The Unofficial Student Site

• Have fun.
• Be safe.
• Take a moment to think about our dedicated troops who are all over the world right now.
• Oh yeah, and don’t drink & drive

Have you ever said to yourself, “Wow, this is completely unnecessary”? Or “Whoever thought of this must have been wasted”? I know I have. There are just some things in college that we, as students, would be better off without. Let’s explore what goes on in the college world and we can do without.

1. Pine Straw. Pine straw is taking over college campuses everywhere. It seems as if the school officials buy this stuff every week. How about putting that money toward something more beneficial! For instance, more parking spaces, new library books, better lighting in dark areas, decent looking dorm rooms, eatable food in the cafeteria, and so forth.
2. Blue Books. Or whatever your school calls those little examination booklets that we must get to take our exams. They have the little school conduct code, or whatever on them and you sometimes must travel out of your way to get them. And on top of that, if you so happen to forget it on exam day, you get points deducted. Quoting Peter Griffin, “That really grinds my gears!”
3. Campus Police. The only thing they seem to be good at is “investigating”, never preventing.
4. Fire Drills. Not just any fire drills, I’m talking about the fire drills that the school rather conduct at 11 p.m. as oppose to earlier in the day. During the week at 11 p.m., we are studying, showering, watching television, snacking, possibly pre-gaming, or playing video games; all of which are way more important than having a fire drill.
5. Fall Break. I know I will get hammered for this but it must be said. Fall Break is around 3 or 4 days, including the weekend. Why on earth would you get our hopes up for a break, and 2 of those days are already given to us? Then when it’s time to go back to classes, we have to start all over because those 3 days consisted of nothing but sitting around and doing nothing. It’s like giving your dog ¼ of a meal. Give us a real break and stop teasing us!
6. Fraternities & Sororities. Nah, I’m just kidding. Greek life is awesome! (And it has nothing to do with the fact that I am in a Fraternity).
7. Filling out a FAFSA, every year. Why? As much technology as we have, you mean to tell me that I have to fill out this thing every year? If we can put people in space, have a space station in space, and shoot down a satellite in space, why can’t we have a one-click financial aid button my Myspace?
8. Assistant Professors. For some reason, I feel like we are smarter than they are.
9. Deans. Is it just me or does it seems like their sole purpose on earth is to make our lives more difficult?
10. Friday Classes. Let’s do a study of the number of people who attend class on Wednesday morning, as oppose to a Friday morning. Catch my drift?
11. Homework over the Holidays. I’m sorry but I don’t feel like learning about the “5 weirdest shape bones in the body” while I’m eating turkey.
12. Parking Decals. Paying $200 to park approximately a mile away sounds reasonable. By the way, if my car gets stolen I will just call campus police. They may not find it but at least I know they are investigating it.
13. Lectures. Is it possible to try making it interesting? For goodness sake, you don’t have to change what you say, but at least put on a Cap’n Crunch outfit and keep my attention.
14. Term papers. Enough said.
15. Final Exams. As if given pop quizzes and test weren’t enough. At the end of the semester, they now want us to pretend like we are drinking and regurgitate anything we might have previously consumed. Anyway you look at it, it sucks!

The two most prominent parties in the United States are the Republican and Democratic parties. Republicans are considered conservative while Democrats are labeled as liberal. As you read this article, the current party platforms will reveal the current positions that each party traditionally holds.

With accusations flying and the barb trading between each party, it can be hard to tell where they stand on certain issues. The “controversial” issues are listed below with each party’s traditional view.

Abortion

Democrats: It’s the woman’s right to choose and should therefore be legal.

Republicans: Taking away the life of an unborn child should not be legal and the government should restrict it as such.

Gun Control Laws

Democrats: More guns control laws are needed to address a seemly growing problem with guns.

Republicans: Oppose more gun control laws. Enforce the laws we do have rather than create new laws to address the situation.

Discrimination

Democrats: It’s up to the government to step in and provide a “safety net” to victims of this practice; otherwise people will take advantage of others.

Republicans: Strong anti-discrimination laws are unnecessary. Keep the laws modest because people have morals and should be given the benefit of the doubt.

Military

Democrats: Decrease military spending to focus on other important issues. Utilize NATO and the UN; let’s always keep our friends involved.

Republicans: Increase military spending to maintain the finest military in the world. Sometimes we must go in alone because NATO and the UN don’t always act “tough enough” on important issues.

Gay Rights

Democrats: It’s part of their civil rights to be with whoever they choose.

Republicans: Marriage should be between people of the opposite sex: a man and woman

Minimum Wage

Democrats: Favor the workers and always seem to support minimum wages hikes. Wages should increase with inflation.

Republicans: Don’t normally favor minimum wage increases because it could hurt businesses, which in turn, could hurt the economy.

Death Penalty

Democrats: Taking someone’s life as a means of discipline is absurd.

Republicans: The death penalty is necessary to curb violent crimes.

Prayer in Schools

Democrats: There should be a separation between church and state; people have different beliefs and we should respect that.

Republicans: It’s part of our nation’s culture to place prayer in school and keep it that way.

Flag Burning

Democrats: Flag burning is acceptable and unpatriotic, but it falls under freedom of speech.

Republicans: Flag burning is unacceptable and unpatriotic, and is not what the constitution intended.

Natural Environment

Democrats: The environment needs to be protected and its the government’s job to enforce laws against harming the environment.

Republicans: The environment needs to be protected, but don’t make the laws too strong because it could do more harm than good.

Taxes

Democrats: The people with the most money should pay the most taxes; tax increases are mostly good.

Republicans: The entire economy can benefit if taxes remain relatively low; tax cuts are the way to go.

HealthCare

Democrats: Supports universal healthcare so every single person has access to affordable and effective healthcare coverage.

Republicans: Oppose universal healthcare coverage because government run healthcare leads to inefficiencies, long waiting periods, and often substandard healthcare.

It must be said again that these are the positions each party holds traditionally. Each candidate can hold to these view point strictly or they can mix it up a bit. It’s not uncommon to find a “liberal republican” or a “conservative democrat”. When it’s all said and done, it really depends on the person. However, the majority of democrats and republicans differ on the main issues as list above.

As we all know, you don’t have to be a Rocket Scientist to receive good grades. It just takes a little work on your part and a drive to do it. These simple routines are a great way to start. Just try it out, you will see a difference. I promise.

10. Read ahead. Believe it or not, this helps.. I know its very challenging to do but the information will be a review once it’s gone over in class.

9. Listen in class. I know you feel like dosing off sometimes but it doesn’t last forever. Even if your professor sucks at what he/she does, all you need to do is listen.

8. Take notes. You only retain about 10-20 percent of what you hear. Even less than that if your teacher is boring, so note taking is a good strategy.

7. Ask questions. You don’t know everything and you won’t understand everything. Ask questions to clear things up.

6. Learn to say no. You don’t need to attend every movie, concert or whatever you college students do these days. Stay in every now and then and crack open a book. Easier said than done, right?!?!

5. Study in groups. When you study in a group, it presents information in a different manner. Very effective and could also be quite fun. No goofing off though…

4. Make a schedule. This comes very handy when you have a lot going on. Scheduling can make your life a whole lot easier.

3. Set goals. What do you want to attain? What are you aiming for? You must make a decision about what you want to achieve.

2. When you study, do it in shorts spurts. Cramming overloads the brain, never cram. Also, when you study for over 2 hours straight, you tend to lose information. Study for 30 minutes, take a 5 minute break, then continue.

1. Sleep well. This is probably the most overlooked one. Sleeping refreshes not only your body, but your much needed brain. Get as much sleep as you can, it really helps.