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President Bush to blame for student ignorance
By Anthony McConnell
Trail Editor
On the front page of last week’s Trail, the headline included the word “gubernatorial.” This seems to have caused some confusion among the student body and I would like to clear up some of that confusion.
First thing first, the definition of gubernatorial. This is quite simple, dictionary.com defines gubernatorial as “of or pertaining to a state governor or the office of state governor.”
So why was this word used in a headline in the Trail? This too is simple. The bulk of our readers are either in college or college faculty, so it stands to reason that our readers are educated enough to know, or at least be able to figure out, what a word such as gubernatorial means. Unfortunately, it seems this is not the case. It should be noted there were no complaints from faculty about the headline in question.
Who is to blame for the apparent ignorance of the students at NWC? The easy answer would be the faculty, but it would not be the correct one. The faculty at NWC is world class and busts their butts making sure students know everything they need to. Could it be the students themselves? This is a little closer to the answer, but not quite.
There is an old expression that goes a little like this — “attitude reflects leadership.” And therein lies the problem. The youth of today are looking toward the leadership of the good old U.S. of A. and their level of education reflects that. We have a president who brags about being a C student, and by doing so, has brought mediocrity to a whole new level.
We don’t need students aspiring to be average. We need students who strive to be great. We live in the greatest country in the world and our citizens should reflect that. Not too long ago, John F. Kennedy said, “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.”
Well if you really want to do something for your country, educate yourself. Kennedy also said, “Let us think of education as the means of developing our greatest abilities, because in each of us there is a private hope and dream which, fulfilled, can be translated into benefit for everyone and greater strength for our nation.”
In this era when people are looking for a way to be patriotic, the best way to let your love of America shine is to learn as much as possible. The real way to defeat the terrorists is not to follow one man blindly, but to learn as much as possible. Knowledge is and will always be the enemy of fear.