Archive for August, 2009
The best advice I have (is a bit depressing)
Treat your high school years like a failed relationship — forget about it and move on
At this time of year, people frequently turn to me and ask what a student just entering university should know. Actually, they don’t ask, and I’m glad they don’t because the answer is probably not what they want to hear. What one thing should you, the new student, know if you are just starting university? With a high degree of certainty, I can say the following:
Your high school betrayed you.
If you are like most, and as far as preparing you for university goes, about half of what you learned in high school was probably useless. The rest was probably wrong.
Take my discipline, English, for instance. In a typical first year class of forty-five students or so, there is maybe one — maybe one — who actually knows how to write an essay. Many of the rest have done no formal writing at all, and those that have done papers might have called them “essays,” but they were really just reports or personal commentaries. This last group has a particularly tough time, because no matter how much I explain it to them, they assume that what passed muster in high school will pass in my course. It doesn’t.
And it’s not just English. A colleague of mine in biology once told me that she prefers it if her students haven’t taken high school biology at all because then she doesn’t have to spend time at the beginning of the year unwinding the misconceptions and falsehoods with which previous teachers have tangled her students’ brains.
This is not entirely the fault of high school teachers. Little was probably expected of them in the first place, and from the young teachers I know, most attempts at holding high school students to tougher standards are doomed to failure. Principals won’t allow it. Parents won’t stand for it.
Which brings me back to the advice. Your university professors don’t have a principal telling them they can’t fail you. And we don’t care how special or misunderstood your mother thinks you are. So forget about what you think you learned in high school. If you’re lucky, you had some great teachers who actually taught you something valuable, and if you did, you’ll be that much further ahead. But, in general, anytime your professor says something that seems to contradict what they told you in high school, believe your professor. Especially if the sentence begins with “You will not receive a passing grade if…”.
After summer job slump, students seek financial help
At Dal, number of students applying for need-based awards increased by 62 per cent
With summer jobs in short supply, many university and college students now face the prospect of trying to get through the school year on less money or looking for other sources of cash.
So it may not be surprising that along with the spike in the jobless rate, there’s been a corresponding rise in traffic to websites offering information on scholarships and bursaries.
At Studentawards.com, a free scholarship search service, the cumulative increase in registration was 15 per cent in July compared to last year, said Suzanne Tyson, president of Studentawards Inc., the company behind the website.
Parents’ RRSPs and the education savings plans they set up for their children have probably taken a hit amid the economic turmoil of the last year, she noted.
“(Parents) may be losing their jobs and their children aren’t finding jobs, it is leading us to believe that this fall will be difficult financially for a number of students,” she said.
The student unemployment rate was 20.9 per cent in July, according to Statistics Canada.
Matt Scriven is one of the lucky ones.
The 19-year-old was able to find work this summer, but says one of his friends in Vancouver handed out between 30 and 40 resumes and received one or two calls – and didn’t get a job. Another friend in Ottawa handed out 20 or 30 resumes, and got a job that gave him five to 10 hours a week – not really enough to help with his expenses in the coming school year, he said.
Scriven found his own eventual job as web designer for the Canadian Hard of Hearing Association through a listing at Studentopolis.ca – the student jobs website he founded.
The Carleton University student started developing his website after speaking with a friend who said he wasn’t able to find an easy source to access student job listings online.
“A lot of adult workers were laid off their other jobs and now people will do pretty much any job to try and supplement their income because they’ve got families and such, so a lot of students are displaced from positions that they would otherwise have,” Scriven said from Ottawa.
Starting university – it’s just like summer camp!
Six tips to start your year off right
My mum asked me today if I was ready to go back to school, as I will be hopping on a plane in two weeks to the day. I shrugged.
“Yeah, of course I’m ready.”
She looked unconvinced. I am rarely, if ever, prepared for anything.
“But you’ve got two weeks, and you’ll be in Vancouver this week… don’t you have a lot you need to do?”
“No. Mum, it’s a bit like having your third baby,” I said, about to inform her on the complexities of something she, after all, has experienced, and I have not. I haven’t even had one baby, let alone three.
“By this point, I pretty well know how it goes. All I have to do is pick up a bag of diapers and drag the crib out of the garage.”
