Football is a Sucker's Game

Michael Sokolove's article, "Football is a Sucker's Game," was actually really interesting to me, even though it wasn't really what I expected. From the title, I assumed it was going to be some intense intellectual hating on football a lot, which would have been okay with me too. But instead, the article was a view into something I had never really understood before. I still don't feel like I understand football, but I never realized that it was so expensive! To me it seems illogical that the coaches get paid so much, and that the players won't come to universities unless they have the nicest "facilities." But what does it really matter if the locker rooms have metal lockers instead of wood? I have a problem with the idea of spending tons and tons of money on stuff that seems unnecessary to me, when other people don't have enough to eat. I also have a problem with the idea of buying things with money you don't have, especially such expensive things. Our society is built around this idea, it seems- it's easy to buy as much as you want with a plastic card, and that's why so many people in our country are so far in debt. I never realized that this idea is also a key part of college football.

Another problem I have with college football after reading this article is the idea that a good football team will increase the number of students who apply to the college. Maybe that's true but it's kind of sad, because football and academics are so unrelated. I did not go through the college search process, because I already knew I wanted to go to UO, and I ignored most of the pamphlets and flyers I got in the mail from this and that college, so I don't really know how people make the decision of which college to go to. But I sincerely hope it's not just based on which college has the best football team. That doesn't fit in with my "idea of a university."

Can This Campus Be Bought?

In "Can This Campus Be Bought?," Jennifer L. Croissant (who has such an awesome name, by the way) explores the implications of companies giving financial "gifts" to universities and university departments. One of the major issues with this type of philanthropy is the fear that students will be seen simply as consumers, and that their identity as students and learners and intellectuals will be undermined by their identity as consumers. "For many students, to be a citizen is to be a consumer, and nothing more."

The other main issue with companies giving financial help to universities is that it is never a "no strings attached" gift. It is fair that the companies want a say in the direction of the research that they are funding, because, after all, they are paying for it. But it can also limit students and faculty to do research about things they really want to study. This is a tricky issue for me to figure out how I feel about it, because I can see where both sides, the companies and the universities, are coming from. The universities want to have the freedom to make their own decisions, but they also need the funding from the companies. The companies want some benefits in exchange for all the money they are putting in. As for now, I'm not quite sure how I feel about this issue.

HUNGRY

I'm hungry.

The Idea of a University / Learning in the Key of Life

John Henry Newman's "The Idea of a University" did
not really appeal to me, although I did like some of
what he said. I think I agree with him that the point
of coming to a university is to learn. Now people come
just to party or with the hope that it will make them
make more money when they get out into the real world.
But for me the real motivation to come to college is
intrinsic. It's just to learn, because I love to
learn.

I really enjoyed Jon Spayde's "Learning in the Key of
Life." We really limit ourselves when we take on the
mindset that we can only learn in school, because then
when we are not in school anymore we essentially close
our minds. But the world has so much more to teach us
than just what we can learn in a university. My
favorite part of the essay was where he addressed
intrinsic motivation to read and to learn as opposed
to extrinsic motivation. "...rattling from book to
book, looking for connections and grandly unconcerned
about whether we've read 'enough,' as long as we read
what we read with love." Sounds like the perfect life
to me. I think we just need to open our minds to the
possibility that we can learn all the time, and then
we can do it.