Where I go to school I am receiving a top-notch education in my field. My mentors and professors are leading my mind to a fully developed and well rounded education in my department. The experience I am gaining here in fewer years than most is jumping me far ahead on my career ladder.
Yet there is something I notice on my campus. Despite all the intelligence in our particular areas of interest, there is an extreme lack of interest and knowledge in the world around us. Sometimes it seems nothing exists outside of the little campus and nearest surrounding businesses.
Rarely is news ever broken on campus that isn't involving the latest gossip and I would be shocked if anyone remembered what time the news is on in the evenings. Our campus does not subscribe to any national newspaper, although the theatre students are encouraged to read NYTimes every morning (but only the arts section is important). In fact, if it were not for ProgressiveU polls and blogs I wonder if I would ever research the stories that are so important to our lives.
I have always been up on the news because I find politics and change within society very crucial to my development and future. Yet since I have started college I find it harder to get the news and information I desire most in an efficient and reliable manner.
My concern is for those who are not as gun ho to track down those sources of news by spending valuable internet time on news sights and checking in with CNN or the evening news during commercial breaks. Are we cheating our undergraduates? Granted you cannot force feed information to an unwilling mind, but sometimes I wonder if there is just a lack of trying on some campuses to get the news out there.
At my first college we had stacks around campus of the New York Times every weekday. Students would be up a copy and often abandon them in lounges or common areas where other students who might not otherwise have picked up a copy will glance through some of the stories in hopes of finding the comics. Even though it didn't reach everyone necessarily, the college felt it was every students right to have the news within reach daily and many took them up on the offer.
This last semester a couple dozen copies of the daily local paper would show up every once in awhile, but for the most part the only newspaper anyone on campus saw was the school paper (which is not worth the paper it is printed on). Unfortunately, despite their reputation, private schools are not always able to provide the luxury of free national papers every morning, but I do wish to find a method of encouraging all students to keep up on the news.
No matter how much we stress the importance of current events and being active in the world around you, sometimes you literally have to put the news right in front of them to catch their attention. A national paper left in a lounge is a great start that I found very successful, but what can we do for those schools without that tool? TVs in school common areas that are set to CNN and other news programs? Daily e-mails sent to all students with the headlines and links?
Personally, I would love ideas if anyone has particularly effective methods implemented at their college of spreading the news. And this does not just apply to college campuses. High school students suffer the same fate, the only difference being that living at home usually offers more naturally occurring chances of catching bits of news by chance, whether it be by parents discussing news topics or watching the evening news or a chance channel flip landing on an interesting story.
If other campuses suffer the fate of accidental ignorance like I find on my own campus then what is going to happen with the next generation coming into the work force? Eventually we hope everyone will begin getting the news, but will these four to eight years of not keeping up with the world come back to haunt us?
Those who fail to learn history are doomed to repeat it. Does that also apply to those who fail to participate while it occurs?
Hm. Have you considered trying to get your school to get involved with Current? Sometimes putting that personal touch on things encourages people to take the time to become informed... we see a lot of that here. Quite a few don't really care about current events, politics, etc until they come here. Once they're here and the discussions are going on all around them... many take the plunge and start brushing up on the news. Giving students at your campus a medium to express themselves about issues might be a start.
You might also consider hosting a news site dedicated to your campus. With things like Google Reader, you can monitor and share news for many sources at the same time. If you could then get your campus to link it or even get your friends to share it around... that would be a start as well.
Or, you might even write up a few "news in brief" headlines every week and post them on common community boards. Make them funny, touching, sarcastic, satirical... and don't take credit for it. Keep people guessing as to who's responsible for the little blurbs they keep coming across and make those blurbs odd or fascinating enough... they may be moved to checking it out to see what the real story is.
I don't know if any of those will help you, but hey :)
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Free books need new home.
~Fallon~
"If I fall asleep with a pen in my hand, don't remove it - I might be writing in my dreams."- Pace
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Those are great ideas. I've never heard of google reader before, but I will definately be looking into that. It sounds awesome. Soon I need to get a gmail account as well for all those great features google offers.
Could you lead me to more details about Current? It sounds terrific and I would love to do some research on it and how to implement it into my school if possible.
As for the secret postings I doubt I could get away with that at my college, but I always thought about running an underground website for my high school. Might need to look into running one for my college instead.
Thanks so much for the ideas!
I meant to link both Google Reader and Current in my post... but managed to not do it (long day already lol).
I'm quoting the What is Current info below for you. It's an interesting medium. We get it here and on the odd occasion that I get to watch cartoon free TV, I check it out. It's pretty interesting The website (linked above) is also pretty cool; a lot of participation for students and the like and like ProgressiveU, often discussing the more important things.
Since its inception in 2005, Emmy award-winning Current TV has been the world's leading peer-to-peer news and information network. Current is the only 24/7 cable and satellite television network and Internet site produced and programmed in collaboration with its audience. Current connects young adults with what is going on in their world, from their perspective, in their own voices.
Current pioneered the television industry's leading model of interactive viewer created content (VC2). Comprising roughly one-third of Current's on-air broadcast, this content is submitted via short-form, non-fiction video "pods". Viewer Created Ad Messages (VCAMs) are also open to viewers participation.
Current's programming ranges from daily pop culture coverage to political satire in "SuperNews," unprecedented music journalism in "The Current Fix," and unique insights into global stories through Vanguard and Citizen Journalism.
Current.com is the first fully integrated web and TV platform where users can participate in shaping an ongoing stream of news and information that is compelling, authentic and relevant to them.
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Free books need new home.
~Fallon~
"If I fall asleep with a pen in my hand, don't remove it - I might be writing in my dreams."- Pace
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Here in China they have a giant two two sided display board with clear glass over the top of it. It is in a very public location outside of the slowest buildings. Because of the lack of traffic of people rushing to get to class, I see a lot of people standing around reading the local and national newspapers.
When I first saw it, I thought it was a wonderful idea when I first saw it. It saves paper, there is no mess that you would see from discarded papers, and it is convenient for those that don't have the money to buy a paper.
However, I can see its downfalls. When the weather is not good, people never go to the board unless something drastic has changed in the world and they hear rumours about the event first. It doesn't shove the news into one's face, so they can still easily ignore it. Another downfall is that it is in a low traffic area, so it doesn't attract much attention to passerbys. The up side to its location is that the students have room to crowd around it.
I would suggest a multiple pronged attack to defeating ignorance. Find as many ways as you can to put current news into yours and others lives.
You can't ignore me, for I'll not lie down quietly.
Maybe you could talk to the directors of the residence halls about ordering subscriptions to other newspapers for their common rooms or the director of student life about subscriptions for other areas where students congregate, like dining halls. A lot of students like to read while eating. If news materials were made more readily available to students, perhaps they will be more inclined to catch up on current events. Plus, it would look great on a resume for initiating awareness on current events on campus. You could maybe even start a student organization centered around improving student knowledge on current events and world issues. You'd be surprised how many university resources are available to assist.
Something like Google Reader would be great, even if the same team that does the student newspaper manages it. They can share links to different articles and organize them by subject, then send it out in mass emails. It doesn't take that long to do and it wouldn't use any paper or money.
My college campus provides free NYTimes, but they rarely get picked up anymore, especially since you can get pretty much the same content online nowadays. My college also puts out a mass email that gives a dose of campus news every morning that's very helpful and could easily be modified to include some national or local news as well. Some people complain about it, but most people really like knowing what's going on.
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Honest disagreement is often a good sign of progress. --Mahatma Gandhi
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