Well, in 10 days, this semester will become part of history. Didyou get all you could out of it? Does the Ambrose Bierce quotation,"Cogito cogito ergo cogito sum -- I think that I think; therefore Ithink that I am," reflect your reason for being at Ball State? Isthe quote, "Live fast, die young and have a good-looking corpse" abetter view of your relationship with the world and Ball State?
Well, if the answers to those question are bothersome to you ...don't worry, they have been bothersome to everyone.
A friend was telling me how this university is turning out "lazythinkers." He blamed it on the lack of discipline created by the"children's environment" found at Ball State today. He might beright; we offer this "higher" education to the young before theyunderstand what education is. Education is not just a key formaking money; it is a tool for understanding the diversity of ourworld. It is learning to use analytical and ethical reasoning, notjust violence, to solve our problems.
A guy named Socrates once wrote, "If the whole world depends ontoday's youth, I can't see the world lasting another 100 years. Thechildren now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt forauthority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter inplace of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants oftheir households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room.They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble updainties at the table, cross their legs and tyrannize theirteachers."
I guess civilization survived. I and all of your teacherssurvived that right of passage called growing up, and the odds areyou will too.
As a student at Ball State, the questions about higher tuitionsand fees, the growing question about mediocre academics, thegeneral academic reputation of our school and the Trustee's lack ofaccountability to the community should be some of the things youare thinking about. I hope that one day you, like me, will want toknow why Provost Beverley Pitts, with her outstanding educationalbackground, is not going to be given the title of president. I hopeyou wonder why, if we have to cut athletic programs, we are raising$12 million for a stadium that is never filled and why the trusteesstonewall any real questions about their actions.
Well, have a great "finals" week. Save that beer for the 20th ofDecember and remember to be safe this holiday season.
Write to Eric at eerichardson@bsu.edu
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