Page 6
The Behrend Beacon
aroundStudentr ram g t it is
piracy
by Elise Ackerman But Halderman managed to stop the software play the CD in their cars. Halderman in an interview.
Knight Ridder Newspapers from installing itself on his PC. BMG, a Bertelsmann subsidiary, and other mu- "This technology is going to end up in the hall
"In practice, many users who try to copy the sic companies have sought to discourage mass of fame beside the previous Sony technology that
A Princeton University student has found he can disc will succeed without even noticing that it's copying by taking 261 people to court last month was famously defeated by drawing on the CD with
defeat a highly touted computer program to pre- protected, and all others can bypass the protec- for sharing songs without permission and have a felt-tipped pen," wrote Edward Felton,
vent music piracy with the stroke of a single key: tions with as little as a single key stroke," he wrote. threatened other lawsuits. Halderman's adviser, who publishes a Web log,
"Shift." Nathaniel Brown. a BMG spokesman, admit- SunnComm protested that Halderman made cir- "Freedom to Tinker." A Princeton professor, Felton
In a paper posted on his Web site on Monday, ted the restrictions could he bypassed by a deter- cumyenting their software sound too easy, and that was threatened by the Recording Industry Asso
graduate student John Halderman, 22, said he got mined consumer. But he likened the software, they knew about the loophole already. ciation of America in 2001 when he sought to pub
around restrictions built into the CD "Cumin' From made by Swint 'oinni Technologies, to a "speed Halderman's paper could be considered a viola- lish research on vulnerabilities in digital
Where I'm From," by Anthony Hamilton, a soul- hump" that would deter ordinary consumers from tion of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, a watermarking technology.
ful R&B artist. The CD, released by BMG's Arista casually making multiple illegal copies. controversial law that prohibits making devices Jacobs said he had no intention of suing
Records last month, was heavily promoted as the "It's not going to stop a hacker or someone who that circumvent copy-prevention measures, said Halderman under the act, and that the student
first to use copy management technology. Soft- wants to mass copy," he said. Peter Jacobs, president of the Phoenix, Ariz., corn- should spend his time researching something more
ware included on the CD limited consumers to Brown said the company chose to use the tech- pany. worthwhile. He said, "This just isn't one of the
burning only three regular copies or to sending nology anyway because it "offers a new level of "I don't see how telling people to press the shift weighty issues of the world."
promotional copies that timed out after 10 days. playability" - which means consumers can now key can be a circumventive device." said
any college freshmen must play catch-up
Even as the number of students taking upper-level math courses
soars at high schools, a stubborn demographic continues to plague
higher education: remedial enrollments.
In 1999-2000, 35.5 percent of all first- and second-year undergradu-
ate students reported taking some sort of remedial college course, ac
cording to a study by the National Center for Education Statistics, an
arm of the U.S. Department of Education. And, for nearly three-fourths
of those students, one of those classes was math, the study found.
In addition, only four in 10 high school seniors in the 2002-'O3
class who took the ACT received a score that indicated they were
ready for college-level algebra, the college admissions test company
reported this year.
Critics use such figures as an indictment of high school instruction,
that the schools do such a poor job of preparing their graduates that
the colleges are forced to take care of the problem.
But college officials are not sure that's the case.
The dichotomy between increasing achievement levels in high
school and the need for remediation in college shows a disconnect
between the two systems, said Michael Kirst, a Stanford University
education professor who co-authored a study on the issue earlier this
year.
The problem is that colleges have different expectations for incom
ing freshmen than states have for their high school graduates. and
most high school students don't know that, he said. The results aren't
seen in students who take Advanced Placement courses. which are
specifically geared to match college curricula. But they become ap
parent in the g 0 percent of students who aren't in AP or honors-level
classes and still might go to college, he said.
"You have two disconnected systems that proceed in their own way,
and the kids are the losers," Kirst said. "What's in Algebra 2 in high
1
1
1
1 corpon 69
1
1
Reg. $14.98 SAVE '8
1 4402 Buffalo Road, Erie • 899-2,313
I 2007 E. 38 th Street, Erie • 825-7572
I Dine-in, Carryout & Delivery
IN MN NMI NUN INN NMI NMI NUN NNI NM ... -, r , - „,,„,„ ..„, - -, NMI INN NM NEI NMI MB NM .1
I Large 1-Topping Pizza and a I Large 1-Topping Pizza and a I
.
