A Rant on College Education

I think that there are too many students in college who do not deserve to be here.  They went to high schools where they were able to make it through class because the teachers felt bad for them, knew them since they were “yay-high”, or because they were stars on athletic teams.  Then once they reach college, they still expect everyone to cater to their every needs.  They are the ones who bring the level of competition and respect down because they are the ones who ask to study with other people, not that they want or have anything to contribute to the group, but only because they want to learn the material for the tests even though they did not show up to any of the classes.  They are also the ones who love group projects because it means that they can just volunteer to print something out or find a completely useless piece of research and think that they have greatly contributed to the group and thus deserve a good grade.  In the end, it usually one or two people in the group have to do extra research and rewrite everything in order to make up for the lack of their partner’s assistance.  We have completely taken competition and respect out of classes. 

     Most college students have the mentality of “We’re paying for this so we can do whatever we want.”  But where has the respect and integrity of education gone?  Students copy each other’s homework and then get credit for it because they were “So busy” over the weekend, or “I was just too tired to get it done yesterday because I was so hung over”.  What are they going to do when they reach the working world?  Those of us in education cannot show up at school and tell our students, “We’re going to just be very quiet all day and color pictures because I have a horrible hangover.”  I understand that college students want to have fun and enjoy life because “There is no other time like this in our lives”, but I often want to smack them upside the head and tell them to grow up.  They are the ones who show up to class on Monday groaning about school and how much homework they have and I want to tell them to stop wasting everyone’s time and just quit school.  If they do not want to work for a degree, they should not be in school.  I believe that the quality of education needs to improve and that we need teachers who inspire and challenge students, but I also think that we should put more emphasis on helping individual students find their strengths and weaknesses and help them use them in the best way they can whether it means going to school for twelve years in order to get a degree in the medical field, or if it means taking over your father’s livestock because that is what you love and what you look forward to every Monday morning.

     We cannot expect the government to take care of our education issues here in America because that is neither the government’s responsibility, nor is it possible for them to see to the needs of every student.  It is because of people who blame everything on the government instead of taking responsabilty themselves that we have standardized tests that are the same for counties where English is spoken as a first language for the majority of students, as it is for counties where English is the second language.  No wonder the scores are going to be different.  The government cannot assess and help each student individually, nor should it.   It needs to start in our classrooms where we are doing everything we can to help each student, then to those who are in administrative positions at schools, then to educational county and state leaders, and finally to the government.  We as Americans need to start taking responsibility for our actions and not expecting the government to care for each and every one of us. 

Freedom?

“Tebow-mania” raises the question of whether religion can co-exist with public life in America.  The First Amendment states a law cannot be made for or against religion.  When the pilgrims first arrived on American soil, they were searching for a place where they could freely worship God without persecution for their beliefs.  The US government was based on Biblical standards because the majority of our founding father were Christian.  Since then, more than just Christians have moved to America and have brought their religions with them. We have now reached the point where politicians deny that the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights were based on Christian beliefs.  I understand that America is not considered a Christian nation anymore.  However, I have a hard time understanding why there is a need to deny a part of our history.

     Religion is an uncomfortable topic to discuss because offense is taken so easily.  However, religion is a huge part of most peoples’ lives whether it be belief in a God or gods, and the contrary of belief in no God.  When I started hearing students around me saying Tim Tebow should keep his religion private, I was incredibly disappointed and frustrated.  America was founded on freedom and if we have an issue with him loving his God, what kind of “free” nation have we become?

     When asked why he had to talk about how much he loved God everyday, Tebow answered, 

“If you're married, and you have a wife, and you really love your wife, is it good enough to only say to your wife 'I love her' the day you get married? Or should you tell her every single day when you wake up and every opportunity? And that's how I feel about my relationship with Jesus Christ is that it is the most important thing in my life.” - Tim Tebow in response to Jake Plummer’s  comments on his faith

 I understand critics who would rather religion stay out of athletics because they do not want to feel pressure.  Often when I am around someone who is kind and giving, it brings to light my own faults and makes me uncomfortable.  I think Tebow makes many uncomfortable because he is so confident in his beliefs and where he is headed after death.  It is sad to read comments on Facebook stating a hope for Tebow to fail in football and his faith.  Why can’t we be a nation who encourages strength in personal beliefs?