I had stolen this anecdote from a couple I used to babysit for, so it has some credibility, but my Mum still rolled her eyes.
Regardless, the moment reminded me that it hasn’t always been this simple. Now, I know exactly what I’ll do the moment I get to Ottawa, but two years ago, the city was a blank slate – on which I was actively projecting my most fantastic, but also most terrifying, notions of university life.
So I have utmost sympathy and compassion if you are a first-year university student, especially if you’re throwing up right now. I threw up too. It’s okay!
If you’re like me, the most terrifying part is probably not knowing what to expect once you get to school. I’m not the best person to inform you – I had approximately two friends for most of the year, and probably went to the grand total of one party (not a success story, per se).
But, especially if you’re going into residence, I hope I can provide a few pointers, or at least points of comfort, to start you off:
1. Think of it like high-contact summer camp.
The first few days of school can be a bit mad-cap, so it’s important to get off to a good start. If you’re like me, and find socializing with people your own age nerve-wracking, this is an important time to scrounge up all your courage and be at your most social. Friend groups (initial ones, anyways) are often made within the first day or two, so that’s game time. And, uh, it’s supposed to be fun.
2. Put yourself out there. Shamelessly, if required.
First of all, introduce yourself. No, really, it’s not that dorky. Almost everyone will be feeling awkward, and sometimes you have to make the first move. After all, introductions are a tried and tested way to meet people. Don’t be afraid to go to events alone, and don’t turn down invitations because you want to write your best friend or call your mum. You have the rest of the year to be homesick.
3. Don’t limit yourself to a friend group immediately.
You want to meet people quickly, but you don’t have to commit to them. It’s easy, and in fact quite natural, to find that mid-October, you’re eating lunch with people you met during frosh week, simply because they were the first people you met, not because you actually like them. And it’s also common to be eating lunch with a different group of people by mid-October, with those frosh-friends only a distant memory.
4. Don’t hook up with anyone on your floor in the first week.
Uh, yeah. It may be tempting, but it will probably haunt you for the rest of the year.
5. Find yourself a mentor.
This is an important one. You will find plenty of people to party with, but it can be a real life saver to have an upper year to show you around and give you advice. They are often especially helpful if they’re in your program or from your home town.
Mentors are not hard to find. But they will usually require you to leave your residence room, and the other first years. Program societies often have mentorship programs. At Carleton journalism, you can sign up for one – mine took me for coffee and edited my articles when I was having panic attacks.
Even if there isn’t a program, you can get a mentor just by hanging around and looking really lost. Some of these will become your closest friends (hey there, Laura Baziuk!)
Stock up on extracurriculars (I’ll elaborate on these another time.) I may be biased – but if you like writing, join your student paper. I was an editor last year, as was Jenn Pagliaro, and we were always keen to have new students to take under our wings. In fact, it was part of what we were paid to do. So don’t be shy!
6. Get started now
Like my Mum would say, sometimes a little preparation goes a long way. You may wonder how you can get started on any of this when you’re just sitting at home agonizing. But you can get yourself in the social mindset – start talking to people at the bus stop or in the grocery store to warm up. And if you know of someone who goes to your school already, meet up with them for a coffee, and ask if they can show you around once the year starts.
Of course, if you’re heading to Carleton this fall, I would be more than happy to show you around. And stay tuned, for in the coming days I plan to extoll not just my mother’s advice on leaving for university, but my father’s as well (spoiler: it involves salmon!)
Sunday SFU Post #2: SFU-CFS dispute keeps going and going and…
going. In my experiences, debates on campus concerning the two national student lobby groups, CASA & CFS, are extremely interesting to campus journalists and politicians, and duller than a Canadian sitcom to everyone else (I’m looking at you, Little Mosque). That being said, I’m estimating campus journalists and politicians make up a disproportionate portion of [...]
going.
In my experiences, debates on campus concerning the two national student lobby groups, CASA & CFS, are extremely interesting to campus journalists and politicians, and duller than a Canadian sitcom to everyone else (I’m looking at you, Little Mosque). That being said, I’m estimating campus journalists and politicians make up a disproportionate portion of my audience, so I’ll bite: A B.C. Supreme Court judge has declined to make a summary judgement of the legal battle between Simon Fraser and the CFS, and has asked them, like two squabbling schoolkids, to settle and make nice out of court.
