WAYT: No place for Penn State love

It is clear to me that there is a fundamental misunderstanding in the general populace and among national sports commentators regarding the punishments levied against Pennsylvania State University (PSU) by the NCAA.  From what I’m hearing, these people just don’t get it. 

The most notable punishments include a four year postseason ban, a $60 million fine, a five year probation that slashes scholarships, and all of its wins since 1998 have been erased from the record books.

You think that the punishments are unjust?  Really?  I cannot fathom what you are thinking. 

Several of the quotes that struck me include:

Penn State student Alex Gibson: "[Vacating] The wins … we didn't cheat in football, that's unnecessary."

PSU student Maddy Proy: "It just keeps piling on and on.  We are a huge family and this is just a huge blow to our family."

Michael Robinson, former PSU player from 2002-2005 who went on to play in the NFL: "Jerry was a sick man.  I just don't think that our program is defined by the actions of one sick individual."

ESPN columnist J. A. Adande: "Why punish athletes who weren't even around when all of this was transpiring?"

ESPN's Jeremy Schaap: "The immediate impact is that the NCAA is allowing student athletes to transfer without penalty.  That means there might be a mass exodus … with no hope of playing at a bowl game, no hope to play in a championship, you would expect to see most of Penn State's top players move out of there."

Alex, Joe Paterno did cheat in football.  He managed his staff in such a way that they were allowed to sexually abuse children on the PSU campus.  The victims were cheated out of an innocent and safe childhood, and the lucky ones who didn’t become victims were left vulnerable regardless.  Anyone who could have crossed paths with Jerry Sandusky was cheated, because any person at any time could have been sexually abused by him.  Paterno decided that football was more important than people.  That’s cheating. 

Maddy, no one is piling on your family.  Your family, a host of individuals corrupted by money and power, violated the laws of Pennsylvania (and all widely accepted codes of moral ethics).  The university that harbored these criminals will now receive the punishment they (so richly) deserve.  If you feel pressured by that, then maybe you’re starting to get the point.  And maybe you should re-evaluate who you include in your family.  I wouldn’t want Joe Paterno in my family.

Mr. Robinson, your program was defined by Jerry Sandusky’s actions.  From top to bottom, behind closed doors, the coaches and administration acknowledged Sandusky’s despicable acts and decided that it was a risk they were willing to take on your behalf.  You, as a former participant in the PSU football program, should be outraged that they put you at risk in this manner.    

Mr. Adande, the punishments are intended to revitalize the program.  If PSU takes a break from their constant striving for wins, maybe they’ll fix their broken system that turned a blind eye to child rape and exploitation for the sake of fame and money. 

And finally, Mr. Schaap, these kids should leave.  PSU obviously doesn’t have its act together.  I’d say it’d be best for PSU to lessen their responsibilities so that the university can focus on its core responsibility. 

That responsibility is the following: INSTITUTIONS OF LEARNING EXIST SOLELY BECAUSE THERE ARE STUDENTS TO EDUCATE. 

This is the only purpose that any teacher serves, to receive students with open arms and fill their minds with knowledge.  Sports are EXTRA.  PSU didn’t, one day back in history, spring from the ground as a football mecca.  PSU is a UNIVERSITY.  If they can’t handle sports, then they should stick to the basics. 

There is nothing in this world that disgusts me more than the idea that grown adults would prey upon small, young children to fulfill their prurient, sociopathic sexual desires.  Truly, even the thought of such a thing makes me simultaneously wretch and fight off a bout of emotional hysteria.  A man who was informed that Jerry Sandusky was committing child rape and decided that was alright deserves to have his statues torn down, his epic football legacy erased, his reputation tarnished beyond recognition. 

Imagine it was you who was Victim #5.  Imagine it was the person you love most.  Get.  Some.  Perspective. 

WAYT: Call me, maybe!

In life, you are your own advocate.  There’s no one else looking out for you except for you, and when you want something, you alone are responsible for whether or not you achieve your goals. 

I bring this up because I am spending a lot of time these days looking for a new job.  I’m ready to move on to a new challenge, something with greater responsibility, something where I feel… promoted from my current status. 

In “job search mode,” I am constantly defending my supreme employability, which begs the question, what are you thinking if you aren’t calling me for an interview??

When a hiring professional reads my resume, they see the basics: I have a college education, I’ve been steadily employed, I am capable of using strong descriptive words to highlight my past work experiences.  But I believe the reader needs to go a bit farther and think about what each line means.  I didn’t painstakingly choose what I said to dupe you into hiring me!  It’s all critically important and verifiable!

