Dreaded finals week (by The Dorq)

This is the week where college students lose their minds. Where students that had no idea that the library exists have commandeered my favorite study spot, but that is not what I am here to "rant" about. I am here to speak about the people that do not care. I do not understand why some people are even here (in college) when all they do is party, skip class, and wonder why they are on academic probation. I first hand experience this with my roommates who will have a "crying party" about how they are failing a class. I am not saying they are bad people in any way, or targeting them as a person, just their study habits. I bet if they went to class and did not drink on weekdays then maybe they would be doing well in their classes.

I recently had to do an essay and it got me thinking about how much my life matters to me. In this essay I explained why global skepticism does not necessarily matter. Whether we live in a virtual world (such as the matrix) or we live in the "real world" does not matter. The assignment was, “Imagine you KNOW that you and the entirety of this world are in a virtual reality right now.  It is a fully simulated reality.  And as we all know, this world is full of violence, hate, and more than enough suffering of every stripe and variety to go around ten times over.  Now, imagine that one day while walking to class, you notice a small blue box.  You pick up the box, open it, and find a button and a pamphlet.  The button is labeled 'OFF.'  After reading the pamphlet, you realize that this button is the OFF button for the entire simulation.  With one push, you and EVERYTHING ELSE would vanish without a trace, without pain.  You are now faced with a decision…do you push the button?”  Well the point was I would I want to live in a virtual world if I had found out that it was not real. It is real to me, which is why I try so hard to achieve my goals.

I strive to do well in school, to study by butt off to get good grades, and to make something of my life. I mean in the end we are all going to die, but it is the time you had to live that matters. I don’t understand how people do not care what happens to them, that they do not want to strive to be the best that they can be and make something of themselves. In my class we had gone over whether a computer-simulated life would be meaningful and I’m wondering how people who can’t seem to care about the life they have now can even have an opinion on something concerning the meaning of life. I see students who are working hard to make the best lives for themselves that they can (even if they aren’t in school, but working) and I can see that they know the meaning of living life to the fullest.

Seeing people like my roommates, however, just makes me think that life could be meaningless in some people’s eyes. 

Still trying to find a new spot at the library,

The Dorq

Unknown Career Possibilities (by anon)

I strongly believe that high school doesn't do a good job of preparing our minds to make long term career choices upon entrance to college. Sure, you can go to your guidance counselor to explore different career pathways. But do we ever know of all our different options? Then college rolls around and all of a sudden students are told to choose a major. 
    

At this point I'm thinking I'm deciding the rest of my life in putting one word on my advising report. Little did I know. It took some playing around with classes, two years, and changing my major to feel content with that one word on my AR. So what's my point for all this rambling? I think UW-Whitewater needs to have a 'Career Exploration' class for all incoming freshmen. 
    

In this introductory course, students would explore different career opportunities, take assessments that categorize people into career clusters based on their interests, be explained the different schools /programs at Whitewater, and get any remaining questions answered. Yes, there is the 'New Student Seminar' class, but looking at future career choices isn't part of the curriculum. I think so many students would be interested in taking this new course. Not only would it better educate students on their possibilities, but it would also offer a sense of understanding and direction when beginning the college experience. 
   

It is safe to say students would probably change their major less, because they would understand what they declared and what requirements it entails. Maybe other high schools actually had career counselors that aided in choosing their college focus. My high school didn't, and Im guessing that's the root of my problem. Regardless though, I strongly believe all students could benefit from a course like this. 

-Anon

I should have not taken philosophy (by anon)

I took philosophy.  I took a lot of philosophy.  I’m fucked up now.

I used to think the world was a fairly simple place.  People.  Books.  My mind.  The world.  Truth.  Simple.

But I’ve learned that the world is really complicated.  Nothing is ever what it seems.  Multiple ways of looking at everything.  More perspectives we can ever dream of and not one of them is necessarily “right”.  The world is not simple and “truth” may be more a fiction than anything else.

I learned that the world is absurd.  I live in a world that has no big significance and yet I cannot help give it significance.  The absurd.  It’s irrational and I can’t do a damn thing about it.  I have my subjectivity and consciousness, but they seem more like consolation prizes.

I spend my time thinking way too much about too many things.  I didn’t before.  Life was easier.  Now I question even who I am at times.

I was excited about philosophy at first.  I was learning to think.  Maybe for the first time.  But the deeper I got the more classes I took, the more wrapped up I got.

I should have taken the blue pill and woke up in my bed believing whatever I wanted to believe.  Walking away.  Instead I took the red pill and there is nothing left to believe.

To that annoying kid in class (by anon)

The thing that I am critically pissed about is the kid in my class that is beyond annoying and thinks that he needs to comment on everything in class and whatever anyone says. Usually I don’t really care about these types of people; I can usually block them out. But in this instance I had to have this kid in my group and while we were doing our prep, he made some comments that I was not very fond of.

During the prep of our assignment, we were going over what we were going to say and did a dry run of it. While we were doing our prep, this kid decides to makes a comment along the lines of how I look, calling me fat and unattractive, along with lazy. I realize that this was probably just out of character to make him look better for the part he was playing. But when you come at someone with those types of comments who is already self-conscious about themselves, it’s very hurtful. I literally sat up and tried not to cry because of what he said. Not to mention, only one other member of the group spoke up to defend what was being said. If that were to have been said to someone else, I would have spoken up right away. It is not okay for someone to degrade another person because of the way they look. And coming from someone who you know is always speaking their mind and not having any respect for others, it was more believable because they usually don’t care what they are saying and who they are talking to.

Which then brings me back to when the campus did the wide spread campaign for “you are beautiful.” In class we discussed how people don’t take those notes seriously, but when you are struggling with the way you look, notes like that can help give you that little boost of self-esteem.  All it takes is some asshole to decide he wants to be an asshole to make one comment to tear someone down. The best part, he didn’t even acknowledge that what he said was rude and hurtful. He just continued to talk and didn’t take apologize about what he said. Whether or not it was directed to be said that way, it didn’t need to be said at all. There was no need for him to comment on something that personal, even if it makes your character “look better.”

This kid is the definition of rude and ignorant. He has no respect for others and is not shy of showing it. I realize that you are going to deal with people like this either on a daily basis, or through life. But it’s called common curtsey to have respect for others; you don’t need to make comments like that because all it does is make you look like an asshole. And you know you are an asshole when the teacher calls you out in class and says that you have zero respect for others and more than half of the class agrees.