The "Benefits" of Living on Campus

When one thinks about the basic constructs of attending a university of higher learning, living in a dorm with a roommate on campus is one of the first ideas to pop into his or her head.  Many schools want students to live on campus for a multitude of reasons such as a lack of places to live off campus, to promote school spirit, or to allow its younger students to get the "full college experience".  UNCC has, throughout the duration of its existence, become known as a "commuter school" in which students live in off campus apartments and come to school via car, bus, etc.  On campus, many types of media, specifically signs, promote on-campus living and in some cases attempt to bribe students with DB and more meal swipes in order to promote living in a dorm.  While financially more strategic to live off campus, the school still wants students to live on campus for reason of promoting school spirit as well as eliminating the commuter tag that is associated with UNCC.  The media on campus can be seen in the slides below:

A Sorta Silver Lining: The good and the bad of How High

My original Blog posted thought of the movie How High in a binary way. I focused on all of the bad in the movie and missed out on the silver lining. Not to discredit the fact there is a lot of bad. I originally claimed movies like How High affected the perceived idea of college through stereotypes and holds back society from equality. Even with all of the political incorrectness and subconscious racial inequalities present in the movie How High, positives messages are also conveyed. I have done some research on the topic of racial differences in the classroom and I found two articles. These articles are what helped open my eyes to the positives in the movie.

 Originally I wrote on racial stereotypes inhibiting getting a full college experience related to my idea of what college should be. I tied this into How High by pointing out the stereotypes present in one scene from the movie. I expressed how future college students, current college students, and parents would perceive this and how it could negatively impart bias upon them for thinking how college should be. This is all true, but the articles I found when researching add to this claim.

The first article “University of Hartford Panel Reflects on Civil Rights Act” by Suzanne Carlson noticed that here the United States is 50 years after the passage of the Civil Rights Act and “subtle bias persists in the classroom”. Yes subtle bias DOES persist in classrooms from Kindergarten to beyond; although the panel also noticed young African American students as well as members of the public see these students’ futures as dead end streets leading to lives of crime (Carlson, 2014). How this pertains to How High is apart from all of the stereotyping and racism it portrays two African American students going from rags to riches ending up at America’s premier Ivy League university -the best of the best. This story of rags to riches may imprint the idea of upward mobility and personal success to a child who identifying with Jamal and Silas might otherwise not realize the actuality of this ever happening. It is the silver lining to an otherwise terrible movie (judging on political correctness).

Another silver lining can be found in How High coming from another article, “The Significance of Cross-Racial/Ethnic Friendships: Associations with Peer Victimization, Peer Support, Sociometric Status, and Classroom Diversity” by Yoshito Kawabata. Kawabata’s article focuses on a study himself and colleague worked on at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities that studied how racially diversified classrooms lead to less violence and stereotyping when taken from the perspective of less bullying and name calling from a childes level to an adults level in society. The way in which this applies to How High is the plot of Jamal and Silas making it into and attending a predominately European American college adds diversity to the classrooms. The movie also includes diversity in the college setting including several African American students and professors and an Asian American student. This is not a lot of diversity but it is better than nothing encouraging diversity (Kawabata).

However these articles bat both ways when applying them to How High and furthering the argument of its negative effects on the idea of college through stereotyping. Based off of what is said in the article “University of Hartford Panel Reflects on Civil Rights Act” the acts portrayed in the movie How High affiliated with illegal drug use condoned and imposed by the two African American students who are the lead characters gives the reverse effect on young African American children possibly conveying the idea of drug use being acceptable creating a way to identify. By this I mean it could send the message, “if they are doing it and they are in Harvard then it is okay for me to do it or I should be doing it”. This is a terrible influence to be subconsciously pushing on imposable minds (Carlson, 2014). Using the article “The Significance of Cross-Racial/Ethnic Friendships: Associations with Peer Victimization, Peer Support, Sociometric Status, and Classroom Diversity” to show the downfall in the movie is how How High spoils Kawabata’s idea; even though the movie portrays diversity it does not show any benefits but instead leads to Jamal and Silas pushing their habit of drug use on the other students of differing and similar ethnicities. Examples are even though the movie shows the diversity there is still stereotyping bullying, name calling, and heavy disapprovals of culture between the cross-racial/ethnic groups (Kawabata).

