8 The Daily Collegian
Administration finally shows
concern for stumbling CES
Surrounded by photos of the
Commonwealth Campuses, Uni
versity President Graham
Spanier announced yesterday an
overhaul of the Commonwealth
Educational System that will
change the face of Penn State and
the education the students
receive here.
Limited funding had led to
severe budget cuts and fewer stu
dent services at several campus
es, and forced many of them to
become "suitcase colleges" or an
extension of high school. And
although enrollment in the CES
did increase this year, past poten
tial Penn State students may have
chosen a state school with more
resources than their nearby Com
monwealth Campuses.
But Spanier and Robert Dun
ham, senior vice president and
dean of the CES, have decided to
let the campuses flounder no
longer, taking a serious look at the
mission of the CES.
Campuses will be able to choose
from options including turning
some into community colleges or
joining with other college cam-
daily Collegian
Friday, Oct. 20, 1995
©1995 Collegian Inc.
Editor in Chief
Courtney Calms
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Randy Abrams
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General education
True confession: Every Tues
day and Thursday, I sit in my
BiSci class and memorize
poetry. It helps keep me awake;
and by being physically present in
the class I'm hoping that my sub
conscious will pick up some useful
information. I am learning a lot of
interesting stuff unfortunately,
Wordsworth and Auden won't be on
the exam.
I'm taking the class not because I
have a passionate desire to learn
about ecosystems and become well
rounded, but because I have a pas
sionate desire to graduate.
I'm trying to fulfill the natural
sciences component of the general
education requirements.
' Last Tuesday, a subgroup of the
Commission on Undergraduate
Education announced their sugges
tions for revamping the curricu
lum. The biggest change they want
to implement is a restructuring of
the general education require
ments. Students have been grum
bling about gen eds for years.
They're pointless. A great place to
sleep. I never go. Now things might
change.
Step one
puses in the area to avoid duplica- -
tion. No campuses are expected to
close right now, Spanier said, but
that could be a possibility for the
future.
The University has taken a step
forward by recognizing that the
Commonwealth Campuses are not
functioning well as they are now.
In looking toward the future, how
ever, administrators must see
beyond the corporate-speak sur
rounding the changes and keep
the focus on students.
Student leaders at individual
campuses and in the Council of
Commonwealth Student Govern
ments will share the responsibili
ty for keeping the students
informed and passing on their
input to the administration. Tbwn
meetings are planned for this
month, and a strong, unified stu
dent presence must be felt there.
Students need to speak up about
what they like and dislike about
the CES so the "new" Common
wealth Campus system reflects
what is best for students. After
all, they are the ones whose edu
cation is at stake.
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Why are these changes impor
tant? Other than the fact that new
requirements will send hordes of
perplexed students on quests to
find their elusive advisers, these
changes are important because
they will reveal the philosophy
behind education here at Penn
State. The general education
requirements are what the univer
sity considers essential for every
student in every college. A change
in gen eds is equivalent to a modi
fied philosophy of education.
How well are gen eds working
now? In theory, very well; they
allow students to receive a broad
education. Computer engineering
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allows for broad base of knowledge
majors can tear themselves away
from their monitors and take a
poetry class; actors can learn about
the drama that is quantum physics.
I took a computer science class
as one of my quantification courses
and liked it so much that now I'm a
compsci minor. If I hadn't been
required to take another math
class, though, I probably wouldn't
have.
However, gen ed classes rarely
work that way. Instead, they usual
ly consist of a bunch of bored stu
dents slouching in the Forum, read
ing newspapers or doodling as the
somniferous words of a Psych 2
lecture drift toward the ceiling. Or
students blow off the class. After
all, it's only a gen ed if you get at
least a D, you're fine.
A benefit of the new require
ments is the removal of the Health
and Physical Education compo
nents. To be honest, those require
ments never made much sense.
