Outine

1) My opening scene will be of a student who failed classes and eventually failed out of school. He didn't go to class about 80 percent of the time. I realize this is an extreme case but it is a good example of what could happen. His parents scream and yell at him for the money they have wasted, the time and effort they put in, and most of all are hurt over his decision. This scene includes dialogue from parents to son. It also includes a few of the questions I asked this person about why they did what they did.

2) "It just seemed easier not to care. I just did me"

3) I am writing about the problem of students skipping class here at Penn State. It is relevant and important because almost everyone I've talked to has skipped at least one class. It is a widespread problem that is a factor at just about every school in America. What I want to find out is really how many students skip. I want to know the major reasons why they do it, the excuses they may give to a professor, if one is needed, when classes are skipped, and what the most frequently skipped classes are here at Penn State.

4) Freshman skip classes everyday at every college for as far back as college goes. It has caused mass amounts of people getting kicked out of school and millions of dollars to wasted education funds. There are many reasons like partying, doing homework, and simply having an easy class that you can do well in even without attending.

5) "I skip econ everyday and got an A on the exam. If I just find 30 minutes on my own time to teach myself everything, I'm good on test day," said Jeff Stern, an 18 year old SRA major at Penn State. This is proof that skipping class is prevalent.

6) I have an interview planned with Dr. Albena Z. a calculus teacher who takes the stance of no attendance. She has said, "If you don't want to come to class then don't come to class. It's about you wanting to do well. If you don't want to do well then I don't care." This is the point of view of many teachers at Penn State saying that at this point if a student doesn't care it is not the professors problem. They get paid to be a professor not a babysitter.

7) "Sometimes it's just too much for me man. I can wake up at 8 to shower and get to class every monday wednesday and friday if I'm gonna be up til 3 in the morning doing work." This was said by freshman Shawn Warrender 18 year old DUS major. He is a person that tries extremely hard to get all his work done but when it comes to college sometimes the work load can be a little much.

8) Skipping is going to be a problem everywhere for a long time. It's just too hard to control this problem. It's truly up to the student how much time and effort they put in to their school work and class. In general, even the smartest and hardest working students won't be able to make class every once in a while. Once we understand the major causes of these problem we can begin to fix the problems at the roots. I will talk about all of my research once more including the major quotes from specific people. Why do students skip? When do they skip? How often do they skip? What are the professors opinions on students that do this? What are the main excuses used? Hopefully people realize how important classes are and take it more seriously.

Penn Staters Skipping Class Journal

My biology room is an enormous lecture hall. It seats over 750 people comfortably. I know this because my class alone has 741 people in it. There are two entrances for massive amount of people to file in at one time and two rows or stairs in between the sections of hundreds of red cushioned chairs. Usually to my left I have Mike Caplan. On my right is Danielle Falco. In the front of the room there is a podium where my professor stands with an attached microphone on her shirt so she can speak and everyone will hear. Above her lies a 30 foot by 15 foot projector with the computer screen on one side and the normal projector on the other side. My professor speaks with a loud voice that can be heard from 360 degrees around the room, and paces back and forth to try and make eye contact with all 741 people. Mike, on my left, has his clicker out to answer the various questions that give us participation points for each day. It is the only way to tell who is attending class and who isn't. New people around me everyday because there are so many people and so many possible choices of seats. The room is almost a theater.

"I haven't gone to biology this entire year so far except for the first day. It's just too hard to pay attention with that many people," says Will. He is one of my friends that I met in biology the first day we had class. He is a student here at Penn State and 18 years old.

"Dude clicker question are worth like no points, it doesn't even matter if I go or not." This again was Will who seems to have a bad attitude about going to class. He is saying that his grade may be negligibly affected by not answering the daily clicker questions.

"Honestly with 740 people even if I get up and leave everyday she won't know who I am, my name, or even remember what I look like," says Mike Caplan who actually does not skip class. He is 18 and went to my high school, Methacton, where we were in multiple of the same classes. I guess he has morals. Dr. Carla Hass is the she in this situation. She's the professor of biology 110. She can't keep track of this many people. It's just not possible.

Online I found that the most common excuse for students skipping class is that they are sick. This was a simple google search that lead me to a yahoo blog questionnaire. Teachers rarely believe this depending on your personality in class. This made me think that even if I actually am sick what are the chances that my professor will believe what I'm saying? Another thing I found really interesting was that at Penn State the most common actual reason for skipping class is being hungover from a night of being out late and drinking. This I heard from a Junior at Penn State who is seemingly popular and parties a lot. He wished to be remain anonymous. This person is also an older brother of a close friend I have here at State.