1 Single Order of Breadsticks
a . Single Order of Breadsticks 1
I
I 411/0- I ,0 161 . I
1 $6.99 p i i" I S 699 piff it z 4l 1
I I I
lOffer available on Pan and Thin M wispy crust. Caw available on dine rn, oh er amiable on Pan and then 'n Crispy rh.st Mr available on dine in, I
Icarryall, or delivery orders. Up to 4 orders per person. St.oo delivery I carrvota or del very orders lip top orders per person. St oo detrain I
charge may apply, limited lime otter valid onty wilh Parent student ID chow may 'poly, Way(' limy Oter valid only mill boom student if) g
Fill
NM Ilia MIMI INN =II MN WM 1111111111111111111 ........ =III Ell
Large i-Topping Pizza and al Large i-Topping Pizza and a I
Single Order of BreadstiCks 'Single Order of Breadsticks I
pg I I
$6. 1
99 it
Offer available on Pan and Thin ti Crispy crust. Met available on cine-in, I Offer available on Pan and Tho 'n Crispy rit.st, Otter available on nine.in,
canyoll, or delivery orders. Up top orders per person. SEoo delivery carryout. Or delivery orders. Up to 4 orders per person. Sono delivery I
chow may apply. Limited lime offer valid only with current student ID. ch arge may apPly. Limited lime offer valid only verth LIM ent student ID.
al 11•11 MIN 1•11 is M MIN IMO lin IN =I IMP OM MI MI 1111■1 NM MIMI me INN UM Ma
by Amy Hetzner
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Pizza & 'Stix Student Combo
\I A%s to.)
1 0 ,1•
A‘ I
A ir immi
\h ? 11) *Nik omoi I - 1) Nt•,,k
zio
school isn't what colleges want in Algebra 2."
Jana Plotkin, a freshman at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee,
recently found herself caught in that divide.
Plotkin took four years of math at Glendale, Wis., Nicolet High
"You have two disconnected systems that
proceed in their own way, and the kids are
the losers. What's in Algebra 2 in high school
isn't what colleges want in Algebra 2."
School, including trigonometry and statistics, and received fairly good
inade
But when she took her math placement test at the university in May,
she scored below what she needed to get into a for-credit math class.
Instead, this fall, she enrolled in the university's Math 095 course, which
combines lectures and online course work to help fill in the gaps in
students' math skills.
Some of the difficulties that students like Plotkin have with college
placement tests for math, however, may be just a need for review, col-
lege instructors say
Many high schools require only three years of math, so it may be
more than a year between a student's last math class and the placement
"Atter even about six weeks out of math class, you forget so much of
k 1 hat you did if you don't use it," said Sue Sharkey, a math instructor at
Waukesha County Technical College. "So much of what the problem
Ail" .
P lZgia
weollf:
Friday, October 10, 2003
- Michael Kirst, a Stanford University education profes
sor who co-authored a study on the dichotomy between
increasing achievement levels in high school and the need
for remethation in college.
I=l
The Downtown Group
offers the best student living
in State College with all utilities
included (except phone & Internet)
GARNER COURT
Mon.- Fri. Bam - 6pm, Sat. I lam - 41
Or visit us online at wwwawandsoi
is, is it hasn't been done recently. So they need a review on everything
before they're ready to jump into an actual math class."
Not everyone views remedial classes as a bad thing.
In fact, Wisconsin's Madison Area Technical College has deliberately ex
panded the number of students enrolled in such classes.
"One of the reasons our college exists is to provide access to higher
education for anyone who wants it," said Terrance Webb, executive dean
for learning programs at Madison Area Technical College. "And one of
the things it means is we are bound to enroll students who are not pre
pared to do college-level work in certain areas."
Webb doesn't like the name "remedial," though. He opts for calling such
courses "developmental."
Today, 40 percent to 50 percent of the college's students are placed in
developmental math courses, according to Webb.
There are many causes for that figure, he said. Some students don't test
well, some haven't taken a math course in years and are returning to edu
cation after several years in the work world, and some took the state's
minimum two-year math requirement in high school.
"There's a lot of reasons for this," Webb said, "A lot of people like to
blame it on the high school. 'Oh, they're not teaching the students the
right thing.' But I'm not sure that's true."
In the meantime, the Madison technical college also is looking to bridge
that divide, which Kirst complained is keeping some students from achiev
ing their college dream. Over the summer, the school co-hosted a daylong
school-to-careers conference for high school teachers to explain the tech
nical college's math expectations.
Judy Jones, a math instructor at the college who helped coordinate the
conference, said she doesn't believe incoming college students are less
prepared than they were in the past.
"I do feel we are getting a broader range of students today," she said.
"We are getting more down at the low level than just at the middle level.
And the problem with students who aren't on the college track - they don't
tend to like math, and they take as much as they have to and they don't
take any more."
Features Include:
Computer Labs, Study
Lounges, Laundry Rooms,
Bicycle Storage,
Fitness Room
Open House Weekend Oct. 10th & I Ith •
NOW accepting applications
for Fall 2004-2005
Stop by early for
East Beaver Ave.
State College, Pa 16801
0363
Fully Furnished Studio, I , 2 , & 3
Bedroom Apartments
Only one block
from campus!
ansferring to
iversity Park