Yes, I'm glad I now know how to
jitterbug and tango, but I don't
think those skills are as vital as
others I could have learned. Most
students find some way to get exer-
-- - - ^"
Mean-spirited column
It is truly saddening, in a world in which
poverty and hunger not only exist but are
endemic, that there are still people
wealthy enough to waste precious dollars
on the education of Collegian columnist
Emily Pecora. Her thoughtless and mean
spirited column offered no proof of her
arguments but ample evidence of a pam
pered upbringing and selfish outlook. She
longs for . the time when the rich, ". . .
feasted and lazed about .. ." and the rest of
us, stomach grumbling but otherwise
cheerful, knew our place. My tax dollars
would be better spent putting grateful
felons through Harvard than paying a
policemen to protect the likes of Emily and
their property on their brief but titillating
forays into the Dark Side of the streets.
The harmful effects of poverty on indi
viduals and the nation as a whole have
been so well documented that even the
most cynical and self-serving politicians
would never attempt such an outrageous
denial of the facts. As of 1991, federal bud
get statistics estimated 35.7 million Ameri
cans, 14 percent of the population, lived
below the poverty level. (Defined as an
annual income of roughly half the price of
Emily's prom gown). Thirty-five million
Americans have no medical insurance and,
on any given night, 600,000 homeless indi
viduals go to sleep somewhere. Every year
there are more high school dropouts than
college graduates. That Ms. Pecora had to
come to college to hear about ". . . these
people . . ." is proof of the inadequate
schooling of America's oppressed affluent.
My heart goes out to the professor charged
with the inevitable task of expanding her
research capabilities beyond the television
remote control button. Further research
would show that we spend more tax money
on a subsidies to corporations than on wel
fare. It would show a sharp increase in
executive salaries while real wages
decline. Indeed the system is unhealthy.
Something is greatly wrong when compa
nies can pay executives enough to educate
their children but won't look to the health
and well being of actual employees. Some
thing is greatly wrong when these children
of important parents are raised to believe
in their hereditary right to the good things
in life. Do they owe the world nothing in
return?
The real question is not the existence of
poverty but what our response to it will be.
ClARtvi 6AHG
"General education classes make a college education
broader and allow people to pursue other interests. If
implemented correctly, they help students receive an
education instead of merely being fed facts."
cise, whether it's jogging laps at
the IM building or trying to dash
from COB to Walker Building in
less than fifteen minutes. The
Health requirement makes even
less sense. Sure, the students in
Health 46 are learning about sex
but exploring sexuality is an activi
ty most college students will
engage in, regardless of require
ments for graduation. A friend I
know who took Nutrition 100
learned a lot about her nutritional
needs but she continues to live
on coffee and Cheese Nips.
The communication and quantifi
cation requirements would remain
the same; I can't argue with that.
It's a good idea to make sure that
everyone who graduates is capable
of writing a paper, giving a speech
or manipulating some numbers.
The main change in the require
COGAL
BIJIIIIESS
I r .:. 1 .
1 0 c..
It is not even a question of whether or not
we can succeed. The real question is
whether or not we will continue to try, and
what will we become if we quit? "
Thomas Leyde
senior-history
Life of discrimination
This is a letter concerning discrimina
tion. The discrimination that I am speaking
of can affect any race, religion or sexual
orientation. What kind of discrimination
am I talking about that could very well
effect any of these groups mentioned? The
kind of discrimination that I am talking
about is the discrimination that fat people
(fat women especially) face every day of
their lives.
I am a fat woman who has endured dis
crimination practically all of my life. The
discrimination, torture, "teasing" and
"making fun of" started when I was about
7 years old, which was about the first time
that I went on a diet. From that point in my
life until a few months ago my life had
basically consisted of off-and-on dieting
(yo-yo dieting), primarily brought on by
the mental and physical abuse of others. I
thought (as I'm sure a lot of other fat peo
ple think as they make a new start in life)
that more people would be able to accept
me for who I am, instead of what I looked
like, when I started college. Well, I soon
found out that I was wrong.