As mentioned earlier there is good in this movie. How High can be utilized for good in another manor when viewed from the point of view of satire. A point of view can be taken in which the viewer sees the film as a call to action in which the film recognizes and through satire points out ugly truths about colleges such as racial inequality in and out of the classroom, stereotyping, and drug use. In my opinion this movie is a cheap comedy which uses these situations to its advantage for laughs, but it is notable to say someone else may see it as satire. Regardless, not everyone will view it this way especially younger audience members (college students or potential college students) and the negativity in which was supposed to be satirical is now destructive as mentioned above.

The importance of recognizing all of this through analysis is understanding what the movie How High or any movie related to any topic means –what it is saying about the topic. In this scenario it is important to recognize and understand the negative effects How High has on the idea of college and a college education. The most important thing is action needs to be taken.  In all honesty I enjoyed the movie and got some laughs from it; however, this does not make the movie right especially if it is not taken in as satire, sadly it is acceptable in today’s time. For the students, future students, or parents this movie effects it is an injustice. Even with the silver linings present, the bad outweighs the good –end of story.∎

-Forrest Roberts

Works Cited:

Carlson, Suzanne. “University of Hartford Panel Reflects on Civil Rights Act.” Hartford Courant 22 September 2014. Web. 1 April 2015

Kawabata, Yoshito, and Nicki R. Crick. "The Significance of Cross-Racial/Ethnic Friendships: Associations with Peer Victimization, Peer Support, Sociometric Status, and Classroom Diversity. "Developmental Psychology 47.6 (2011):1763-1755. PsycARTICLES. Web. 1 April 2015.

What Happens Next?

            My original blog post revolved around the idea that people view college and especially the male population in a stereotypical way that influences people’s views on what a “higher education” is really all about. I focused my opinionated view on the movie “National Lampoon’s: Van Wilder”.  On the other end, my topic and research centered around whether or not today’s national curriculum at the college level is up to par and whether or not certain courses, particularly liberal studies classes, should even be required. Are these classes really helping to expand student’s minds and open them up to new ideas? A student who is going to school for a medical or engineering degree might not find a class such as theatre relevant to his/her cause?

            Two articles stood out in finding the information needed to decide between whether or not liberal studies classes should still be required for all students and if today’s curriculum is an effective way to prepare students for the rest of their lives. Roger Marples in his article “Aims of Education” speaks about how important liberal arts courses are in developing quality social skills more so than actually learning and regurgitating information for classes we believe we are actually going to have to remember in the future. Marples also mentions how these liberal studies courses we all mostly find mundane and irrelevant are actually very positive in building great critical thinking skills. In a way I believe this is definitely true. Marples argues that liberal studies courses do the things other classes throughout your college education cannot. In your core math, chemistry, history classes you don’t have the time or the chance to develop a way to communicate your ideas, or to express yourself because all these classes are set in stone with answers, information, etc. and there is not as much room to expand. Liberal Arts classes are designed so that students, primarily freshman, are able to begin college with the full experience of what it means to be a college student. As a college student there is an unspoken ideal that you should express yourself, through your ideas and opinions you build your own character that you will carry with you for the rest of your life. These liberal arts classes hone in on that idea and you are sort of forced into building answers to questions not really specific. In this you also “think outside of the box” which is the essential part of critical thinking. Marples explains to us that while the things we learn from textbooks and power points in these classes might not be important ever again in our lives, there is a reason they are required and it is vital to a higher education.

            The second article that will be focused on in this blog post was “National Curriculum Assessments and Programmes of Study: Validity and Impact." Written by Dylan William. William focuses his claim around the idea that national curriculum is defined by the way students perform on assessments. He believes that the curriculum is centered around whether or not students can master information taught to them long enough to pass exams required for their diploma. William claims that the validity of higher education has taken a beating and is being tainted by standardized testing. National Curriculum just is not where it should be at the moment. I somewhat agree with what William is saying but I also believe that your education is what you make of it. Too often do students cheat, or go through short cuts in their work, and it shows in the long run. If a student wants to learn and is completely interested with what they are studying for then they will not only regurgitate the information but will master it.

