Akerns's Blog

Headlines

akerns — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 15:26:59 +0000

Administration Taking Necessary Steps to Combat Flu

Audio Books Now Available in Library

New LSGA Funding Procedures Now in Place

Concert at Hyland Arena a Success

Poor Preparation

akerns — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 01:25:19 +0000

It’s inevitable students will show up to class unprepared, but many may be getting away with it. Alot of students who come to class unprepared may earn an “A” in the class, but in the long run where will that lead them? If students are coming to class unprepared then chances are they’re only doing bare minimum to get by and therefore not really learning as much as they could be, or being prepared like they should for graduation. According to a story on the USA Today, a national survey says at least 20% of students say they frequently go to class without completing assignments or reading and many of those students still get an A in the class. 380,000 random students were surveyed at 722 four year colleges. Some findings included:

- Students report spending about 3 1/2 hours a week preparing for each class. That’s about half what instructors expect from a typical student.

- 59% of seniors and 55% of freshmen said they frequently worked harder than they thought they could to meet an instructor’s standards.

- Of those who frequently didn’t do homework, 29% of freshmen and 36% of seniors got mostly A’s.

Repaying student loans may get easier

akerns — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 02:15:20 +0000

Starting in early August, repaying student loans may have become a little easier for those in tight situations after graduating. Anyone with a federal student loan could apply for a program that caps monthly payments based on income, and forgives remaining balances after 25 years. Those who choose to work in public service could have their loans forgiven in as little as 10 years.
That may be good news to some of you with graduation right around the corner, knowing within six months you’ll have to repay your student loans, and maybe you’re wondering how in the world it’s going to happen.

Was this news really new?

akerns — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 14:00:48 +0000

The fight on the Belleville school bus that happened last week made national headlines but if the tape hadn’t been released, would it have?
Fights in school between students happen everyday. Interning at Channel 5 when the video was being played on the news almost every newscast, people would call the desk and be angry about the fight-how awful it is that it happened. One guy called and said that it was nothing new, back in his day school bus fights happened everyday. Since the video was released and shown on the news, and then ended up on youtube, it probably got alot more attention than it would have other wise. The students probably got harsher punishments as a result, because Belleville was aware of being in the publics eye.

akerns — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 14:04:56 +0000

Students and Workloads

akerns — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 05:09:33 +0000

Students these days not only carry a full course load of classes, they also hold part time jobs and other responsibilities. How in the world are we doing it? Lots of caffeine, most likely little sleep, and just work, work, work! Call it crazy, call it ambitious, either way is all this working doing students more harm then good? Here’s a quote from stressreductionbasics.com on students and their workload:

“Another situation causing high levels of college student stress is that caused by work overload. A student may feel they simply don’t have enough hours in the day to do their work justice and to complete it to a sufficient standard. This creates a negative cycle effect because the student will stay awake and become sleep deprived adding to the feelings of stress.”

I know myself. I’m taking 15 credit hours on top of a 35 hour a week internship on top of ten hours at a part time job so i can attempt to pay my bills and pay for gas for every day i have to drive downtown and back. It’s only the second week of school and I’m already feeling the effects.

So are these high work loads worth it? To me it depends on what you’re trying to accomplish, what your goals are. All the hard work and stress this semester I’ll be dealing with is worth it to me because I’m getting ready to graduate. I just remind myself that after this it’s all over with. I want to take advantage of every opportunity I have to learn and grow so I’ll be ready for a job once I graduate.

I don’t however, think that lack of sleep is worth it. Here are some side effects of lack of sleep:

Lack of sleep depression, lack of sleep headache and lack of sleep dizziness, obesity, hand tremors, irritability temper tantrums in children and in some severe cases delirium.

Hello world!

akerns — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 04:27:57 +0000

Welcome to WordPress.com. This is your first post. Edit or delete it and start blogging!