Although a university is a place where
diversity is explored, and people are
encouraged to understand others, Penn
State barely (if at all) addresses the needs
of its fat community. One of the main
problems that I face every day is just find
ing a comfortable place to sit in class.
Because of my size I have to plan my
schedule not only on what classes I need,
but on if I will be able to sit in a particular
seat in a particular lecture hall. My prob
lems don't end there . . . I have faced out
right abusiveness from others. One Satur
day night while walking down past a high
rise apartment building in down town State
College several men started yelling
obscenities and other offensive things at
me based on my weight. This particular
experience not only happened once, but
several times, on separate occasions.
The fat woman's own sense of self and
self identity has been eroded primarily by
the media, and the media's attempt to
squeeze everybody into a pair of size-five
ments would be reducing the num
ber of credits from 46 to 36 and
dividing the gen eds into two cate
gories: "Civilizations" and "Con
temporary Topics." Taking away
ten credits and putting the remain
ing courses into two vague cate
gories would do little to strengthen
the general education component
of education at Penn State.
One of the strengths of the
American educational system is its
flexibility and its diversity. In Eng
land, for example, students are
expected to pick their area of study
at around age fifteen and then stick
with it. When I tried explaining to
people in France that I was an Eng
lish major minoring in French and
computer science, they looked at
me with raised eyebrows. Even at
the University level, we're allowed
to be unfocused for a while, and
Friday, Oct. 20, 1995
o: .o
jeans. Men and "thin" women see these
ads, and in turn see it as their duty to dis
criminate against and abuse fat women. If
people would just take the time to get to
know someone they would realize that it
doesn't matter if you wear a pair of size
five jeans or size 28, it's the person inside
that counts.
Stereotyped viewpoint
Oompah-doompah-doopidee-doo is the
sound of the single thought that rattles
around the head of your star columnist
Emily Pecora. She is obviously thin, but
what she lacks in girth, she makes up for
in,ignorawo,,4istorical revisionism, and
poor writisi— 4
The philosopher John Rawls will be dis
appointed to find himself in direct compe
tition with the "pure and true and beautiful
ideal perfect thoughts" of Charlie and the
Chocolate Factory. Get out of your glass
elevator!
Well Emily, you "romantic optimistic
idealist," your stereotypical view of the
poor exhibits an incredible ignorance and
obvious disdain concerning the welfare
state. I'm sure the members of the student
body who are single members, financially
unstable, or those who are serving you in
the dining commons to get through school
appreciate your enlightened views on what
it means to struggle. All of these people
who stand on their own two feet, with more
justified callousness, sneer at your privi
lege.
More disturbing, perhaps, than the igno
rance of your views, is the prejudice you
exhibit toward the overweight. It is diffi
cult to tell who disgusts you more, the poor
or the fat. Discrimination toward the over
weight is the remaining socially accept
able prejudice in our culture. It is a stereo
type that is fed by the media, and appar
ently basted by the Collegian in an attempt
to establish group cohesiveness in the typ
ical "We are Penn State Proud" tradition.
Clearly, Emily, while you may dine light,
you wield a heavy hand against those you
do not know and those with whom you
would never share a meal. We certainly
hope you will choke on the elitist princi
ples on which you have wrongly been fat
tened.
we're able to radically change our
field of study. General education
classes make a college education
broader and allow people to pursue
other interests. If implemented
correctly, they help students
receive an education instead of
merely being fed facts.
This Tuesday, the Faculty Senate
will discuss the proposed changes.
I would urge them to give as many
credits to general education as pos
sible.
However, no matter how many
credits are allotted to gen eds, as
long as students perceive gen eds
as easy classes in which they don't
have to put forth effort, the pur
pose of the classes is defeated. I'm
in favor of having as many rigor
ous, interesting gen ed classes as
possible people today need to be
knowledgeable about many things
outside their narrow field of study.
General education requirements
are great in theory if only they
were that good in practice.
Tess Thompson is a junior majoring
in English and a Collegian colum
nist.
Christine Enedy
senior-art education
Susan Kang
junior -telecommunications