consum
ers who, out of laziness, have
convinced themselves it is OK to
drink entire 2-liters in one sitting
or have a Pepsi at breakfast.
Instead of resorting to drastic
measures, schools and parents
should begin teaching their
children better dieting behav
ior as early as possible, and
adult consumers should make
conscious efforts to make soda
an occasional treat instead of a
dietary staple.
To continue the way things are
going now will only raise a
eration of victims when we need
a generation proactive enough to
make lasting change.
MINORITY
continued from page 12
tion of schools in the 1960s to the fight
of human civil rights, all the way to the
failed war on drugs and public schools
damaging “zero-tolerance policy,” the
tragic national trend refers to a system
atic failure of public school curriculum
and political legislation, focusing on
criminalizing rather than educating.
The American Civil Liberties Union,
a human rights organization, targets
schools that enforce a “zero tolerance
policy,” or when law enforcement instead
of administrators handle school miscon
duct, resulting in the rise of suspensions,
expulsions and school-based arrests.
Suspension or expulsion of a student
may put that student at high risk. Many
come from single-parent homes and live
in poor social climates.
Students are then at-risk and more like
ly to end up in jail or prison. Due to lack
of money from the increasing privatiza
tion of prisons, education for juveniles
could be cut out of jail budgets.
In the 2012 fiscal year, the North Caro
lina Department of Juvenile Justice and
Delinquency Prevention is facing $15.5
million in spending puts, a 10 percent
decrease from its current $151 million
budget. These budget cuts could hurt the
allocation of money for education, treat
ment and mentoring.
Race and juvenile detention
- 84 percent of AlVican-.A.mericati students sav thev are
more fearful in schools with armed securitv ouards.
- African Americans make up onlv 20 percent of the total 11.S.
population, hut more than 13 percent of prison populations.
-The NC Department of juvenile justice and Delinquncv faces
more than S15 million in .spending cuts for the 2012 fiscal vear.
Infonnation courtesy of Youth Society, the U.S. Census and N.C. legislature
Students of color, typically African-
American students, are more likely to
be suspended or expelled, even arrested.
In 2003, African-American youth made
up 16 percent of the country’s overall
juvenile population, yet made up 45
percent of juvenile arrests according to
the ACLU.
Everyone must combat the school-
to-prison pipeline. Teachers, parents,
students, education advocates, state and
federal governments as well as local
school districts should be the foundations
for change.
In one Mississippi school district,
33 of every 1,000 children were either
arrested to sent to juvenile detention cen
ters, according to a recent report made by
the Advancement Project. Only 4 percent
of those law enforcement referrals were
for felony-like behavior. The majorities
were for “disorderly conduct,” such as
not adhering to a school’s dress code
Political legislators as well as state
governments should be mindful of bring
ing in armed security to public schools
where education has been pushed aside
for safety.