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About The Clackamas print. (Oregon City, Oregon) 1989-2019 | View Entire Issue (April 24, 2002)
Letters_____________ 2 J à All signed letters to the editor should be 500 words or less and will be considered for publication if submitted by 1 pm the Friday prior to publication. Letters to the Editor are subject to editing. We reserve the WedNEsdAy, ApRiL 24, 2002 right to not publish any letter. Biology students can't get on the same page Editor-in-Chief: Maggie Jirasek (x2447) Design Editor: Salena De La Cruz Respect my authority Copy Editor: Allison Gerfin Shadra Beesley Staff Writer A & E Editor: Daisy Bain News Editor: Frank Jordan Sports Editor: Elena Boryska Opinion Editor: Erinn Leiten It all started when a simple trip to the bookstore went awry. I found myself choosing from five different biology text books, and I knew this was not a good sign of what was to come. In the past, textbooks were magical volumes of answers that supplied all necessary in formation. The Clackamas Sci ence Department has changed all of that. In Biology 102, For mat A, textbooks are a source of frustration, anxiety and chaos. How could a textbook cause so much grief? Let’s start at the beginning. For years, biology classes have been offered in. the tradi tional lecture/lab format. At Clackamas, these classes are now offered in what is re ferred to as “Format A: an inter active group approach.” In For mat A, students spend class time working in groups, then go di rectly to the lab. There is no lec ture, no note-taking, no overhead projector. There is a teacher present to help find answers and dole out ridiculous amounts of homework, but students are generally on their own. In traditional courses, one text book is required, and every stu dent in the class owns this same textbook. Usually, this standard textbook directly correlates to the curriculum. For Format A, I was required to pick from five text books. The excuse for this un fortunate idea is that students can choose the book that best fits their learning style. The result of this unfortunate idea is students spending $60 - $120 on a book that presents in adequate information in an order bearing no resemblance to the way they are actually studying it. Another result is a classroom full of confused peers citing dif ferent sources of information. Using a myriad of different text books directly conflicts with the group-learning concept. Stu dents are constantly working to gether and are not provided with the benefit of being able to use simple chapter and page num bers to reference each other’s information. Some textbooks contain conflicting information, and they all use different termi nology. Homework is another never- ending battle on the Format A frontier. In order to compensate for the lack of lecture and note taking sessions, the course pro vides a truckload of various as signments. Collaborative activi ties, “Learning tp Think” ques tions, concept maps, journals, lab write-ups, group-work antholo gies and lengthy objectives are just a few of the regularly sched uled afflictions. Two to five as signments are due every class period. The textbook catastro phe contributes to the anxiety created by this mountain of busy work, causing me to spend most of my homework time searching for information. Group learning is an innova tive, fun way to study science. However, this method could be much more effective with a few simple changes. One textbook should be required, and the in formation presented in class should be based on that text book. Also, the necessary home work needs to be weeded out from the redundant busywork. Ironing out these kinks could turn Format A into an efficient, valuable program. To reach Shadra Beesley e- mail shadrab@hotmail.com or drop by B-104. My favorite product: nothing Feature Editor: Elisabeth Meyer Business Manager: Aaron Patelzick (x2578) Webmaster: Lulçe Mahan Be Human Staff: Jesse Gurzynski Isaiah Creel Shadra Beesly Andy Price Jennifer Kane J.J. Pearson Nick Barron Megan Cobb Secretary: JoAnne Gale Adviser: Goals: Patty Mamula (x2310) Jesse Gurzynski StaffWriter ■HHHK Advertising is extremely offen sive to me, and I think any truly self-respecting person will agree. Advertising has invaded just about every imaginable space in our daily lives to the extent that even someone like myself, who does my best to avoid commer cial messages, is inundated with them everywhere they go. Out side the confines of my little room where I sleep, advertisements are nearly everywhere and in innu merable forms: emblems on cars, logos on clothes, storefront signs, onward up to billboards. I realize I have here indicated things that people don’t normally regard as advertising, but is the three-letter name on a ballpoint pen or the blue oval on the back of a car really necessary? Fur thermore, they have succeeded in their, intended effect, as you certainly recall the brands I have just alluded to. I find it very offensive that ad vertisers manipulate our emo tions so as to sell us crap like extra pairs of shoes, herbal pills, specialized-purpose cleaning agents, or various knick knacks that we don’t need. Advertisers know damn well what they are doing, and they are quite skillful at it. Isn’t it .kind of sick that we have developed, emotional at tachments to products and brands'! And yet people still deny they are being brain washed. Brand-building has little if any thing to do with producing a quality product. It’s about sell ing an image. In her interview for Stay Free magazine, Inger Stole, assistant professor, Department of Advertising at the University of Illinois, put it well: “Really, just the idea that advertisers would have to state basic, hard facts would defeat all kinds of adver tising. If you look at ten differ ent soaps,’ they’re all pretty much the same, so people would go for the lowest price.” Honest facts don’t work in advertising. If someone really needs some thing, or even really wants some thing, they will find it on their own. Of course, monetary profit would not be so great for the giant corporations if people bought just what they needed or really wanted. It is far better to tell them what they want. So now we’ve been told what we want and then told it’s not just a want but a need. So to fulfill this great need for worthless junk, we sacrifice all our lives to perform endless hours of use less labor to earn petty amounts of symbolic Wealth with which to acquire all this worthless junk. And when it’s all said and done at the end, we have noth ing to show for our lives. Just a worthless pile of junk to be hauled off to a landfill, and a feel ing of emptiness. 7b reach Jesse Gurzynski e- mail heterodox@onebox.com or drop by B-104. The Clackamas Print aims to report die news in an honest, unbiased, professional manner./The opin ions expressed in T/ir Ctactamas Print do not nec essarily reflect those of die student body, college administration, its faculty, or The Clackamas Print advertisers. Products and services advertised in The Clackamas Print are not necessarily endorsed by anyone associated with The Clackamas Print. The Clackamas Print is a weekly publication and is distributed every Wednesday except during Finals Week. The Clackamas Print Copyright 2001. Advertising: The advertising rate is $4.75 per column inch. 19600 S. M o I a U a A ve . O regon CiTy, O reqon 97045 (505) 657-6958 ext 2509 CCCpRiNT@dAckAMAS.CC.OR.US liTTp://dEpTS.clAcltAMAS.CC.OR.US/pRlNT o you want to go head to head with one of our writers? Bring it on! Send your opinions to: ccprint@clackamas.cc.or.us 300-5 s or stop by B-104 with it saved on a disk.
