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<>_p:i:inli.._«:»:.1 Is it lazi,ness or stupidity? BY JEN G0008URNE LA.vour-Eorrrnt Sonya Titus was approached by one of her English 112 stu- dents last week. The student asked to be excused from the term paper require- ment. The reason: she claimed she would never use the term paper once it was turned in. Was this an attempt to be honest, or was it a new twist on the "dog ate my homework• routine? If the experience of writing a term paper isn't enough of a reason to do the assignment, one would think a passing grade should be. And, of course once the paper is graded and returned, it could always be framed and hung in the den. Maybe the red marks would clash with the color scheme, but it would hang forever as a testament to the uselessness of educa- tion. Wh~n parents (or the government) pay thousands of dollars to put a person through college, it's an investment in the future. I wonder if the losses during this academic year are being written off. A politically correct way to label students at ACC would be Motivationally Challenged. But to accept reality and responsibility, which is in part the point of education, the correct label would be lazy. Accompanying the first installment of the series about poor academic achievement at ACC was a survey. The hope was to generate a response from the student body in order to balance the perspective of the instructors who contributed to the series. Here is a statistical breakdown ofthe responses: ■ One third of the students who responded received an A. ■ Two thirds of the respondees took a failing grade as op- posed to dropping the class. ■ The total number of responses equaled one fourth of the responses received for the ~Guess Who~ contest (in which the prize was free food). In truth, these stats aren't an accurate portrayal of the aca- demic situation 011 campus. (We only received three polls.) But the last stat is a very accurate portrayal of the problem with students: they plainly don't care. Maybe if instructors attached a value meal to an, A students would do better. Free fries for turning in a term paper may work, too. Or maybe instructors need to tie in a use for term papers after they've been graded. How about an eight page analysis of the IRS's tax auditing procedure? (Cheating is allowed.) Engler strikes education again BY DENJNE KONWINSKI CorY~EnrroR Through all the haze and shades of gray surrounding Propo~al A, one fact • and probably only one fact . is certain. Raise the sales tax and everyone pays evenly. Some strongly suggest this aspect of the proposal is unfair co the many. If an increase to six percent was so drastic, it wouldn't have been done in so many other states. Though a sales tax increase should go for the funding of Michigan schools, the big question is if it actually will. ~overnor John Engler has once again presented the ta:x pay- ers wnh an 'idea' or 1wo that has not been thought through. Just as he did with school reform, this proposed means of funding the schools is unorganized and presented in an almost impossible manner. Engler went so far as 10 change the ballot language after some absentee voters had already submitted their decisions. If he would keep on a straight track, lets say one that says sales tax monie.~ will go for education, and there \Wn't be any 'hidden' laxes involved, and that they'll come up with a lottery that really 1wrks for education, we'd be all set. Pagie4 '°L 3Issue8.M"anh.I6, I9'!N, Dear Polemic Editor, Mr. Byrley recently re- sponded to the reaction some faculty had towards the language used in the Homecoming cam- paign. He suggests these faculty members had no right to bring issue nor should they have been offended. He also complained that none of these faculty mem- bers attended homecoming or other student sponsored events. f.NG./12 ¾..,11 @ I " / I ~ . ~~> ~ /n /y/,< lo ~flAfl r the ~l.l@U' spaghetti dinners and others. I buy raffle tickets, baked goods, flowers, and sub sandwiches from student organizations. I en- courage students in my classes to attend events by giving extra credit points, I volunteer my time, money and commitment to this institution because I feel I do care about the students. I am offended by the lan- guage choices of other faculty members and have said so. I would also request a studem re- frain from using such language openly. Just because foul lan- guage is commonplace doesn't make it appropriate. Crime is commonplace too, but that doesn't make ii righ1. As to the issue of the apol- ogy, I never asked for one nor did I expect one. I brought the issue up because it portrayed a negative image for the organi· zation represented and the students themselves. Had I known such controversy would arise I probably would have sim- ply removed the signs. I don't "take myself so seriously" that I can't comprehend why someone would belittle themselves pub- licly; ljustdon'tunderstand why they would ~ choose to do so. Thank You, Dorothy Fancher Instructor As one of the offended fac- ulty, I objected to having the ~~~c::r:v~r~1~:::!n!