4 | The Behrend Beacon
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Why I don't like Scale Up
By Neil J. Peters
staff writer
njpsoB3'" psu.edu
Jan. 30, 2009
It is a relatively well
known fact that
Engineering is a
pretty difficult major.
From the asinine
amount of math that students have
to trudge through to the cavalcade of
generic science classes that never
seem to stop, engineering is obvious
ly no walk in the park. This was the
understanding of what to expect that
each engineering student accepted
when we filled out the application.
However, little did any of us know
that we would be expected to teach
ourselves an impossibly difficult sub
ject with little to no help from faculty
and battle the most vile curriculum
ever designed. Such is the tragic
reality that is Scale Up Physics.
For those blessed students who are
not familiar with the abysmal hell
that is Scale Up, allow me to enlight
en you through the magic of
metaphor. Imagine walking into a
classroom on the first day of the
semester. Upon entering, you are
immediately hog-tied, gagged and
tossed into a pool of boiling water,
only to find that the pool has been
fully stocked with an assortment of
vicious sharks and a very large
Bear in mind that
the only weapon you have to fight
your way out with is the very basic
Hey Barack.
( ONGRATIT ATIONS ON
mtOMINC. IHh NEXT PRESIDENT
DOS' I WORRY I AM LEAVING THE
( < H N 1 RY IN PF.RFr.CT CONDITION’ FOR YOL'
Yd' RF WFLCOME
Bored?
Entertain yourself
By Je r f Kramer
stuff writer
jsksl6l psu.edu
Oct. 21, 2008
Hi. My name is Jeff Kramer, and
I’m from Vermont. We do cool
things in Vermont, like hang out, lis
ten to Dispatch, listen to Phish,
hang out, and swim. This column is
for all the flat-landers from
Pennsylvania so that they can under
stand how awesome it is in the
Green Mountain State. Things are
green, it snowed this week, and the
leaves are all changing.
In Vermont, some people think
there isn’t much to do. We find ways
to entertain ourselves. Some say it
sucks, but what are they looking for?
You can find people unsatisfied with
their situation who say, “there’s noth
ing to do here.” Most of the time,
there is something to do, but people
are either too lazy or aren’t creative
enough to think of something.
Beacon Thumbs Up
jP
- Year-in-review
- Passing the torch
- End of the year parties
- Summer
crap that you learned back in high
school. This horrific daydream is
essentially what happens to a Scale
Up student’s self-esteem on a daily
basis.
There are no lectures, class discus
sions, or anything that is remotely
helpful to a student’s education.
Instead, the bewildered students are
given impossible busywork that is
poorly worded, hardly proof-read
and about as enjoyable as being lath
ered in bacon grease and heaved
into a cage of severely pissed off
wolverines. Sound good yet? But
wait, there is more. In addition to
having to teach yourself from a text
book that is longwinded, overcompli
cated, and as poorly written as the
busy work, students must complete
online homework which is also
packed full of ambiguously phrased
questions that require a perfect
answer which isn’t even accepted
half the time anyway. Did you just
do three hours of excellent work
only to have your answer be one
thousandth of a percent off and be
thrown out? Yes? Then too bad!
Enjoy your clinical depression with a
side order of insecurity, because this
happens every day.
An outside observer may wonder:
“Why don’t you just correct your
answer and enter it again?” The
problem is that it will not tell you
what is wrong and just leaves you
hanging at the front door like a bad
date. Confounded students also have
the option of posting questions on
What those people don’t realize is
that what they are looking for isn’t
out there. You have to make your
own situation. My 9th grade friend
told me that only the bored get
bored. He’s right. There’s always
something to do, even if it looks like
there’s absolutely nothing. I stay on
campus every weekend and find
something to do.
Here is an example of an invented
activity: a college in my town hosted
the strangest event I’ve seen in a
while. Middlebury College, a small
town school that is so prestigious it
turned down Ivy League status, had
a day of quidditch, like, Harry Potter
quidditch.
In 2005, a few students decided to
take the rules out of the books, write
up a set of rules for real life, and put
out fliers. The whole town showed
up. Teams put on capes, tossed
around dodgeballs, and ran around
with brooms in between their legs.
The snitch was a distance runner
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Perspectives
The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
the problems forum. However, this is
only about as helpful as Dell Tech
Support staff, because how helpful
can they be if the only other people
who post things are other students
who don’t understand it either?
Some readers may think I am
being slightly over dramatic, howev
er, please understand that with the
course load an engineering student
has to take, it is tough to balance
time that you don’t have. If any read
er doubts my claim, then I challenge
you to ask any engineering student
about Scale Up and they will spin a
similar tale of misery and woe.
Second semester engineer Emily
Harrington said, “Scale Up is really a
great idea. It asks students to use a
discovery method to learn about
basic physics concepts. However, this
great idea is only great on paper.. In
reality, everyone can’t learn this way,
which is what makes the class more
difficult than it should be. It would
help if the professors would at least
introduce some of the material at
first, then turn us loose in the labs.
Otherwise, we are a herd of lost
sheep wanderings aimlessly about
the physics realm, unsure of the
magnitude of our direction.”