It’s possible that the two sides will settle. Of course, given the fact that this has already been going for a year with neither side willing to budge, it’s even more possible that this will drag on in legal limbo for some time.
In other news, Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead.
Sunday SFU Post #1: “FD” mark mentioned on MSNBC.
Like any patriotic Canadian, I care far too much when American media mentions anything north of the 49th. That being said, the mention of SFU’s new “failure with academic dishonesty” policy on MSNBC is probably the first and last time Keith Olbermann says the words “Simon Fraser University” consecutively in his life. SFU on “Countdown [...]
Like any patriotic Canadian, I care far too much when American media mentions anything north of the 49th. That being said, the mention of SFU’s new “failure with academic dishonesty” policy on MSNBC is probably the first and last time Keith Olbermann says the words “Simon Fraser University” consecutively in his life.
SFU researcher makes virtual environment of Van’s Downtown Eastside
Simulation of Canada’s poorest area, with dark alleys and scary characters, could help criminology research
Those who find traipsing through Vancouver’s notorious Downtown Eastside too nerve-racking of a task now have a safety net: They can simply hit the pause button.
A researcher at Simon Fraser University has mapped Canada’s poorest neighbourhood onto his Nintendo Wii and created a playable virtual environment, complete with darkened alleys and threatening characters.
“We are using video game technologies to create a virtual environment that resembles Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside for criminology research studies,” Andrew Park said in an interview.
Park had 60 participants walk through the virtual environment using the Wii’s sensor-laden balance board and controller. The goal, he said, was to gauge their fear of and reactions to crime in the troubled neighbourhood.
Some of Park’s findings confirmed past social science research studies. Women, for example, were generally found to be more fearful than men in threatening situations.
But some of the other findings, Park said, took him by surprise.
“We found many new things. For example, the background of the streets. If people see deserted or abandoned buildings, then they don’t want to go to that area,” he said.
Park said some participants were unwilling to walk down alleys, instead choosing to stick to wider streets.
“And also, people are very concerned about the individuals on the street. If an individual is very clean, they have no fear. But if people are dirty, they want to avoid those people,” he said.
Park developed his virtual environment by trudging through the Downtown Eastside and snapping photos. He spent one year mapping his pictures onto three-dimensional models using game-design software.
Virtual environments, he said, are becoming increasingly useful because they allow researchers to study potentially dangerous areas without subjecting participants to any sort of risk.
Jeremiah Spence, founder and editor of the Journal of Virtual Worlds Research, agreed that virtual environments provide many benefits.
“Virtual worlds are powerful tools to facilitate experiments and experiences that are exceedingly difficult to create outside of a virtual world,” Spence said in an email interview.
“Virtual worlds are useful tools for creating an immersive interpersonal communications experience in much the same way as bulletin boards, chat rooms, instant messaging and social networks have done in the past.”
Apparently we don’t care
Young people aren’t voting, and therefore stuff is our fault
I’ve had this opinion column forwarded to me by a couple different folks now. The premise is an old one. Because young people are not participating in traditional democracy and party politics, whatever problems that may exist in the system are therefore our fault. I say “our” without fear of contradiction because Mr. Lawrence Martin has managed to define young as anything under 50 or so. Here’s his piece.
Now with all due respect to Mr. Martin, and his very old view of politics, we moved past this level of analysis by the third week in my first year political science course. It’s well understood that young people are turning away from voting and traditional democracy. Hell, everyone is turning away from voting and traditional democracy. The numbers are down across the board. It’s just that younger demographics are down more than others. Maybe that just means we’re ahead of the curve.
What this column ignores are all the other means and venues through which young people express their views and their politics. Cause-based organizations draw all kinds of support from youth. Electronic communities and participation in web-based media has been transformative. Citizen journalism alone, for all its buzzishness, has given a level of voice and initiative to young people that they’ve never enjoyed before. Scratch the surface of any effective political action, from what’s going on in Iran to the mainstream but nontraditional success of Obama’s Presidential campaign, and you’ll find young people doing what no one has ever done before. Okay, so we aren’t voting in high numbers. Maybe that’s because we’ve become convinced there may well be something better than traditional party politics out there.
