VIEWPOINTS

Impossible Dreaming Imspired by Aunt's Show
Paige Dickerson | News Editor

Late last Sunday night I watched my aunt perform a concert of her own music.
She is in her 50s, and after dreaming of this for most of her life, she is fulfilling her dream to combine her songs and drama for a show. It occurred to me as I watched it took her 30 years to pursue this dream.
But what about my friends, or even me for that matter? Are we pursuing our dreams as we go through college and prepare to enter the work world.  
One friend of mine is a talented musician, but won’t pursue the poor musician route. Instead he will be an accountant, thinking of numbers instead of notes all day long. Other friends feel obligated to pursue a path set by their parents.
Probably one of the people I know who will be most happy is my sister. She is two years younger than I am, but she is set on pursuing what she wants. She wants to return to Brazil, our childhood home, to live. She plans to go despite the protests of our family.
Responsibility and circumstances take over our passions and desires for the future. My friend Stephen would say people “sell out” and become what they think is best instead of what they really want. I think, though, that everyone sells out in small ways at least.
I have wanted to be a writer ever since I learned to write the letter “A.” In kindergarten, I wrote my very first story. In first grade I represented my school at a young writers’ convention and was convinced thereafter I would write the Great American Novel. But as time passed and practicality took over, I realized writing novels is difficult and time consuming and, often, doesn’t pay off. So I decided to teach literature instead of write it. But sometime during my high school career, I discovered journalism. I could have the benefits of being a writer without the rejection letters and self-marketing that comes with writing novels.
But in a way, I too sold out. Not that I don’t enjoy journalism. I love writing and I love the interviewing and even the deadlines. I am, despite the small sacrifice of not writing what I want, fulfilling my dream of being a published writer. There is something satisfying in seeing my name on the front page of the paper.
I hope my friends find fulfillment in what they are doing. Even though many of them have sacrificed their dreams for something more realistic, some of them are pursuing their dreams. Sabrina will be a lawyer despite her father’s strong “suggestions” that she follow him in the medical field. Nicole will teach little kids to sing.
Performance Unlimited’s Web site stated that job satisfaction is a big factor in job productivity and work environment. It is also a big factor in retaining employees.
“In companies with very low turnover, 40 percent of the respondents perceived emotional factors (work satisfaction, good relationships with managers and other employees) as completely motivating their retention,” the site said.
Movies, TV, and even cartoons (ie Dilbert) show the office as a dreaded place. It could be both more pleasant and productive if more people followed what they really wanted to do. What is college after all, but training for the work world. In college we have the rare opportunity to see how well we are cut out for different jobs and we are surrounded by the chance to see jobs we never would have considered otherwise.
Of course, not everyone can be an opera singer and not everyone can be MVP in the NBA, but I would like to think those who dream of these jobs will at least try to accomplish them. How many brilliant potential presidents are out there who will never be elected for lack of trying?
For now, I’ll watch my aunt singing and acting, with dreams of stage lights glittering in her eyes. And who knows, I might even take a shot at writing the Great American Novel while I’m at it.


New Rec Center Deserves 'No' Vote
Staff Editorial

Last Tuesday the SGA voted 44–6 to approve the student referendum, which will allow the student body to vote on the proposed Wellness Center Feb. 16-17. In recent articles we have heard all the arguments for such a center but apparently the opposition has remained silent.
One argument for the recreation center is that students are becoming fat and they need a place to exercise. Just because a center is built does not mean overweight students will use it. There are better solutions to the weight problem than building a new gym. For starters, the SGA could remove all the junk food from vending machines on campus and replace them with fruit and juice. In freshman orientation classes a nutritionist could teach healthy eating and healthy cooking. Some students won’t even walk across campus to attend class. What makes the SGA think they will walk across campus to go work out?
Another argument is that a new recreation center will attract more students. Can MSU handle more students? Housing is already over-flowed and parking is a disaster. One of the best recruiting tools for the campus is its size. More people here means less parking and even tighter housing.
The SGA is trying to promote the new recreation center with many amenities that the campus already offers. We already have an indoor and outdoor basketball court, state-of-the-art weight and cardio facilities, sand volleyball court, outdoor adventure center (whatever that means), picnic areas and an indoor, elevated walking/running track.
If the proposed Wellness Center passes we will be paying $130 a semester for many amenities we already have. You could buy two textbooks with that money.
What’s even worse is that not only will most of us not be here to use these facilities but future students will get the bill. It’s easy to vote for something when you don’t have to pay for it.
We wonder if not just students but administration is behind the project as well. And who could blame them? The school will get a free building out of the deal.
If you believe there are better things students should be spending time and money doing, vote ‘no’ on the Wellness Center referendum.



Former GPA Haunts Returning Students
Amanda Carr | Copy Editor

On Dec. 15, 2001, I was emancipated from Midwestern State University with an English degree dragging impotently behind me.  My GPA was low and my spirits were lower. Both were my own fault.
I descended upon the job market under the misconception that no one was going to care what my degree was in as long as I had one. Well meaning, yet misinformed, encouragers had told me just the fact that I had stuck it out was supposed to count for something. Interview after painfully short interview ended abruptly with the same question: “You don’t have a teacher certification?” and then “What did you think you were going to do?” On one particular occasion, those questions preceded stale, business-like laughter as though he just realized I was trying to play a joke on him and couldn’t possibly be serious.
At another interview, a man who obviously wasn’t anxious to return to whatever he’d been doing before I arrived took it upon himself to council me on my poor choice of academic paths. “Who told you you’d get a job quoting Shakespeare?” he wanted to know. The problem was that no one told me I wouldn’t. Eleven months later I got a job I could have gotten easier right out of high school.
Years later, I found myself in circumstances that left me nothing to do but return to MSU and see if I could do a better job. With hindsight and maturity I was lacking the first time around, I’ve done that. I have a stellar GPA in my major, but my previous degree still blights my cumulative average, rendering me ineligible for most scholarship opportunities.
Let me spell this out for you. Students who transfer a couple of years of current, relevant classes from another school lose their GPAs in the switch, but I graduated with a completely finished degree, that has nothing to do with my current classes, YEARS ago and it’s going to haunt me for the rest of my academic life. I’m not saying I didn’t earn the three Ds on my transcript, but they’re brought and paid for by now. Give me a break! If I had gotten my first degree from another school, this wouldn’t be an issue, so you’d think it wouldn’t be that hard to fix. I’m not asking that my official transcript be expunged; I just want to make sure it also reflects my true knowledge and potential.
To the best of my knowledge, and I really looked, the university handbook doesn’t have anything to say one way or the other about computing GPAs for post-baccalaureate students, but graduate students don’t have to hang on to theirs. What’s the difference?
I asked the registrar’s office in a politely-worded e-mail, fully prepared not to get the answer I was hoping for. To their credit, I got a prompt response explaining…no, just telling me that was the school’s policy. Now, I’m a big fan of abiding by the rules, but not rules without reasons. So I wrote back, asking for a more detailed explanation. I appreciate the response, because I didn’t really expect to get one. I mean no disrespect to the registrar’s office. I know they don’t make policy, but the answer was irritating if not insulting.
I was told via e-mail “The computer will not les us set up a separate set of figures. It has one undergraduate track and one graduate track. It automatically adds the numbers if you are working on a second undergraduate degree and we cannot change it’s operation.”
Yes, I’m serious. It appears no one knows how to control the computer. It just operates on its own will. My suggestion is this: Enter the first degree as transfer credit. That’s not complicated. No system overhaul required, and it just makes sense.