            So you might ask how all his information correlates at all with Van Wilder? It took a while to draw any kind of comparison because the film does not focus on the academic aspect at all, but one crucial moment in the film is when Van must learn an entire semester’s worth of information to pass his exam and graduate college. Just the thought of accomplishing this is humorous, but surprising it is not just a movie scene. Some students actually attempt this simply because they do not know how to organize themselves or they just don’t take school as seriously as they should until the last minute. Van was a stereotypical guy, who partied hard, drank and enjoyed the social aspects of college and realized at the last minute he needed to get out. Somehow he managed to accomplish the feat and I personally was left wondering, ‘what now?’ What happens after you finish college and you’re considered an “educated man/woman”? Van Wilder basically made a joke out of the academic side of college and furthered the stereotype that students don’t take it as seriously as they should which is completely false. Everything in reality is much more difficult than depicted and honestly you really are forced to EARN your degree no matter what it is. Marples, William, and I would all agree that being a college student is a challenging time in which socially, mentally, and sometimes physically you are tested to see what you’re made of. Only the toughest make it out on top and with today’s world as competitive as it is, nothing comes easy, the only question is what happens after?

Works Cited:

William, Dylan. "National Curriculum Assessments and Programmes of Study: Validity and Impact."    (2009): n. pag. UNCC Library Database. Web. Mar.-Apr. 2015.

Marples, Roger. "Aims Of Education." (2007): n. pag. UNCC Library Database. Web. Mar.-Apr.        2015.

The Currency of Academia Rises

A growing problem in today’s college world is grade inflation. Grade inflation has various effects on college students, professors, and future employers. Many people do not believe this is a problem because they do not witness it firsthand. I was one of those people as well.  However, after many articles and studies, I leaned that this was not the case.  Although some scholars argue that the problem with grade inflation is that it causes laziness in students and professors, the real issue is that it negatively impacts not only the value of college education, but also student’s emotional stability. Grade inflation decreases the value of a degree and the professionalism of student’s post-graduation which ultimately leading to greater issues later in life.

Many people think grade inflation produces laziness in today’s young adults. Since grade inflation is known to make students work less it can lead to more time for fun. This was shown in my investigation of the movie “America Pie: Beta House”. This movie focuses on the lives of the brothers in the famous Beta House fraternity. The stereotype of Greek life is all play and no work. This was exemplified in beta house showing only the partying and social aspect of college education. During this movie I noticed how it never mentioned studying or anything about academics. The lack of academics gave the idea that college is one big party and can be completed without any challenge. However, all college students know this is not the case. This movie was merely made to produce comedic relief, but an argument could be made that students in the movie don’t have to work for their grades due to grade inflation. Because grade inflation makes high grades easy to obtain students don’t have to work as hard for their grades. This leaves time to have fun and not worry about school as much as you should. Grade inflation could be an underlying reason as to why college is known for partying and goofing off.

During my inquiry into grade inflation I found the article “Sliding through Means Sliding Down” by John Harding. This article focuses on the negativity of grade inflation. Harding’s primary purpose is to inform professors, college students, and industries about the effects of grade inflation after college. Harding proposes the idea that grades are increasing because they are the “currency of academia” and just like money inflates, so do grades (Harding, 21). He states that a possible reason for grade inflation is teacher evaluations. When professors grade harshly their students tend to do worse. If students make low grades they will rate a teacher badly on evaluations. When students go to register for classes they usually use a website called “rate my professor”, this shows the average grade, ratings, and general opinions about the professor. Although this is not a reliable website, many students use the ratings of their peers to determine the professor’s ability to teach. If a professor grades hard, the students will give them bad ratings. This, in turn, will cause the professor to have a low registration rate. Harding also states that grade inflation causes college degrees to become less valuable. When students are given higher grades than they deserve, their knowledge may not be up to par. Students are just handed degrees without actually having to earn the grades to get them. This causes college degrees to become worthless. If you can’t hire someone with a degree knowing they will be successful than why wouldn’t you hire someone and just train them yourself? College degrees do not accurately show proficiency.  Just like the inflation of money causes it to become less valuable, the inflation of grades does the same thing. This article also touches on the effects of grade inflation post-college. Harding says grade inflation hurts business because employees are not as qualified as the employer thought they were. This is unfair to the employers and essentially deceives them. If you receive a degree in a specific area then you should be qualified and competent enough to do it. Grade inflation makes being an expert in your field impossible. Employers that know what they are doing boost profitability, unqualified workers do the opposite.

