SWA 7

In today’s society, viewpoints, opinions, and ideas are constantly changing and shifting, especially with college students. Alan Finder’s article, “Matters of Faith Find A New Prominence on Campus,” talks about changes in faith; Richard Just’s article, “Schools of Thought: The Liberal-Conservative Divide on College Campuses,” talks about changes in political affiliations; David Leonhardt’s article, “The College Dropout Boom,” talks about different class associations, all regarding college students.
In times of sorrow and sadness, religion can become more and more important in peoples lives. Alan Finder’s article, “Matters of Faith Find A New Prominence on Campus,” discusses the increased interest in religion and religious organizations throughout college campuses. He states that “there is more interest in religion on campus, both intellectually and spiritually,” (75) and that there are many causes for this increase. Some of this increase, he suggests, comes from different world affairs that have been happening. The terrorist’s attack of September 11 has been a factor in the “influence of religion on world affairs.” (75) There is more in the news and in political discussions about religious rights. In addition to the attack of September 11, the current war in Iraq has “contributed to the interest in religion among students.” (76) The war has made college students question what the war is really all about.
Richard Just’s article, “Schools of Thought: The Liberal-Conservative Divide on College Campuses,” discusses the liberal and conservative groups on and around different colleges and universities across the country. In the current society, changing times in politics, world events such as September 11, and student apathy has made it acceptable to be conservative even though the majority of students define themselves as being liberal. The number of liberal or progressive groups is much greater than the “conservative counterparts,” which “are much fewer in number.” (81) Although there might be fewer conservative group offerings, this allows them to recruit more people, whereas the liberals have too many choices and can not always decide, causing there not to be enough members for a specific group to succeed. Conservatives are beginning to “feel more comfortable than their liberal peers…easier to be conservative at college after September 11.” (83) It is acceptable to be conservative because there are not as many negative stereotypes on campuses about them, mainly because they do not have as much public viewing. The liberals are offering too many choices, which seems to dilute participation, and actually may divide people on how things should run, which creates bitter feelings and a lack of cohesiveness. Also, liberal groups “often end up being dominated by its most extreme voices,” (81) causing a lack of true representation. Being conservative also became more popular after September 11th because it was acceptable to support troops, be patriotic, and be anti-terrorist. Conservative events were often “advertised as a ‘pro-troops’ event rather than a ‘pro-war’ event.’” (84) Being conservative has become more and more acceptable in the recent years.
“The College Dropout Boom,” by David Leonhardt gives an example of a student from a lower income family in rural Virginia who leaves college after one year to stay home, and work in a low-paying job. He never goes back to school, marries a high school sweetheart, and eventually struggles to make ends meet. Leonhardt writes this article to show that lower income young adults are less able to be successful in college because of their backgrounds and role models growing up. Their incentive to stay in college is than middle or upper income families. It has been shown that on campuses who enroll “poorer students, graduation rates are often low,” and that currently there are more students who “come from the top of the nation’s income ladder than they did two decades ago.” (99) When lower income students look at and hear these statistics, they are less and less motivated to attend college. Since the gap between rich and poor is getting larger, more rich students are graduating than poor students. Although there are colleges with diverse students, they all tend to “share and upper-middle class upbringing.” (100) Lower income students do not know as much the importance of a college degree as upper-middle class students do. Those brought up in upper-middle class lifestyles thought that they “simply must graduate from college,” while lower income students such as Andy Blevins “did not know the importance of a degree while growing up.” (100) In addition to lack of information on the importance of a degree, dropout rates are increasing because high schools “do a poor job of preparing teenagers for college.” (101) Also, colleges with lower income students usually have more “limited resources” and a “narrow range of majors.” (101) Costs of tuition are also a deterrent, people do not to “leave others with years of debt,” and college also “seemed like another week of losing money…that might have been made at a job.” (101) Upper-middle class students do not have these worries. Since the upper-middle class “dominates elite universities, high income students get slightly more financial aid than low income students do.” (103-04) This lack of financial aid for lower income students is also a deterrent for college.