Arts & Life — The Clarion — November 18,2005
Student Spotlight:
Junior Molly Carlson ready for winter break
Molly Carlson, 20, of
Pittsboro, North Carolina is an
art major here at Brevard Col
lege. Carlson is also a junior. She
enjoys painting, riding horses,
drinking coffee, riding her bike
around town, and people watch
ing.
How did you hear about
Brevard and what's made you
stay here so long?
I found Brevard online after
taking a test to match me with
schools I would like.
I have stayed because I like the
art department, I have made great
friends and I feel like I should
commit to one place.
Recently you had to deal with
some personal vandalism on
campus, can you tell me what
happened?
I had my car parked along
with about 5 others in front of
the gym. it looked like someone
had come through with a bat and
smashed all the mirrors off the
cars. Some people had windows
smashed out.
Do you feel the school should
be held accountable?
Yes! 1 pay money every year
to park here. Part of my tuition
pays security. I would assume
that security could catch a huge
disturbance in central part of
campus. Furthermore, if the col
lege knows who did it, those stu
dents should be accountable. I
am not fortunate enough to
have insurance on my car so I
had to pay those damages out
of pocket.
iVhat do you feel are some
strengths and weaknesses of
Brevard College?
The strength of Brevard
College is in it’s faculty We have
amazing instructors here that
actually care. They are edu
cated, interesting people that will
go the extra mile to help us learn.
The weaknesses lie in certain
staff departments. I have had too
many experiences with nonre-
sponsive, and condescending
staff. Also why is it so easy to
get away with murder here? Isn’t
it their job to make Brevard a
better place for the students?
How are you feeling now that
exams are right around the cor
ner?
I am so relieved. I can’t wait
to have a break. For once 1 have
gotten work done ahead of time
so I am not too stressed out right
now.
What did you do over winter
break?
I spent time with my family
near Boston, for Christmas. I
was home for a short amount of
time, with my mom and brother.
But most of my time was spent
in Chicago with my boyfriend
Ryan.
What classes are you looking
forward to next semester?
Painting IV and hopefully 1
will get into Intro to Film
What s the last song you played
in your car?
Grandaddy, “Now It’s On”.
~ Matt's Take
Reading essential to the future of our country
by Matt Rutherford
Arts & Life Editor
How many books, maga
zines, or newspapers have you
read lately? I hear from quite a
few of the people in our age
group that they haven’t read a
full novel since high school.
Writing and, more importantly,
reading to our generation
seems to be one of the more
underappreciated arts and pas
times.
The benefits of reading
are pretty obvious: you’ll build
a strong vocabulary, you won’t
be “that choppy reader” in
class, and, overall, you will in
crease your abilities in writing
and intelligence. The intelli
gence bit should make you
guys at least pick up a newspa
per.
According to
Americasdebate.com, over 70%
of the women in the United
States alone feel that intelligence
is attractive. So picking up some
piece of literature will not only
increase your knowledge, but
also you might just be lucky
enough to snag that hottie in
your English class.
On a more serious note,
Americans as a whole simply do
not read enough. Our reading
skills are in a great decline be
cause of this fact.
Here are some statistics from
about reading in America: more
than 17.5% of the nation’s chil
dren—about 10 million chil-
‘li'en—will encounter reading
problems in the crucial first three
years of their schooling, accord
ing to the National Reading
Panel Progress Report in 2000;
approximately 75% of students
identified with reading problems
in the third grade are still read
ing disabled in the 9th grade;
students in the bottom 25% of
the reading continuum have a
trajectory of progress that di
verges early from their peers
who have learned to read suc
cessfully; proficient readers re
main a minority; 50% of 4th
grade students whose parents
graduated from college were
proficient / advanced compared
to only 10% of 4th graders
whose parents did not finish
high school; lower income and
minority students lose signifi
cantly greater literacy skills in
the summer than students
from higher income families.
All of these statistics come
from the National Assessment
of Educational Progress
(NAEP).
This situation is both sad
and dangerous. Not to sound
cliche but our children are the
future, and if their educa
tional, speaking, and reading
skills are not up to par, what is
our country going to be re
duced to?
We are in desperate need
of some type of rectification
to this problem. So if you hear
someone younger than your
self complaining about read
ing, remind them of why it is
important, and who they will
become: our future.