For example, when an HR rep reads that I have a degree from Illinois College, they should Google that.  They should find out what type of college it is and evaluate what that means about me.  If you Googled my alma mater, you’d find out that it’s a liberal arts college.  This means that I had a lot of education on a lot of topics.  You’d also find out that it’s a college with a small student population.  This means that graduating with magna cum laude honors is really something.  (Not as good as summa cum laude, but still, pretty darn good!)

When a hiring professional reads my list of previous employers, they should think about what that says about me.  In my first position out of college, I was the only person who worked in the office.  I was solely responsible for the day-to-day operations and the complete support of my boss, who was a pretty important guy.  In my second position, I was the office manager for a very small business.  My job performance was critical to the continued existence of the company.  In my current position, I support seven staff members out of twenty-four total.  That means that I do a great job at doing a lot. 

Also, I was accepted as an intern into two very competitive internship programs during my college years.  Someone considering me for employment should evaluate the programs that allowed me into their hallowed halls.  I started out strong and I continued on an upwards trajectory.  Furthermore, my work experience began back in my intern years.  At this point, I can boast over seven years of accumulated experience, all with increasing levels of responsibility, all of which helped to educate me on various industries and allowed me to broaden my reach among other professionals. 

Which leads me to my next point: I do not know a single person who could say anything damningly negative about me as a professional.  On the job, I am the most committed and responsible person that I know among my peers.  This is why I maintain a reference page and include it with my applications.  I dare you to call my references!

So, in summary and in the interest of being my own advocate, I have to ask, why am I not employable?  (How many other people like me are out there in the world lamenting the same fate right now?)  I know that I’m capable of doing just about anything and I wouldn’t apply for a job if I didn’t know that I could do it. 

Yes, there are hundreds of people out there looking for work who each believe that they are perfectly perfect in every way.  But at some point, a person needs to be recognized (read: that person is me!!).  At some point, something about me should stand out.  What are you thinking if you don’t call me?! 

Just call me, please.  I’m not too proud to beg!

WAYT: Pay the piper

I just read this article about student loan debt.  Unlike Rick Santorum, I don’t think it’s snobbish for President Obama to want everyone to have a college education.  I think the President is being pragmatic.  In the United States today, those who aren’t unemployed are likely underemployed.  If you’re not experienced, educated and well-connected, you probably aren’t doing very well right now.  And President Obama wants to see us, as a nation and as individuals, succeed.  I can’t blame him for that. 

Obama has a few ideas about how to improve the government’s involvement in student loans.  I can’t tell him how to fix it or even if he’s on the right track.  But I can tell you, my readers, about the real dangers of student loan debt.  I don’t know about the effects of this debt on our economy and whether it truly is a threat to our overall recovery, but I can tell you about the effects of this debt on my economy and my family’s recovery. 

Frank and I attended Illinois College, a four-year, liberal arts institution.  It cost more to go there than Heartland Community College or Illinois State University and maybe even more than Illinois Wesleyan.  It wasn’t just the tuition – it never is!  It was also the housing, the meal plan, the travel back and forth (if you want to see your family) and the books.  In the end, we walked away with over $45,000 in debt.  Ouch.  What were we thinking??  (But we are geniuses.  At least we walked away with that too!) 

We are given ten years to pay this debt back.  We had three choices for repayment.  One was to pay the equally divided amount, to spread the payments out over ten years.  The next form of repayment was based on income.  Since we were unemployed at the time, that wasn’t going to work.  The last option was to pay gradually.  The payments would start low and then increase over ten years, operating under the assumption that we would make more money over time to afford the higher payments. 

My first job out of college paid a pittance.  But I owed what I owed so I made the decision to pay the equal amount and we set Frank’s up to be paid back in the same fashion.  I felt that was the most responsible philosophy. 

My biggest issue with our debt is the fact that no one warned me.  No one said, “If you borrow that much money, you will have to pay this much every month.”  What were they thinking – my mom, my high school counselors, the FAFSA people?  I could have gotten the same education anywhere.  Don’t get me wrong, Illinois College did a lot for me and I don’t want to sound ungrateful, but if I had known this would be my reality, I would have chosen differently. 

Furthermore, no one warned me that we would pay ridiculous interest on these loans.  I pay less interest on my two cars and my house COMBINED than I do on these loans.  And I can’t refinance them.  Trust me, I’ve asked a lot of people.  We’re stuck with over six percent interest for the life of these loans. 

And now Frank is going back to school.  He’s a great teacher and I’m so proud of his drive and determination to make the most impact and do the most good that he possibly can.  But now that the government is changing the rules, he can only receive the loans that charge you interest every single day you own them.  That makes the cost even higher. 