I would like to look at how many times a teacher actually believes their students excuses about missing class. I will look at the amount of teachers here that do not take attendance and how their grades compare to those classes that do take attendance. I have realized that some teachers here take a stance of letting their students decide how much effort they will put in. In other words if a kid doesn't want to go to class the professor doesn't care. Another thing I want to research that I found interesting is the amount of times students miss an early class because they were sleeping with a girl or vice versa.

Journal Four

"Number One Party School" illustrates everything that a solid investigative report would have. The two reporters definitely tells their point in a way that almost everyone can understand. The sound effects they use including people yelling and the songs they play really give you a feel of college. The noise they play in the beginning sounds exactly like an average night on the streets of state college. The reporters give multiple reasons for attacking the problem as soon as possible. For instance, Penn State was voted the number one party school. There is a lot of underage drinking here. Other examples they give are personal safety. They explain how people die because of drinking too much or doing something crazy while drunk. The report has countless facts and details. They use interviews with cops, residence, pricks who steal signs, students, non-students, and town employees. Interviewing a FIJI brother about his involvement in a students death was nice. They go to frats and see how many people are underage drinking. They show how disgusting a fraternity really is with puddles of beer everywhere. He explained how he feels about drinking now after the incident. He says how he didn't realize the consequences of his actions. The reporters quote the president of the university a lot. The president talks about the other side of being the number one party school. Graham Spanier tells us that the students are allowed to vote. What he basically says is that Penn State is the number one spirit school and that no matter what the students of Penn State are voting for they want to win. They also quote cops and many other people. An interview with a cop shared that cops are not looking to arrest students. The dumb students that don't realize these cops have been working and know every trick in the book fall right into the lap of the officers. They know every secret probably way better than any of the students. Acting like an idiot in public is the reason why people get caught. Just be safe. I feel that the conclusion the reporters want us to make is that underage drinking is dangerous. I think they want us, as students, not to drink, or at least not to get hammered. I think these two people did an excellent job of describing college life and giving us a feel. I enjoyed how they explain that drinking is a part of the atmosphere and lifestyle. I really enjoyed listening to this report. Sometimes drinking is absurd to the amount people take it. In my personal opinion underage drinking on college campus is not the major problem. I would have liked to here more about the positives state college has. I felt that the entire report was full of negatives about how awful we are here at state college. I think that the students here at State believe in a reputation that we have as being a wild school with the most spirit. We want to keep up the rep. We love college. We love Penn State.

First Drafts

First drafts are always awful. What Lamott is saying is that no matter how worthless your first "shitty" draft seems it is one of the most important parts of the writing process. Get all your ideas out and put it on paper. If you try too hard to make your first draft perfect you are bound to miss vital information that is hidden somewhere in your sub-conscience that would only come out by opening up your mind and letting the words flow out. The first rough draft isn't supposed to be good and she goes on to say that no one but you will see it so there is no need to worry about people laughing at your work. It is also important to realize that writing takes work. You need to try and try again before you really accept what you've done. Lamott says she "trusted the process more or less." After such a long time of writing she has to have countless exampled of when the writing process worked for her. Practice makes perfect. What I think she means by "more or less" is that there is always a little fear at the beginning before you've written anything. It's self doubt and you don't know what you are going to say. What I can relate to in this reading is the fact that it is hard for everyone to start writing. It made me feel better about myself to hear that people who love writing sometimes dread their topic. Finding a place to start is sometimes the hardest part for everyone. I always get stuck various times throughout writing a paper with writers block. So like these professional writers I need to get up and be occupied for a little to get my train of thought back. I was surprised that even these people that get paid to write doubt there work and are less confident than I thought. The rough draft is absolutely about the process instead of the product. The product may not even make sense at all. It's about getting started and tossing out ideas. During the rough draft process of my personal narrative I say and thought for a long time and the problem is I had too much information. I wrote it all down and took the pieces I thought would fit the best together to explain my message. In general my first drafts are very "rough". Sometimes I'll read my work aloud to myself and I'll laugh at what I wrote because it didn't make any sense. But no one but me will see these drafts so who cares? After the draft is set I feel a little better because I know where to start. Getting the information out is always the most difficult part of the writing process, for me at least. Once its done I'll read it over make as many corrections as needed until I'm satisfied with my work and ready to have people read it. Often, almost always, my final paper looks nothing like my first, rough, grammatically incorrect draft.