In “Grade Inflation: The Effect on Educational Quality and Personal Well Being”, Clifford H. Edwards also focuses on the effects of grade inflation post-graduation. However, Edwards takes a different angle by making the claim that grade inflation not only hurts student’s ability to handle struggles in the future, but also negatively affects their self-esteem. Edwards speaks from the perspective of the effects on the students. He states that because of grade inflation students can pass easily and do not know how to handle challenge. Edward’s purpose of writing this article is to allow professors, school administrators, and students to see how harmful grade inflation can really be. Edwards makes the point that colleges allow students to withdraw from challenging classes. Instead of sticking out a difficult class, colleges allow us to withdraw instead of failing. Although this is beneficial to student’s grade point average in the short term, it is hurtful to the student’s problem solving abilities in the long run. Because students can take the easy way out they do not know how to tackle a problem. This causes students to fail more often. Not being able to succeed can affect students’ self-esteem. This article opened my eyes to other issues associated with grade inflation.

In the beginning of my inquiry, I only thought about the effects of grade inflation on your career later in life. However, after reading these articles I realized that grade inflation causes many problems that can easily be overlooked. I realized that low self-esteem as a result of grade inflation is a plausible idea. I also thought in the beginning that grade inflation was not a problem faced today. However, after researching I realized that grade inflation is a real problem with many real consequences. These consequences are physical as well as emotional. Self-esteem and future career readiness are the main problems impacted by grade inflation. These problems will only continue to get worse unless grade inflation is put to a stop.

Works Cited

Harding, John T. "Sliding Through Means Sliding Down." Phi Kappa Phi Forum. 92.1 (2012). Print.

Edwards, Clifford H. "Grade Inflation: the Effects on Educational Quality and Personal Well Being." Education. 120.3 (2000). Print.

It's All About Who You Know

Though my original blog post focused on the different gender roles and stereotypes that the characters in the film Neighbors represented in a specific scene within the movie, I am also able to notice themes in the movie that better correlate with my research conducted for the wiki readers guide, as well as my overall research throughout the semester about college as a whole, its depiction, and how much the social aspects of college affect the post graduate world. As previously stated, I originally focused on the segregation of genders in a specific scene of my chosen film in my original blog post, but my research, and subsequently, the articles I used, regarded the topic of racial segregation in the professional field.  My original thesis when beginning my research was “Does de facto segregation in schooling, among students, translate to the professional world?”  With the information I gained from my research on this topic as well as throughout the semester, I can further analyze and extend upon the topic through connection of my film research as well as my journal research by asking “what impact does the social aspect of college have on post graduate life and society.”  Through this synthesis of information and analysis, I am more capable of finding credible examples to my claim.  When attempting to understand the world around us, especially as we, college students, begin to transfer into the independent and professional world, it is important to see how the world is, what constructs make it up, and what was the original foundation of those constructs.   Since college and higher learning prepares students for employment in their designated fields, as well as prepares them socially, through analysis of college life, we can find the origin of many social “norms” today, such as de facto segregation originates from norms created in college. 