My baby sister, who at 18 is no longer a baby (I know, alright!), is getting ready to graduate high school and start college.  She considered Heartland but decided on ISU.  I am terrified for her.  I don’t want to tell her not to pursue her dreams but I can’t live with myself if I don’t warn her of how this debt will change her life.  I speak from experience when I say that our student loan debt is holding us back.  If we could keep that money that we pay every month, we would be different people. 

It’s not responsible these days to say that kids shouldn’t go to college.  Kids need to, they have to!  I’m looking at you, Rick Santorum.  What are you thinking?  Every kid isn’t cut out for college, that’s true, but to say that we should all skip college is snobbish of you!  My cousin is living a great life having learned a trade and I would never begrudge him of the choice he made.  I’m proud of him for knowing himself enough to make the right choice.  But there are so many things that hold us back and this student loan problem is a big obstacle when it shouldn’t be.  It’s really sad that some kids out there will have to choose between an education or a life of poverty – or an education with a life of poverty. 

So rather than calling names, Rick, Barack and Mitt – and every other politician – put yourself in my shoes, my sister’s, my husband’s.  One day I’ll have to have this talk with my son and give him the reality check I never got.  Please don’t make me break his heart.  Please find a way to help us succeed at life. 

WAYT: The math is wrong

While the state of Illinois languishes in debt up to its eyeballs, the Illinois General Assembly is busy debating whether or not high school students should be required to take more math classes. 

Our Lieutenant Governor has been on a grand tour of all of the state’s community colleges, and the most important thing she learned was that students are not good enough at math.  The next logical step is to get high schoolers to take MORE math.  In the eyes of our humble politicians, practice WILL make perfect. 

What are they thinking?  I mean, really, what is the thought process behind this push, at this particular moment in Illinois history?  Get some perspective!

I object to this four year plan because I am terrible at math.  Just today, I realized that I can’t even record numbers correctly, let alone calculate them.  I wrote a check for $56 but recorded it as $65 in my register.  Genius!  And I took the four years of high school math the GA now recommends – how could I still be this stupid? 

Sixty six percent of my high school math teachers were terrible at teaching math.  I remember I had a tiny Asian geometry teacher who was amazing.  She had songs and illustrations and maybe it makes her sound juvenile, that she was so enthusiastic, but I learned from her.  The old guy who taught me two sections of algebra and the old woman who taught me trigonometry were horrible teachers.  They may have been complete geniuses but they had no clue how to pass that genius on to me.  The words “lost in translation” come to mind. 

When I went to college, I was seriously at a loss when it came to math class.  I tested into the lowest possible section but luckily got a sympathetic teacher who miraculously made my calculator and brain work together for the first time.  He understood that I was never going to be a math whiz and he helped me get through it and on to where I belonged without further damaging my self-esteem or GPA. 

But let me assure you, I did not need four years of math in high school.  What I needed was therapy for my random dyslexia (clearly) and more emphasis on basic math skills before high school.  I still cannot recall a single thing related to fractions and trust me, I’ve really tried to remember.  To do basic multiplication, I use the same rhymes I learned in fourth grade and a hand trick for all the multiples of the number nine. 

I really don’t want the General Assembly legislating that my son will have to take four years of math.  I suffered through that trigonometry class trying to smarten myself up for my ACT test, and I guarantee all that I really accomplished was to take four months off of my expected life span from all the angst and tears.  If Auggie is no good at math, I am going to feel horrible, watching him beat himself up the way that I did.  There was nothing more demoralizing than math.  Truly, I have the most traumatizing memories and I just can’t stomach the idea of him suffering the same fate. 

Future generations would really benefit from APPLIED math, if they have to up the required minimum.  What good does it do a student like me to sit in a high school classroom and be talked to about equations when I could have been learning how to translate measurements in the kitchen or how to quickly figure out that I wrote $65 instead of $56 in my checkbook?  For the smarties who excel at math, PLEASE, put them in four years of math.  Leave me to what I can handle and those other kids can go on to do great things. 

Obviously the General Assembly didn’t take four years of high school math.  They can’t balance a budget to save their lives.  It’s really the pot calling the kettle, especially considering the work they should be doing.  I’m sure they think that talking about math classes has something to do with jobs in Illinois and overall American competitiveness in the global market, but I’m telling you, they’re totally off base on this and they’re wasting our money while they’re at it.  Even a mathematical moron like me can see that! 

I’ve brought up a lot of topics here: government mandates on education practices and requirements, teacher quality, career preparedness, future workforce, etc.  This is why the GA can’t just go spouting off about four years of math.  They need to look at the bigger picture.  Our problems are about more than math.  Stepping into the middle of this issue is ignoring a whole host of other issues that are just as important.  They cannot simply address shortcomings in math; there are many other areas that affect this one subject in school and that affect any given child’s future.