     I am a Christian and while I hope everyone can experience the joy and freedom I have found in Christ, I realize I cannot force my beliefs on anyone.  Although I have assurance in my faith and will try to help others find Christ like I have, I will always listen to other’s beliefs and will do my utmost to love them the same way Christ loved me even though we are different.  I am often a coward and feel I cannot share what I believe with those around me for fear that they will feel uncomfortable and will not act the same around me anymore.  I am so blessed to live in a country where I have freedom to worship my Lord and Savior and I hope to have the courage to continue to share my faith with others.

Introduction....

     I'm not really a writer, but when I have thoughts going crazy in my head (like any other good woman does...) the best way to get rid of them is to either write them down, or go running.  Seeing as it's a hot day and I am enjoying AC and coffee, I'm not going to run.  I am in the process of reading a book called "Third Culture Kids" in order to read about other people who have the same experiences as me.  Right before I graduated from high school, everyone told me, "It's going to be a hard adjustment.  America is a difficult place to get used to.  It won't seem like home."  When someone tells me it's going to be hard, I generally try to pretend as if it is easy.  And compared to some missionary kids, I really did have an easy adjustment back into life in "the States".  This book define's third culture kids (TCKs) as someone who has three cultures surrounding them.  They have their parent's culture, the culture surrounding them  (in my case, DRCongo (Zaire), Kenya, Congo (Brazaville), Central African Republic, South Africa, and Cameroon), and then the culture of their family melding the two cultures into a third.  So...Papa grew up in Congo as a TCK.  And I went to boarding school in a different country.  I've come to the conclusion that I am a fifth culture kid or something like that.  I have Papa's culture, Mama's culture, our family's culture, the Congolese culture, and then all that plus having to adjust to the Cameroonian culture.  Maybe I should write a book about it.
     When I first moved back to the States for college and people asked me where I was from, I would say Congo and they would look at me weird.  I quickly learned that most people don't know where Congo is...I had one girl ask me if it was in South America...  And this was at a small private college where there was a large group of international students. Now I go to a large state college and thouroughly enjoy telling people I grew up in Africa just for their facial expressions.  I usually then get asked, "wait, but you're white!" Yup.  Good job.  It used to really bother me when people were so ignorant about the world outside of America but then I began to realize how ignorant I was about America.  Freshman year I got accustomed to the phrase "What?!? You've never heard of ______!!!"  The blank was anything from a band to a restaurant to a football player.  It still blows my mind that people are surprised when I don't know everything about American football.  The reason it's called American football is because America is the only country that plays this sport...where people put on buttpads and knock each other over.  Not that I'm making fun of it...I actually started watching Sunday afternoon football this past year and even enjoyed it after my cousin explained there were different teams for offense and defense.  I was wondering why football teams were 100+ guys.  I learned that real quick when I got a job in the equipment room washing all the uniforms and practice uniforms for football, men and women's basketball, volleyball, track, softball, baseball, wrestling, and soccer.  So yeah, I know now there's 100+ football players on a team.
     But in all seriousness, adjusting back into American culture is a lot harder than most think.  I grew up knowing I was American.  I know all four verses to our national anthem.  I memorized the Declaration of Independence and the Gettysburg Address in fifth grade.  We always celebrated the fourth of July with great joy.  We ate hamburgers and hot dogs.  We made our own pizza.  We spoke "American" in our homes.  We watched American movies....four months after they had been released on DVD and made it out to Congo.  We listened to American music.  I knew I was American.  But then I came back my "home" country after only living there a max of 2 or 3 years combining all of our visits and realized I didn't know how to fit in.  I wanted to come back to my home country but instead I got asked, "What?? you've never heard of ________".  "If you grew up in Africa does that make you African American?"  And I've had to adjust to a new culture. I'm not complaining! I love America.  I love the morals that this beautiful country was based on.  I love America history...reading about the pilgrims who were being persecuted for their religious beliefs and decided to move to a new country and start a government based on freedom..run by the people.  I am very involved in politics and I now know about football players and restaurants and bands but I still love Africa.  I still love talking about Africa.  So...that's what I'm going to do.  I'm going to ramble about how an African redneck (nanga) is fitting into life in Colorado.