Though the movie has a greater focus upon gender segregation and the exploitation of gender roles in a specific scene of the film, de facto racial segregation is somewhat apparent as well.  Obviously the movie Neighbors focuses on what life is like when within a fraternity or living next to one, especially the social aspect.  Though not in a fraternity myself, I realize that during the selection process, both the selectors and selected, much choose a person or fraternity based on their social similarity and likeness.  Both Tatum in her essay and the authors of the academic journal, "Race and the Workforce: Occupational Status, Aspirations, and Stereotyping Among African American Children" that I used for research claim in their respected works, people of specific race are more likely to befriend others of the same race and socioeconomic background.  Stereotypically speaking, college fraternities are commonly depicted as a group of somewhat affluent, European-American males.  Though there are fraternities that are composed of mostly African-American members as well, the fraternity in Neighbors attempts to illustrate the media’s portrayal as well as the public’s stereotypical perception of fraternities, by having a mostly, all white fraternity with the exception of one black member of the fraternity in the film.  Though this somewhat counters my original hypothesis of different racial groups joining together due to deeper knowledge and empathy for each other’s live, I find it an extremely interesting note that could potentially depict an outlier variable within my research that extends across the whole evaluation, depicting that Tatum’s and others’ argument does not always apply.  However, within the film, the black fraternity brother is mainly a minor character, seemingly only there for comic relief, while not being part of any of the drama in the film.  As stated though, the demographics of the fraternity in the film are overall white.  The demographics even seem to remain this way in the new pledge class within the film, which is overall white as well.  A specific, interesting scene is when the fraternity is throwing a party and there is a black cop who watches the fraternity to make sure things do not get out of hand.  Though I could be over-analyzing a scene that is strictly meant to be humorous, the fraternity sends out their one black member to go speak to the black cop.  As the article "Race and the Workforce: Occupational Status, Aspirations, and Stereotyping Among African American Children" elaborates on, this action by the fraternity could potentially be because people of certain races are commonly more comfortable with members of the same race.

All of this can be refined to instances of expectation and aspirations that were held by the college students as children, as alluded in the article mentioned.  The journal, "Race and the Workforce: Occupational Status, Aspirations, and Stereotyping Among African American Children" notes that “the occupational goals of older African-American children may be influenced by their consciousness of racial discrimination within society” (Bigler), and the same could be believed about membership within social societies at college and by extension, social societies in post graduate life.  Events like that of the recent video released of the Oklahoma fraternity, collectively performing racist chants on the way to an event would definitely turn non-whites away from a specific fraternity and quite possibly fraternities as a whole at Oklahoma.  Though it is not apparent or focused on in Neighbors, discrimination can be a theme in Greek life and could potentially discourage non-white races from joining.  Again, this translates to the professional world in more ways than one.   Through deep analysis of the social segregation that the film is for the most part depicting, one can see a social trend that happens during school and can translate to the professional world.  Many times, members of a fraternity will pursue a job that has employees that are similar to the characteristics of past fraternity members.  Perhaps if one’s fraternity is either specific to one race, or more diverse, their social surroundings in college can come into play when applying for jobs and deciding rather or not to work in specific places. 

A great point made in both "Race and the Workforce: Occupational Status, Aspirations, and Stereotyping Among African American Children" and “Racial Segregation among Places of Employment” is that many times, people of different genders and races aspire to be in a field and socioeconomic status, both consciously and subconsciously, depending on the expectations and conditions in which they are raised.  Again, this can be connected to fraternity culture and overall social interaction that happens within the years spent by a student in college.  For the most part, people would rather spend their social and leisure time with those who are most like themselves and have the same aspirations in order to find social relatability and acceptance.  Aspirations that are cohesively made and shared among certain social groups, such as fraternities, within college are either achieved or attempted at upon entering the professional world or whatever happens after one graduates from college.  One example of this from Neighbors is Dave Franco’s character, throughout the duration of the movie, causes Zac Efron’s character to think about post graduate life and look for a job.   Furthermore, from the habits, discriminations, and social norms made early in life and specifically college, we can see them transferred into one’s post graduate life causing different interactions within society, as well as different social grouping.

Bigler, Rebecca, Cara Averhart, and Lynn Liben. "Race and the Workforce: Occupational Status, Aspirations, and Stereotyping Among African American Children." Developmental Psychology Copyright 2003 by the American Psychological Association, Inc. 2003 Vol. 39.No. 3 (2003): 572–580. Web. 15 Mar. 2015. <ephost@ebsco.com>.

Becker, Henry. "Racial Segregation among Places of Employment." Social Forces Vol. 58.No. 3 (1980): 761-76. JSTOR. Web. 1 Mar. 2015. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/2577183>.

Male Inferiority or Female Superiority?

Male Inferiority or Female Superiority?

