Column
College grads
need to attend
reality school
By Anne Harrison
■ Brown Daily Herald
Brown U., R!
Graduate School. Capital G,
Capital S. My parents always said
it's an escape from the ‘real world,’
though it doesn't seem humorous
enough to provide an enjoyable
escape. “Don't go, Anne, you epjoy
life too much to go to grad school.
Get a job."
Most likely they wanted me out,
perhaps striving for financial inde
pendence. I always nodded vigor
ously, agreeing to the prospect of a
post-graduation ‘position.’
Now I peer around me, at my fel
low senior class members who are
preparing, hoping, praying to be
able to embark on graduate study
careers. Somehow grad school
seems the answer to many of my
classmates' indecision regarding
their lives. Or maybe it appears to
be the necessary path to glowing
careers in specialized fields, scien
tific research or academia.
But after much thought, I’ve
come to a startling (or maybe just
fundamental) conclusion. Not grad
school, not professional school, not
even the working world can hold
even so much as a candle to what
students REALLY need after gra
duation — reality school.
We all need to take one, maybe
two years off from discussions on
the meaning of truth over credit
(reality doesn’t have credit), time
away from cushy jobs in market
analysis or advertising internships
to embrace the REAL.
This doesn’t mean two years of
intense personal introspection,
aimless wandering, readings in
mystical eastern religions, ski
bumming and odd jobs. Reality
school is the time to see that life
doesn’t conduct orientation week,
nor have resident counselors or
smiley faces on every door. Time
enough to realize that Nirvana is a
long way from the Miller life, and
that The Price Is Right is about all
the fulfillment a lot of people get.
Time to find out that life is NOT
populated by clever students en
gaged in Marxist studies. That
when you turn to your neighbor at
Dunkin' Donuts and offer “How ab
See REALITY, Page 9
MUSIC
Tell lots of souls
The Replacement# return
with plenty of muscle, but
also a softer edge
Pag* 10
TELEVISION
Bye, bye, mainstream
.lust what contributes to
network TV's demise and
the move to cable?
Pag* 11
BOOKS
Not just kid stuff
Today's high-quality
comic books are redefining
the genre
Pag* 12
TRAVEL
Forget the Ritz-Carlton
Hostels provide youthful
travelers with cheap and
fun accommodations
Pag* 12
i
i
“Even if you end
up with your
parent*'
religious
answers, it
should be
because you
choose them on
your own.
Religion, of all
things, cannot
be second
hand.”
— WILLIAM
PECK
DA VI LAMES SHE tWVBBfiY DAILY MSS** U » KAiKTc
“I think
students are
looking for
something, and
the church
offers them
(students)
something to
pull together all
the facets of
their life.”
— DON
McCRABB
To believe or not to believe
College 'is the time
to experiment challenge
one's religious beliefs’
By Anna Turnage
■ The Daily Tat Heel
U. of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
“Blind loyalty is a horrible thing"
These are not the words of a prophet.
They are the words of Lisa Kirkpatrick,
an avowed agnostic.
Kirkpatrick is a student who believes
that no one should stay with one reli
gion out of blind loyalty, and no one
should choose a religion without ques
tioning its doctrines first.
Raised in a Methodist household, the
senior began to question her religion
during high school and college “People
get scared to question their religion be
cause if they do, it may go against every
thing the church and their parents told
them is right," she said “You cannot be
afraid to define who you are "
According to William Peck, associate
professor in religious studies, college is
the one time in people’s lives when they
question religion the most. "It’s a very
natural and healthy process,” he said
“For people who define themseh ?s
and find out who they really are, they
may have to give up their parents’
answers to a lot of quest ions, including
religious ones," Peck said.
"Religion cannot be genuine if it’s
based on somebody else's hearsay." he
said. "You need to find out . . . what you
care about and what you're committed
to on your own.”
The university is designed to help
students break from their childhood
roots and provide space for them to re
assess their values. Peck said. “Even if
you ultimately end up with your pa
rent's religious answers, it should be
because you choose them on your own
Religion, of all things, cannot be second
hand,” he said
Fear sometimes inhibits students
from questioning religious values and
leads them to “shelve" religion during
their college years, said Rich Hender
son, area coordinator for the InterVarsi
ty Christian Fellowship (IVCFl.
See EXPERIMENT. Page 9
Opinions varied on
whether students turn
more to church today
By Katy Monk
■ The University Daily Kansan
U. of Kansas
In a world of complexity, uncertainty
and change, some college students are
finding self-fulfillment in religion,
while others are unsure if religion
should play a role in their lives,
“My general sense is that religious
participation is beginning to increase
(compared to) the 70s," and students
are finding self-fulfillment in their
chosen religion, said Don McCrabb,
national executive director of Catholic
Campus Ministry Association.
However, campus ministers from
across the country are also facing in
creasing difficulty in developing stu
dent groups, and churches have re
ported less student activity, according
to Adam Kittrell, director of Campus
See RELIGION. Page 9
Grnpo Folklorico uses dance
to teach Mexican traditions
Hope for the undiscovered artist and the traditions of Mexico may lie
in the feet of the dance troupe "Grupo Folklorico de UCLA."
The 20-year-old organization is open to anyone with dance experi
ence or not — and currently has 23 members.
The original troupe formed in 1965 when Emilio Pulido, a U. of
California, Los Angeles dance professor, launched a group that would
be faithful to the tradition of Mexican dance Pulido, who is now a 1-os
Angeles teacher, still devotes about 10 hours a week to the group
According to choreographer Adolfo Zamora, the group focuses exclu
sively on Mexican dances, but is not a Chicano or a political organiza
tion. ”... We are here to learn about the folklore," he said
Performances and costuming are expensive concessions to tradition,
however, and finances remain an obstacle, Zamora said Participants
are not paid; instead they dance for the sheer joy of it.
The troupe has toured as far north as Washington state and as far
south as Mexico, concentrating its audience in the Southwest Marie
Gonzales, coordinator for the group for the past six years, said that they
perform about three times a month
■ Noelle Balia, Daily Hrutn, U of California, I»s Angflrs
Silvia Ziramontes spins with Hector Lopez. Both have
been dancing with the Grupo Folklorico tor two years.