Work hard, play hard?
Ally Klein
Issue date: 10/27/09 Section: Columns
One of the hardest things to do as a student is to balance work and fun. "Work hard, play hard" is the ideal mindset of a college student who makes the best of both the academic and the social atmosphere of college life. Easier said than done: to master both is unrealistic. Or at least it is at Denison.
Snag that 4.0 GPA, but make sure not to be tardy for the party three nights out of the week. Expectations for student leaders to get the best grades and be the most present in campus life and organizations is a double standard we face everyday.
It's easy for you students who have opted to be apathetic and not pursue any organization to better the university experience for the rest of us. Because of student apathy, that responsibility falls into the hands of too few. The students who don't take on any leadership roles in campus organizations have more time to dedicate to their academics and to themselves, naturally.
Why should our involvement in the betterment of this institution make us suffer? The University needs to re-evalute how they treat their student leaders.
Why can you sign up for an hour or two a week to do sound or costumes for a play and get two credits toward graduation, but the head of a DCA committee who spends, I'm sure, much more than an hour or two a week on the betterment of the greater good get nothing to compensate?
Why do varsity athletes get credit throughout the year toward graduation, but the the executive board of the University Programming Committee - who is just as dedicated to the school as a varsity player is to their team - get nothing, again, to compensate for all of their time and work?
Sure, the leaders on campus have that accomplished feeling of doing good for the community, but it's not as great when we see our GPA retreat slightly away from its highest potential for a job on campus that is essentially thankless.
Further, student leaders who are capable of making the Dean's List, never quite cut it because they make the decision to sacrifice a small portion of academia for involvement in campus organizations. I can't help but wonder if the administration took any of this into account a few years ago when they raised the required GPA for the Dean's List to an obscene 3.7.
Snag that 4.0 GPA, but make sure not to be tardy for the party three nights out of the week. Expectations for student leaders to get the best grades and be the most present in campus life and organizations is a double standard we face everyday.
It's easy for you students who have opted to be apathetic and not pursue any organization to better the university experience for the rest of us. Because of student apathy, that responsibility falls into the hands of too few. The students who don't take on any leadership roles in campus organizations have more time to dedicate to their academics and to themselves, naturally.
Why should our involvement in the betterment of this institution make us suffer? The University needs to re-evalute how they treat their student leaders.
Why can you sign up for an hour or two a week to do sound or costumes for a play and get two credits toward graduation, but the head of a DCA committee who spends, I'm sure, much more than an hour or two a week on the betterment of the greater good get nothing to compensate?
Why do varsity athletes get credit throughout the year toward graduation, but the the executive board of the University Programming Committee - who is just as dedicated to the school as a varsity player is to their team - get nothing, again, to compensate for all of their time and work?
Sure, the leaders on campus have that accomplished feeling of doing good for the community, but it's not as great when we see our GPA retreat slightly away from its highest potential for a job on campus that is essentially thankless.
Further, student leaders who are capable of making the Dean's List, never quite cut it because they make the decision to sacrifice a small portion of academia for involvement in campus organizations. I can't help but wonder if the administration took any of this into account a few years ago when they raised the required GPA for the Dean's List to an obscene 3.7.
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