Anyway, I throw the topic out there for comments. But it’s nothing we haven’t heard before. The most amusing thing about the whole piece is that a man in his 60′s could write about how kids today are lazy and don’t care, imagine he’s saying something original, and fail to see the irony of his own perspective. Some of his points are valid and important but the tone he brings to the topic seems calculated to piss off the very people he claims to want to reach.
For the record, I do vote, and I’ve participated in mainstream politics for some time. I encourage everyone to do so as well. But I participate from a sense of obligation and a willingness to try every avenue – not from the belief that traditional party politics are the solution to our problems. I believe very strongly that new solutions will come from new means of participation and social organization. The kinds of engagement that are on the rise among the young may well turn out to be far more important than the votes they aren’t casting.
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Questions are welcome at jeff.rybak@utoronto.ca. Even the ones I don’t post will still receive answers, and where I do use them here I’ll remove identifying information.
How to spot a college student
Some people play “20 Questions”. Some people play “I Spy”. I do this.
You’re sitting in a hospital emergency room, waiting to see a doctor about that furry lump growing on your foot. You’ve already read all the magazines (twice) and there’s no TV. You look around at the other patients around you. Your first thought, besides “Is the ‘sleeping’ man beside me actually dead?”, is obviously “I wonder if there are any college students here.” Here are some tips for picking a college student out of a crowd.
- The college hoodie. Look around for a college emblem. That’s usually the first give-away. This hoodie will also likely be stained because most college students own no clothing besides their college hoodie. They sleep in it. They go to class in it. They drink in it. They puke in (on) it.
- Sweatpants. If there are no college hoodies in sight, look for a college-age person in sweat pants. They would probably be wearing jeans but the food at the cafeteria is so good and “I’m paying a lot of money for it anyway so I might as well eat all I want!” and now their jeans have all shrunk. (Stupid magical shrinking jeans!)
- Catching some Z’s. If the clothes aren’t a dead giveaway, the droopy eyelids should be. This is sometimes accompanied by earphones on the head of the aforementioned snoozer.
- Socks. Of course they’re wearing sneakers. This is an obvious one. Mismatched socks give you five points. Ten points if the kid isn’t wearing any socks. (Doing laundry is uber-lame.)
- Did you say “free”?! Nobody loves free food more than a starving, broke student. I once saw a freshman wrestling with a homeless guy for a package of Mr. Noodles. (***) Go to the nearest vending machine, purchase a chocolate bar and then ask if anybody wants it. Before the words are even out of your mouth, that person you thought might be a college student will be shoving that Snickers down their gullet.
And there you have it. Tips for spotting a college student. Have fun! Feel free to comment and add your own tips for this ever-amusing game!
(*** OK. Didn’t actually see a freshman wrestling with a homeless guy. But I think it would have been a little funny to see a homeless guy giving a freshman an unexpected elbow-drop to the face. Yes, no?)
- photo by Robert S. Donovan
No secrets in cyberspace
Yet another career ruined by Facebook
They love me. Not!
Maybe I’m unpopular. Or maybe I’m elite.
As a departmental chair, I feel it’s my duty to keep an eye on our department’s enrollments as the new school year approaches, but inevitably I pay special attention to the enrollments in my own classes, and I am dismayed to see that my section of Introduction to Literature is lagging far behind the others. One of my colleagues’ sections has already reached its maximum of 45 students; mine languishes at just nine.
Fortunately, we professors are trained in explaining things away. After all, the low numbers may have more to do with the time slot than anything else: mine is the only section that includes a class on Friday, and students hate coming in on Fridays. Or maybe it’s my reputation for demanding excellence which is keeping the students away. They think I’m “too hard,” but I know I that I simply have admirably high standards. Besides, by the time the first day of classes rolls around, all the sections will be full, so what does it matter?
But then another number catches my eye. That nine is after four students have dropped the course. Four students have dropped the course already and it hasn’t even started. Was it something I haven’t said yet?
St. Thomas U’s president resigns
After 20 years spent in administration, Higgins wanted to “redirect his energy”
The president of St. Thomas University in Fredericton has resigned, citing a desire to work on other projects during the final years of his academic career.
