I am cross-posting an editorial in this week's New University (the UC-Irvine campus paper). The article, which is signed only by the New University editorial staff, concerns UCI's campus pub ( the Anthill Pub). There are a couple of passages in the article which I have highlighted for discussion.
http://www.newuniversity.org/2011/03/opinion/anthill-pub-is-totally-awesome/#comments
"The pub is an excellent place for informal discussion. Rather than having music blasted in your ears by fraternities at the flagpoles or having smoke blown in your face by Asian gangsters outside of the Student Center, you can grab a drink, cozy up on the couch, and have a discussion in a place that is more inviting than a study area but not quite as inviting as your apartment. Essentially, it’s a great place to keep people at arm’s length."
"And until the study is over, laughs can still be had on the daily by reading such funny sentiments on the chalkboard, like, “For a great blowjob, call XXX-XXXX.” At least everything on there is true. Finally, how “Irvine” is it to even contain bathroom graffiti to a defined location?"
I will let the reader judge whether the second passage contains language suitable for a campus paper. If true names and phone numbers are written on the wall, that is hardly funny.
It is the first passage that raises a big question. First of all, as one who has made the long walk through the Student Center area and the Anthill pub many times, I have never noticed "Asian gangsters" blowing smolke in anyone's face. On a campus that is predominantly Asian-American, I don't recall ever seeing anyone that resembles a gangster.
But the real question is how this kind of reference gets on a university campus paper and where is the reaction? As I write, the New University website has zero comments to the article. It is certainly possible that the writer(s) of the article are Asian-American and giving a good-natured jab to their fellow Asian-American students. Yet, in the absence of that, why is there not more a reaction from the readers? Is this not offensive on its face? A year after certain events happened at UC San Diego, the university is still reeling from reactions to those events, which reeked of anti-black racism. Yet that same university pooh-poohed the incident in which a young Muslim student told David Horowitz that she agreed with a statement by the leader of Hezbollah that "Jews should all gather in Israel so they can hunt them down more easily." That story had virtually no legs on the UCSD campus and in the halls of its administration building.
Could it be that certain groups can be offended or mocked while others cannot? Why cannot the standard be the same for everybody?
I have tried to post a comment to the New University website a couple weeks ago and got an error message. I tried on two different computers, so I know it wasn't my computer. Do you have to download something to post comments on there?
ReplyDeleteThere would probably more comments on the new university website if the comment section worked better.
I walk past that area of the campus almost daily and don't see any asian looking gangsters.
I used to put stuff up there, but have not in some time. It shouldn't be a problem or require any downloading or registering.
ReplyDeleteI'm always dismayed with the level of these students' writing. It certainly isn't college level (or shouldn't be).
ReplyDeleteIt starts out "For a campus often described in such bated adjectives as..." The word "bated" means "in great suspense" or "anxiously" or "excitedly" "the condition of waiting for something to happen." That clearly is not what they intended to say but whatever it was that he (or she) intended to say will never be known because they were too damned lazy to think about what they wanted to communicate or try looking it up.
It is filled with half thoughts, poorly expressed incomprehensible notions, and grammatical errors.
Gary, are they all this bad?
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Miggie,
ReplyDeleteWhen I retired from DEA and started teaching ESL at N Virginia Community College, I also taught a couple of drug education courses for American students. Some of their term papers looked like they had been written by my foreign ESL students.
I think the problem is that our students are getting so much indoctrination in place of the three RRRs that it shows. Corporations have been telling universities for years now that university graduates entering the work force are not ready and prepared. Thus, businesses are looking for masters degrees and older workers who have a more traditional education and background.
It's pretty bad.
I know my writing has deteriorated over the past few years. After spending a lot of time reading message boards and posting on them, I have become lazy and have forgotten grammar rules. At least I did learn and used them at one time. I am sure many college students today are as familiar with text language as they are with traditional grammar.
ReplyDelete