The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

Page 4 'bL 3 :ls§ue 7 Feb. 16, 1994c Why students fell short BY JEN GOODllURNE LAYour-EnrroR EmwR's NOTE: This is part two of a three part series deal- ing with the poor academic achievement of students during the fall 1993 semester. The in- strnctors who took time to contribute their virnpoints did so out of concern and with the hope of helping to solve the problem. The fact that more students got lower grades than usual dur- ing the fall '93 semester has been well established. But the ques- tion remains ... Why? "We know that generations of people are different," offered Roger Phillips, English instruc- tor. "We're looking at a view of the world that is different in this group of students than we've ever seen before. They stopped laughing at my jokes three years ago. Now I saw that as a sign of my age, but also it was a sign of a radical change in cul- tural literacy. They have different cultural references than we had, so they don't laugh at the same things." Poor prospects in the job market may he contributing to the lull in student achievement. If students feel little hope of finding work once out of school, they may not apply themselves in the classroom. "By the same token, they don't value the same things,' added Phillips. "This is also a generation that is looking at last year's college graduates, and ev- erything they hear on the news is that those people can't find jobs." "This attitude that's driven by the lack of job opportunity affects primarily the brighter stu- dents who are aware of it. I'm not sure that most students are even aware of what the job mar- ket is," said Keith Titus. Titus felt that the problem may instead be generated by a reluc9nce to give up being a teenager. "Why the hell would you want to give up this world where things are given to you, where you can be irresponsible?" ACC's policy of dropping classes was targeted as a vehicle for students who don't want to face responsibility. The system allows a student to drop a cla:,s up to the last day before finals are taken. Once a class is dropped, a grade will not be given; there- fore if a student is failing a class and drops it, the failing grade is erased from his record. "What we've taken away from them with the drop policy is the ability to fail," said Titus. According to Phillips, the drop policy has other implica- tions. "They are delaying -- perhaps adulthood as well -- but they are delaying their exit from this institution, and their gradu- ation. Probably what they are doing is hiding their time be- cause they know that until things change economically, they're not going to have a whole lot of hope anyway." Jim Miesen, English in- structor, focused more on an individual basis. "There are more aimless people. Without a goal or an aim, you can't work -- you're in limbo. Look at the number of people who declare their major as undecided/un- known. It seems to increase all the time." In the personal writing of students, Phillips notes an un- usually high degree of depression. "I see much more depression about what kinds of families they can build, family situations that are very depress- ing to them, and they are very unhappy. That depression, l thin~,' is all part of the pack- age Another potential contribu- tor to the lack of student accomplishment is television. The obvious problem is the use of time. But time spent staring at a screen instead of studying is not the only problem. "You sit down and you watch a program that is severed into little pieces, so that you can pay attention for a few minutes and then go get a sandwich and not miss anything. You don't have to make any effort to be involved in it or understand it because everything is given to you at ahout a third grade level," said Titus. Music videos and commer- cials flash bits of information at a high rate of speed, roughly two to three seconds apiece. The result is a shorter attention span. Student~ may find it hard to con- centrate for a full forty minute lecture. Before a solution may be offered, the cause of the prob- lem must he identified. Poor grades show up in the hooks, but the reasons behind the grades can only be surmised. These instructor's comment~ certainly provide food for thought. In the last issue of The Polemic, a poll was in- cluded with part one of the series dealing with poor academic achievement at ACC during the fall '93 semester. Students were asked to share, anonymously, the reasons why they received poor grades. The response was underwhelming. Only three people took the time to return our poll. As Keith Titus, speech instructor, said of the stu- dents, "They just don't seem to care." It looks like he's got them pegged. The three that we did get were interesting: Grade Received: E Whose Faul.t? Mine. Did you seek help at the Learning Center? No Grade would've been higher if: I'd gone to class & studied more. Comment: "I was simply not motivated ... I didn't care -- I did what I wanted and I'm paying now." 20 FREE MUNCHKINS® UDNUTNllEIIUTS when you buy 45 !~~~.~~Ins· at regular price DUNKIN' DONUTS® L--------.1 Grade Received: E Whose Fault? Instructor's, Class Size Did you seek help at the Learning Center? Yes. Grade woul.d'Ye been higher if: I'd gone to class & studied more Comment: "IfthePhy. Science class was split into two sections I would have passed and my instructor could have spent more time with his class." CH AO S by ar,an Shuster Grade Received: A- Whose Fault? Mine. Did you seek help at the Learning Center? Yes. Grade would've been higher if: I'd studied more. Comment: "We come to school to study & learn; whether the instructor is good or bad doesn't matter. It's our job to work hard for the grade. The grade you get, you deserve." "Apparently, some kids hooked up your grandmother's pacemaker lo The Clapper." ,, Polemic cartoonist Carol Burns has drawn lf:Irtr;i:-;m(Pie~ Prim')- 7 this caricature of an ACC professor as part of a I I contest. If you can identify this instructor, please I Your Guess: I fill out the included entry form and drop it off at I N,moc I The Polemic_ office _by 5:00 p.m. on March 2, / Add<essc / 1994. The winner will be selected at random and I I notified on March 3. He/she will receive a free I _ ____ I extra value meal, courtesy of McDonald's® Res-: Phone: _ _____ / taurant of Alpena. L _________ _J Greenwood places in state-wide contest BY ScOTI REED STAFF WRITER essay contest she entered last se- mester. The essay, a touching piece Rachel Greenwood, a stu- about Rachel's mother's battle dent at ACC, took second place with breast cancer, started out in the statewide LAND (Liberal as an assignment in Dr. Richard Arts Network of Development) Lessard's advanced composition Rachel Greenwood, second place winner of the Michigan wide LAND essay contest, composes at the computer. Photo by Linda Simpson course. But after spending the whole semester writing, rewrit- ing, revising and editing, the paper became less of an assign- ment and more of a way to express her inner feelings, ac- cording to Greenwood. Every community college in Michigan took part in the LAND contest. Five judges from five different colleges, Kellogg, Gogebic, Kirt land, Delta and Kalamazoo Valley, decided the fate of all the authors who par- ticipated. Each college could submit only one entry per category (es- says, short stories, and poems), meaning Greenwood's essay was chosen to represent ACC. To take second place in such a vast contest was an honor to Greenwood, but she feels she couldn't have done it without the English instructors she has had. She is grateful especially to Dr. Lessard. "If he hadn't nearly put a gun to my head," Greenwood says jokingly. "I never would have sent it in. ff Dr. Lessard says, "Rachel has an excellent sense of what will be important to her readers and she is able to take control of the tone she wants to present, She is also a metir.'Ulous reviser who chooses her language care- fully -- all qualities which make her very deserving of this honor." Greenwood will spend to- day, tomorrow and Friday as a guest of the Dearborn Hotel in Dearborn, where she will be presented with a $100 check in recognition of her outstanding writing talent.