Michael Higgins has been president of the university for three years.
In a statement today, Higgins says he has committed to write two books and a documentary series, as well as conduct research in the area of Catholic higher education.
He says after 20 years in university administration it was time to redirect his energy.
The university’s board of governors has accepted the resignation, which takes effect at the end of December.
Board chairwoman Andrea Seymour says the search for a new president could take up to 18 months.
- The Canadian Press
Learning 3.0
The power of the Internet + you is being redefined
While browsing the stacks of magazines at a local drug store (a favourite pastime of mine), the cover of MIT’s Technology Review caught my attention.
Pictured was the newest in the Google-dominated search engine world — Wolfram Alpha.
Launched on May 15 of this year (2 months, 27 days, 22 hours, 24 minutes, 47 seconds ago, when I asked it) and branded as a “computational knowledge engine” (whatever that means), Wolfram differs from its Google competitor in that it answers your pressing questions and queries from a base of knowledge it curates, instead of pulling results purely from the web.
Like the kid in class, who when asked a simple (usually hypothetical) question during a lecture, chooses to answer in paragraph form — except, with Wolfram, the answers are useful.
When I entered the question, “What is a student?” — something I thought may be too ambiguous to answer beyond a simple definition — Wolfram gave me that basic definition, as well as word origins, frequency of use, synonyms and a variety of other intriguing information — all laid out in an easy-to-use, one-stop-shop page.
Probed with a more difficult question — “What is my diploma worth?” — Wolfram was unable to compute an answer. But if you read the FAQs provided on the website, you’ll learn Wolfram is programmed solely on fact and not opinion.
So instead I tred a more complex input, that required a result that would otherwise be hard to find and that I would have to organize graphically on my own, if I was say, writing a paper on “Employment in the Millennium.”
I enter “U.S. salaries 2000 2009” and it gives me this.
Not bad. Now that’s information tailored to my exact needs with the bonus of a chart I could pop right into an essay (assuming both my professor and I agree the calculations are correct).
Even though Wolfram is still tweaking its know-how, I’m sold on the design and innovation because I’ve never seen an engine as organized as this. Plus, with it being built on the back of a massive software brain capable of millions of lines of code for computing information, I feel confident sourcing it academically.
Combining the ease of Google, encyclopedia-like quality of Wikipedia (without the public interference), Wolfram reminds me of just how innovate and easy learning away from the classroom has become.
Tough times force more Ontario students to apply for aid
U of T has seen a 12 per cent increase in financial aid applications
The number of requests for student financial aid is on the rise in Ontario after a dismal economic year for young people, and university officials say it could be just the start of a flood of applicants that will wash over universities this fall.
“The messages we’re getting from students and their families is that the parents may have had full-time jobs in the early part of 2008, but things happened in 2009 and parents now have lower incomes this year,” said David Sidebottom, manager of financial aid services, admissions and awards at the University of Toronto, as he explained one reason for the increase.
The university has seen a 12 per cent increase in financial aid applications for the school year.
“Parents’ incomes have taken a hit in some cases,” said Sidebottom, who has been fielding calls from anxious students who’ve also struggled to find jobs to pay for their pricey education.
“Students have been having trouble finding full-time jobs going the whole summer,” said Sidebottom, adding that the municipal strike in Toronto also affected students relying on work with city run programs.
Ontario Student Assistance Program applications are up 5.7 per cent this year for colleges and 4.6 per cent for universities, said Patrick O’Jorman, a spokesperson for the Ontario Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities.
“It corresponds to the total number of applicants to schools,” said O’Jorman, who said university applications are also up five per cent.
Last week’s job report also painted a bleak picture for young people, showing a record student unemployment rate of 21 per cent in July.
For Rodney Diverlus, a 19-year-old student from Ryerson University, the challenge to find a summer job to pay his $5,500 tuition as a dance major was daunting and the choices were sparse.
Diverlus, who had worked for event planning organizations and NGOs in previous years, said he hoped to return to similar work, but his summer job became obsolete.
He said months of perusing job posting websites and following possible leads yielded scant results.