~t~oo~ Mechanical wizard fouls up again but the fact that it is used on '.~';';i:~0d0,:.•:,;:".;,;~;:; ■ Aren't women suppose to know about cars? ways of expressing yourself. I BY MELODY SHARP could not attend homecoming STAFF WRITER this year, but have in the past so please don't assume I don't care. I attend as many of the Chalk up another victory functions that I can including: for the macho mechanical male PTK installations, spring flings, world. games, family days, graduation, Recently on a very needed Anticipations are mounting on the tailpipe, when actually he's whether I get home or get been sniffing too many exhaust snowed in with these mechani- fumes? cal wizards. IIUll,======--.:,a11 The service manager stalks " up an hour later saying, "It's The Polemic :; ~~t.al:~n::::t i~~sv~;n:i~~ Staff _.:ii~~ t.~ act up. I made an appointment f///1//C::!_"t. ....... ----- to have it fixed. I told them it OverthePAsystem,school stock.• Adviser ............ Sonya Titus Layout Editor ... Jen Goodbume Copy Editor .. De nine Konwi1t~ki News Editor ... Shawn Dempsey Canoonist ........ Carol Bums f l spdng b,eak my ca,- dedded to .:::. s p E A K .wasmakingaloudwhiningnoise cancellations are being an- in the front of the engine by the nounced. alternator. I 1old them it was I am seeing red and ask, Photographer ... Linda Simpson out of lime because of back fir- "Why didn't they test the alter- ing and starting problems. nator yesterday when they had "Okay,• they said, and dropped it out?" The service manager me off at work, saying it would looks kind of dumb founded, be done in two hours. then says, "I really can't tell I didn't ac1ually know there was any security. but I don·, see ii as a problem in this size of a school - Kelly Zielaskowski Basically I feel securny on campus 1s as worthy as a Cracker Jack ~ prize. -Carl Prieur How do you feel about the security on campus? Maybe they should worry more about our security than our parking - Shari Brotzke I don't see security as a problem around here. I don't feel you have to worry about ii - Rachel Romel Three hours later the me- chanic calls and says, "We can't find any problems.• So I rela1e the s1ory once again and they say, "Okay, we'll take a look." One hour later they call again saying it's the alternator. Duh! I get a ride to the garage, and it's now two hours later. I walk in and they say, "We won't have that part until tomorrow, so we put the old one back on.• I drive home in my ailing car and make an appointment for 8 a.m. the next day. I am there bright and early, but they say, "That part won't be in until 11 :30 on the truck; you can wait, have a cup of cof- fee." What securi1y? - George French Meantime, outside, the worst stonn of the year is piling up and I just know the public _J schools are going to be can-celled. The parts truck arrives. I you.• Now is that because it's top secret or because they didn't thinkofthat? "Okay guys. This is the plan: I need a car in one hour or a ride home before the bus from school gets there,• I calmly Stale. They opt IO take me home and get the part from another local store and promise to have it done no later then 5 p.m. be• cause they close at 5:30. They got my car done at 5: IS, delivered it to my husband at work and only charged me $44 for a timing belt, and $115 for labor. I should have charged them for the two days I lost of my spring break. And if they would have lis1ened to me m the first Contributors Jim Ballmer Scott Reed Melody Sharp DonFilarslci Jeremy Williams Katie Dilks Angela Beaubien Kendra Jones Jenell LeFevre Kara Boomer Deb Haske The Polemic is published bi-monthy, and is distributed free of charge. Opinions ex- pressed are strictJy those of the writers. Que.stions, con- cerns, and other input can be dropped off at The Polemic office in Besser Tech 110. or in our mailbox in BTC. Mail correspondence to: place, l am sure time would have The Polemic been a Jot Jess was1ed. Alpena Community College Why is it that when a man 666 Johnson Street !ei~ :lh~~~u~ m~~I~ :;ll,O,"=,-.Al"pe"m","M"t"497,-.07=-•~