            Are gender stereotypes, especially in college students, actually still prevalent? Gender roles play such an enormous part of our society and sometimes we don't even realize it. Since the beginning of human life, females have been expected to do their jobs as MOTHERS, watch the kids, cook, clean, while the men are the warriors who protect the women essentially. While this is just beginning to change in today's world with the push for equality between men in women, there is still a divide in what we perceive to be our gender roles. Movies only further this by the stereotypes portrayed in films, especially those trying to depict what "college is really like".  National Lampoon's: Van Wilder is one of those films. Van and Richard are the two main male characters who are basically in competition for Gwen, an attractive woman who is made out almost to be like an object. In the movie the two guys go back and forth, messing with each other's lives in what we perceive as them just not liking each other but in reality they are battling for who gets to date Gwen. Gwen is perceived as being a very intelligent woman because she is a reporter for the school, while Van is basically portrayed as some guy who doesn’t go to class and doesn’t have the intelligence to get his degree. At the end of the movie there is a scene where Van has to cram a semesters worth of work into 6 days and pass his exams to graduate. Somehow Van manages to get it done and graduates, celebrating with a huge party at the end of the movie. I think this was a low key stereotype of the typical guy in college. Guys in college are made out to look like they are less intelligent than females and are always partying instead of focusing on school. Females are looked at as being extremely studious and gentle, more focused on their future and education. Tannen sort of agrees with this, she talks about how female students are much more introverted when surrounded by males and how they pay more attention to the important details. Gwen is the school reporter, she has no struggles in school, and just her overall demeanor and the way she speaks would be considered thought out and intelligent. In comparison to Van who is vulgar and impulsive to say whatever he chooses. In reality and applied here to UNCC I don’t think that is always the case. While for the most part girls are a little more careful and think out what they’re saying, the dividing line between genders is not too far apart. Here the student body is pretty equal, whether that be academically or socially. Movies do a good job in building a stereotypical reputation for the male college student with these exaggerated and discriminatory portrayals. At the end of the day I believe we are breaking these stereotypes and gender is irrelevant to the modern day college student.  

Are ALL college boys the same?

College Education has many stereotypes associated with not only the academic aspect, but also the social environment of college students.  Producers create movies to entertain an audience by depicting certain characteristics of college. When movies attempt to depict college life they often include many stereotypes about the “typical” college students and their journeys through college.  For example, “American Pie: Beta House” includes numerous gender stereotypes about males.

The movie focuses on the fraternity Beta House. A fraternity is known as a “brotherhood”, meaning the boys spend all their time having fun and learning important life lessons together.  Because of all the time spent with one another, the boys all become best friends. Stereotypically boys become friends with the people they are with the majority of the time.  This is supported by not only “American Pie: Beta House”, but also Deborah Tannen’s article “How Male and Female Students Use Language Differently”. Tannen states that “For boys, activities are central: Their best friends are the ones with whom they do things with.” (Tannen, 345). In a fraternity you typically live with your “brothers” and spend a majority of your time with them. According to Tannen this is the reason the boys grow close to each other.

An essential part of “American Pie: Beta House” is the Greek Olympiad, a banned competition that is reborn between the legendary beta house and the new GEK house, where the boys compete in numerous events that test their manhood. The boys go against each other to decide which fraternity is better. Stereotypically, boys love competition and friendships are born through competition. Boys are expected to “seize center stage: by exhibiting their skill, displaying their knowledge, and challenging and resisting challenges” (Tannen, 346). In the Greek Olympiad, the boys challenge each other to show off their skills and prove their fraternity is the best.

A fraternity is a hierarchy. The president is on top followed by the brothers and then the pledges. The pledges are put through hazing by the older brothers. Once the pledges survive the hazing period they are initiated and move up to become brothers. This hierarchy is what draws boys to the fraternity setting, although they may not realize it.  Boys “tend to play in larger groups that are hierarchal” (Tannen, 345). Since the fraternity is a hierarchy, the brothers tell the pledges what to do and the pledges have no choice but to listen. In “American Pie: Beta House” the president Dwight gets his choice in the events during the Greek Olympiad. He chooses the best challenges to participate in and gives the rest to the lower ranked men.

These gender stereotypes make movies that depict college relatable. According to the gender stereotypes all boys are fundamentally the same, although this is not always true. Some boys do not like completion, but the majority does. Deborah Tannen’s article shows that these stereotypes are prevalent all through schooling, not just college. These stereotypes impact college education greatly. Many college classes have discussions and debates in class. Since boys grow through competition, girls are at a disadvantage in class. On the other hand some schools are geared toward the opposite side and hinder boys learning style.