“There are moments where you get angry, and there are moments where you ask yourself could I have done more, but after applying for so many jobs, I don’t know,” said a frustrated Diverlus, who had no intention of applying for OSAP this year, but was forced to take out a student loan to pay for school.
Artists take over at UBC gardens
Experience the synergy between art and nature
Art In The Garden took place at the UBC Botanical Garden from August 8 to 9. Since 1999, this annual event has been organised by Janet Lee within the private garden of her home. This year she collaborated with Friends of the Garden, which enabled the event to be relocated and expanded to include twenty diverse BC artists with garden-themed artwork.
Video features Janet Lee and Gudrun Hancock
Janet Lee, Janet Planet Designs and Gudrun Hancock, Friends of the Garden share why Art In The Garden is now at the UBC Botanical Garden, the reasons for the change, and the benefits of the new location.
Video features Raymond Chow, Yolande Morin, and Douglas Walker
Raymond Chow explains why the UBC Endowment Lands inspired him to spend a month at the UBC Botanical Garden to create a series of paintings. In describing his painting of the garden tunnel, he recommends that musicians play their music at its entrance because of the incredible acoustics.
Raymond Chow views the UBC Botanical Garden tunnel as a sound chamber for musicians
Yolande Morin recalls her artistic beginnings in photography as a nine years old. She used a little box camera she received as a gift to take pictures of her friends and family. She states: “[I was] trying to imitate the cherry blossoms by Van Gogh on the blue sky…by photographing in black and white the tree that was in front of our house”
Douglas Walker describes the functionality of an artpiece he calls French Horn Union Number 7. It pumps water through two French Horn sculptures in an S-shape causing water to pour out of the fountains while continuously rotating a water wheel.
Douglas Walker with his French Horn Union Number 7
Gurdin Hancock, Friends of the Garden discovers an Alcea Rosea
Additional pictures are available in the Flickr set.
Smartening up
Presidents of seven smaller universities take aim at the big five
When the presidents of Canada’s “big five” universities discussed their ideas for how to improve our post-secondary system in the last issue of Maclean’s, there were bound to be counterpoints made by leaders at the roughly 95 other schools in the country, especially the smaller ones.
After all, the big five—the universities of Montreal, Toronto, Alberta, British Columbia and McGill—say they want to focus on doing more world-class research as well as graduate education. Other schools, they suggest, could concentrate on teaching undergrad students. The big five believe it’s time for Canadian institutions to break free from the “one-size-fits-all” mentality. Instead, they should consider adopting a “differentiation” model, where every university has a unique mission and resources. They’re also worried that Canada is at risk of being perceived internationally as a second-tier academic destination. And the big five say the country needs to do a better job of translating academic innovation into commercial enterprise.
To understand what other university leaders think about these issues, Maclean’s spoke with the presidents of seven small and medium-sized institutions. In separate, wide-ranging interviews, some themes emerged. Most said they agree that each university should fulfill its own unique mission and strive for excellence in particular disciplines. But they don’t think that the big five—or any five universities—should become more research-intense at the expense of other schools. David Johnston, president of the University of Waterloo, which is the world’s largest work-experience institution, says that while Canada does need to stimulate higher quality research given how dismally it does on international rankings, an exclusive designation wouldn’t be a good way to do it.
The big five, some presidents point out, already get a disproportionate amount of research funding—combined, they get 40 per cent of the total. If Canada is dissatisfied with the research produced to date, the bulk of which comes from the big five, they say it’s illogical to funnel more money their way. “They had their opportunities to clearly demonstrate that they can make a difference,” says Frederick Gilbert, president of Lakehead University in Thunder Bay, Ont., which opened a medical school with Laurentian University in 2005.
Back to School
You knew it had to happen, right?
I don’t want to spoil the last month of anyone’s summer (I’m certainly still enjoying mine) but it’s pretty much that time. The stationary supplies are in all the stores, laptop manufacturers are hawking their wares, and it’s officially time for back to school. It’s time for the extended version anyway – like how Christmas starts in mid-November.
A lot of students head into each new school year hoping for better results. Unfortunately, however, many students pin those hopes only on renewed determination and vague resolutions to “try harder.” While determination and resolve are certainly useful they aren’t enough on their own. If you want a different result you’ve got to change the way you go about doing things. So if you’re serious about improving your grades and performance in school, next year, this is the time to actually sit down and figure out in concrete terms what’s going to be different this time.
