keizo/weblog

My school’s student union is soliciting input from students by running a weekly essay challenge to win an engraved ipod.

The first question was:

“Describe the event, activity, or organization that is missing at RPI which would have the greatest impact on your out-of-the-classroom experience.”

I wrote:

I’m sitting here on a Friday night at 10pm trying to win an iPod. It’s not that I want an iPod; I already have one. It’s not that I like to write; I hate writing, that’s why I’m an engineer. It’s not even that I care much about improving the school; I’m outta here in May. The reason I’m writing is that it’s a competition and I could win something — win anything. Like many at RPI I came to this school as a big fish in a small pond. In high school I was a wizard of math, science and all things academic. Four years later, RPI has eroded my academic confidence with every new 42% I get back. Quite frankly I’m tired of not winning. That is why my suggestion to improve the out-of-classroom experience is to create an organization to generate non-academic competition. We all need a little ego boost sometimes.

Each week a new event could be put on, one week it could be foosball, another could be a taco eating competition and another bowling. Maybe even throw in a DDR competition for those special people at RPI. It would also be smart to include non-social competitions. Like drawing for example. That way we can all get involved without leaving our room or being forced to make eye contact with another human being.

I think you may have started something with this Union Challenge. Keep calling it the Union Challenge, just diversify to more random things. I would suggest keeping track of how many entries you receive and plotting the submission times. With this you could curve fit the data and extrapolate how many students would enter other competitions. Please do this and let us know. It will be great.

Notes

• I don’t actually hate writing, though it may have been true in the past.
• I do care about improving the school, a little.
• I’ve only had one 42%.

The winner Shiina Akasaka wrote:

The problem with the majority of the RPI students is that they are incapable of communicating with each other. Many are staying in their rooms playing computer games all the time, some can only communicate through AIM. Inability to communicate well with others can cause the students to not be able to build strong friendships, a healthier community, and advancement in the academic field. Therefore, I would like to suggest an implementation of a required public speaking program, which will provide students to improve their communication skills and increase confidence in presenting their work in the future.

A public speaking program will improve everyone’s communication skills, which will promote a healthier and more interactive community. Communication skills can be used to improve students’ work environment, club activities, and interaction amongst other peers. If the students can work together and help each other, it will promote healthier relationship with other students. Club activities that are more organized will make students content, and they will enjoy the activity without worrying about unnecessary issues. Also, communication skills are helpful even after students leave RPI. In the real world, getting along with colleagues will not be a problem if RPI students gain good communication skills though a public speaking program.

Also, communication skills are required to present your thought process, your inventions, and research projects clearly. Therefore, a public speaking program will allow students to also excel significantly in academic areas. When RPI students publish technical papers or a thesis, which are written clearly and concisely, many of the engineers and scientists will be impressed. There are many bright students at RPI who are not able to express their full potential due to lack of communication skills.

I personally have taken a public speaking class, and it helped me to construct stronger arguments and helped the way I communicate in general, and at the same time, that class increased my confidence level on presenting my thoughts and beliefs. A public speaking program will have a significantly impact on our out-of-class experience.

Alright, Shiina’s essay is more appropriate and well written than the sarcastic bs I wrote. I too have taken a public speaking class and made the same argument in my final speech. Except I concluded such a solution would turn a great class into another ineffective professional development course. Students are better off taking the class on their own, when they want to. That said, Speech Communication with Merril Whitburn is one of the best courses I’ve taken. I would recommend it over any other elective.

Shiina: if you came across this from google, I hope you don’t mind I copied your paper off the union site.

This entry was posted on Monday, February 26th, 2007 at 8:13 pm and is filed under , . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.