Scale Up has a lot of potential to
be a good system, however, as of
right now it is loose, misguided and
a flimsy way to run a science class. I
know that I will eventually learn
something in Physics 211, but right
now I’d much rather wrestle a rabid
badger than take that class.
Cartoon contributed by Jennifer Jinn osa
original cartoon run on Nov. 7, 2()<)S
\ "
Uhh. ..thanks?
from the track team dressed in gold
with a stuffed sock hanging out of
the back of his shorts. The snitch
and the two seekers could run at the
beginning of the match and go any
where on campus, and they did. If
you search for “quidditch
Middlebury” on You Tube, there’s a
10 minute video. It sounds silly on
paper, but when you watch it, it’s
totally serious. Look up the video,
you won’t be disappointed. Maybe
that’s just me; I love Harry Potter.
Don’t judge me.
Next time you’re bored and com
plaining about nothing to do, find
something. Learn to play hackey
sack, get into some new bands, do
something you’ve been meaning to
do, install Stumble Upon on your
internet browser, go for a jog, or
read Wikipedia. Maybe I’m just easy
to entertain because I have giant
bouts of Attention Deficit Disorder,
but most people I hang out with
share my sentiment.
I am a football virgin
By Jennifer Juncosa
perspectives editor
M jdjso6l " psu.edu
W Sept. 20, 2008
* Si
There is a chick
flick from 1999
about a 25-vear-old
reporter that had
never been kissed.
She goes to high
school again as an undercover
reporter and falls for one of the
teachers. The teacher decides to
move because he fell in love with a
girl he thought was a student. In
her article she writes about how
she has never been kissed, asks
him to forgive her, meet her at the
pitcher’s mound at the champi
onship baseball game and kiss her.
Needless to say, he comes at the
last minute and kisses her.
Now, I have been kissed, but I
haven't engaged in something most
people my age have: I have never
been to a football game, more
importantly, a college football
game. Embarrassing, I know. I
spent most my childhood watching
live baseball games but only
watched football on television.
Then I came to college and came
across a problem: It’s ridiculously
hard to get tickets to Penn State
games.
I admit this with a load of shame
I picked a school known for foot
ball. But let me assure that I do
Left out of the loop
We’re sure you've heard the
rumors about the recent RA firings
We’re also sure that you haven’t
heard much else.
As you may have read, the stu
dents who were let go by Residence
Life have stronger privacy protection
than usual since their case is being
handled through the university,
Because of FERPA, the Family
Educational Rights and Privacy Act,
the administration is not allowed to
release any information that could
identify these students. This not only
includes names, but any facts that
could be pieced together to identify a
student, like the location and time of
an incident.
Protecting a student’s privacy is
important. But it is also important to
let students know about major
changes on campus, especially with
in the buildings that they call home
for the better part of the year.
Most students who lost an RA this
week discovered it simply by walk
ing past the empty dorm rooms.
Some residents even found that
there was no RA in their entire resi
dence hall. While RAs from other
halls made sure that every building
was covered as far as nightly rounds
are concerned, the residents were
Friday, May 1, 2009
want to go to a football game-1 have
never had the opportunity. Who
wouldn’t?
There is the one man worth going
to the game for: Joe Paterno. The
head coach for the past four
decades and change, the only one
that can still pull off Reeboks and
rolled up Khakis. There is the repu
tation of exceptional players, Paul
Posluzny and Derrick Williams, that
strike fear in opposing teams. Then
there is the student section that
ESPN magazine calls the best in the
nation, the loudest and most proud.
I regret never experiencing this.
I realize that not being a part of
the football experience has left my
friends hanging their heads in dis
belief and my brothers, Penn State
alumni, feeling nothing but shame.
This year I will go to a game. I
planned my first time to be the
Michigan game this October but
with the price of tickets climbing
rapidly and the fact that the ticket
my brother offered at a reduced
price was given to his girlfriend, my
life-long dream is slowly dissolving.
So, I propose this: I will be sit
ting in the lower level of the Reed
Union building every Friday after
noon for the rest of the season. I
ask that anyone willing to give their
ticket to a good cause, meet and
help me fulfill my dream. Help me
experience my school the way I
should.
still unsupervised from midnight on
The residents should have some
information. This doesn’t mean that
they need to be told the whole story,
complete with names and details, but
they should at least be notified of a
change of this proportion. It is
important for a resident to know that
if they have a question, a problem or
even an emergency, that they will
have to leave the building for assis
tance.
It is not fair for a student to wit
ness these changes in their own halls
and not be told that the school has it
under control. It is not safe when
residents who have no RA in their
building are not told that if they need
help, they will have to go elsewhere.
The school can release at least this
much information without betraying
anyone’s privacy.
Student Affairs has done an excel
lent job at protecting the rights of
the students who have violated their
Resident Assistant contracts. But
when it comes to the safety of stu
dents who have done nothing wrong,
perhaps they have been neglectful.
Rachel Reeves, Editor-in-chief
original run on Sept. 5,2008.
Beacon Thumbs Down
- Picking articles for this issue
- Passing the torch
- Finals week
- Summer classes