I can’t tell you what needs to change in order to sort out your particular problems. It might be your sleep cycle and your social life. It might mean reexamining program choices. Maybe you need to lighten up on the work hours, create a more structured study schedule, or form a study group. Even if you realize you don’t know what to change that can be a good place to start. Book an appointment to visit your academic advising office and they may be able to help. If you can visit campus during the summer that’s a great opportunity to really sit down with sometime. They tend to have more time.
No matter what else you do, if you intend to make a change you need to figure out the steps that are needed to make that change and then follow through with them. Changing your results in school is not different from any other part of your life. Whether it’s exercise or diet or even saving money you can’t get anywhere just because you wish you were better at it. You start with the desire to see some change and then you settle on concrete steps. Write them down if that’s what it takes to keep yourself honest. Treat them like back to school resolutions.
One thing I really like to do before I head back to school is read some material for a class or two on my own schedule and with no rush. Of course that works especially well for English studies but it can work for any subject as long as you’re genuinely interested – and you are interested in what you’re learning, right? You don’t need to make a special effort to start a whole class early or to read what comes first. Just pick anything from your courses and read for the heck of it. If you aren’t sure what you’ll be reading try e-mailing the instructor. Most will have the reading list already sorted.
What I’ve discovered, from doing this, is that I have far better memory and retention for things I read just because I want to. I’m sure we’re all like that. Do you remember your course work from a year ago? I’d bet not. But the novel you read that you really enjoyed? That’s a whole different question. If you can trick yourself into reading course material for fun you get the best of both worlds. And it’s not as hard as you think. Once you remove the deadlines and the pressure, and you read just because it’s the book you happen to have with you, the material is often quite interesting. And you will retain and remember it, I promise. Even if you don’t get to the text for months you’ll know it better than your classmates who sped through it all the night before.
Finally, I really recommend to everyone you try to do at least something near the end of the summer that’s productive and intellectually stimulating. If you’re doing that already that’s fine, but if summer has been just one long vacation or if you’ve got a boring and repetitive summer job you want to break out of that pattern before the first week of September rolls around. Sometimes it takes a couple of weeks to shake the dust off. When you fall behind early you might find you’re playing catch up all year long. Some people are so used to that pattern it feels natural and inevitable. But when you break the cycle and stay ahead of the game everything just feels completely different – and a whole lot less stressful.
It may be a bit sad to contemplate the end of summer but just a little time and thought about the pending school year could make a world of difference. So invest a little now to reap the rewards later. And then get back to enjoying the rest of the season.
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Questions are welcome at jeff.rybak@utoronto.ca. Even the ones I don’t post will still receive answers, and where I do use them here I’ll remove identifying information.
March of the Engineers
This is a story about love. Not just any love. A love of… beer.
This is a story about love. Not just any love. A love of… beer.
Binge drinking affects brains of university students, study finds
Adolescent brain more sensitive to neurotoxic effects of alcohol than the adult brain
Binge drinking could lead to nursing more head troubles than a hangover – it could alter brain functioning and memory, a new study suggests.
Researchers conducted a study of first-year Spanish university students to look at the impact binge drinking had on their attention and visual working memory processes.
The study defined binge drinkers as males who drink five or more standard alcoholic drinks within a two-hour interval on one occasion. Women who drank four or more drinks under the same conditions were classified as binge drinkers.
A total of 95 students from the University of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia in northwest Spain ranging in age from 18 to 20 took part. Forty-two students – including 21 females – were classified as binge drinkers. The remaining 53 – including 26 females – were identified as “control” students – those who didn’t drink enough to raise concerns.
A technique known as event-related potential, or ERP, was used to examine the participants in the study, which is slated to be published in the November issue of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research.
An ERP is the electrophysiological brain response to internal or external stimuli. Researchers paid close attention to monitor the negative and positive waveforms in the brain that are components of ERPs. The waveforms are associated with attention and working memory processes and have been shown to be particularly sensitive to alcohol.
Researchers found healthy young university students – meaning those with no alcohol use disorder, drug use, alcohol dependence or associated psychiatric disorders – who engaged in binge drinking required more attentional effort to complete a given task. That said, the task was still executed correctly.
“These electrophysiological differences found suggest the need on the part of binge drinkers for greater attentional processing during the task in order to carry it out correctly,” corresponding author Alberto Crego wrote in an email to The Canadian Press.
The ERPs were recorded during a visual “identical pairs” continuous performance task. Abstract figures were randomly presented in the centre of a computer monitor placed 100 centimetres in front of the subject’s eyes.
Students were instructed to press a button when two consecutive identical stimuli appeared and not to respond in the other cases. That meant they had to maintain each figure present in their working memory and had to respond if the next figure was the same.
Crego said the differences observed in the study may reflect impairment in both attention and working memory processes.
“Despite adequate performance, if alcohol-induced disruption increases, then performance-related problems may emerge.”
What’s more, researchers write that it has been suggested that the adolescent brain is more sensitive to the “neurotoxic effects” of alcohol and binge drinking than the adult brain, especially structures of the brain that mature later on in development. But Crego notes that further research is needed to clarify the effects of binge drinking on working memory. Longitudinal studies are also needed to understand the evolution of the binge drinking pattern “and of associated neurofunctional and behavioural alterations,” he wrote.
Students celebrate Ramadan in food-obsessed culture
Students tell us what it’s like to fast from sunrise to sunset for one month
In a Muslim country, celebrating Ramadan is relatively simple: Most people are fasting from sunrise to sunset.
But in the U.S., most people are eating, and enticing food commercials, an overabundance of restaurants and watching others eat can make celebrating the holiday more challenging.
How do Muslims deal with the cravings, the puzzling looks and the “Are you on a diet?” questions?
The Associated Press interviewed several university students about Ramadan, which begins around Aug. 21, according to Muslim scholars, and runs for 30 days. (Ramadan is set by sightings of the moon.)
Here are their stories, edited from their own words:
NAME: Saba Shahid, 17, of Naugatuck, Conn., an incoming freshman at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Conn.
HER STORY: I can remember when I was younger, both me and my brother would pretend that we were fasting. We would go up to our parents and say, “We’re not going to eat. We’re fasting too.”
Our parents never had to force us to do it. We were brought up with Muslim customs and traditions from a very young age.
I’m pretty sure the first time I did it the correct way I was in fourth or fifth grade.
I went to a Catholic high school and everyone was supportive. I had non-Muslim friends fast with me. Sometimes I would go to the cafeteria, and other days I would go to the library at lunchtime.
There’s been days in the morning where I have been so busy I just had a glass of water. But I’m not going to lie. There are some days I can’t wait until sunset so I can eat.
At the end we have Eid (Eid al-Fitr). Everyone gets all done up and stuff. We go have community prayer and then break fast together. We’ll come back home and we’ll get presents and go to neighbours’ houses. It’s kind of like our Christmas.
NAME: Abdullah Shamari, 19, of Pomona, Calif., a rising sophomore at University of California, San Diego
HIS STORY: A lot of kids are really excited to fast. I can remember when I was six or seven, I would fast at school and then break my fast when I came home.
Now you see six-or seven-year-olds fasting all day. Their parents tell them they don’t have to, but the kids want to.
I was about 11 when I started fasting the entire day. As you grow up, you realize the significance.
There’s more to it than fasting or abstaining from food. It’s more of a moral fast. You’re bettering yourself in all aspects.
The first day and you haven’t fasted for a whole year, you’re going to get hungry. You’re going to have a headache. But generally no, you don’t get hungry.
Cheating hitting “epidemic” proportions, says prof
Up to 80 per cent of high school, 75 per cent of university students admit to cheating
According to the Canwest News Service, one educational policy professor says cheating among students is reaching “epidemic” proportions.
Speaking at the annual American Psychological Association conference last Saturday in Toronto, Eric Anderman, professor of educational policy and leadership at Ohio State University said the problem is widespread and growing. He said some studies show that up to 80 per cent of high-achieving high school students and 75 per cent of college students admit to cheating.
Previous studies by the American Psychological Association show cheating is relatively infrequent in elementary school, but increases as students become teens and progress through high school.
