WHEN former United States Vice President Al Gore has shifted his focus from protesting the 2000 election results to environmental causes, he has won accolades and standing ovations all over the globe including the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize. His An Inconvenient Truth in fact has eclipsed the popularity of State of Fear, Michael Crichton’s fictionalized version of his ideas on global warming. Touted to be President Bush’s new Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) head, Dr. Crichton’s non-climatology background ultimately made his downfall and his subsequent university lectures on persistent denials about global warming with half-facts were ultimately booed and shunned. It was indeed a pity on what happened to Dr. Crichton. He was a pathologist with a hobby in computer software stuff and with a knack of imagining things. His creations – Jurassic Park, Disclosure, Rising Sun, Congo and Airframe – were glories of the past and were considered priceless intellectual properties. That’s what happens when a person goes beyond his realm – pathology in Dr. Crichton’s case – and is mis-educated in other fields – climatology in this case.
That’s why education is definitely important in today’s world. Without education, even a well-learned person like Dr. Phil or Stephen Hawkings may stutter if one doesn’t know his stuff. Consider yourself a sonar operator in a nuclear submarine owned by the US Navy. Even if you are a well-learned person like Bill Gates or Barack Obama, you do not know anything about sonar so better not speak about the stuff unless you get a degree in sonar technology.
But that is really not the educational challenge in today’s world. According to one Australian futurist, the world will experience another Ice Age in the next 40 years or so. That’s barely four decades from now and our generation will still surely see light by that time. But no one is panicking and no one is taking the doomed tone of the futurist seriously whom I myself never know his name because I just stumbled upon him while watching a television show beamed from Australia. It’s such a pity that no one takes seriousness about these things. According to the futurist, the Ice Age cycle comes every 100 million years or so. The next 100 millionth year is supposed to take place 40 years from now but no one heeds his warning. The futurist says current global warming is a testament to that and the melting of the glaciers in Greenland and Norway means our future Earth communities is geared there while China and the rest of Southeast Asia will be submerged in water. That’s real panicky, is it? It’s just like the scene from that Japanese doomsday film I saw last year when the whole Japanese archipelago sank in a matter of months.
But within us, there are snippets of change already. And education plays a very key role in shaping that change. So be informed properly and do not be like Michael Crichton.
WHAT does a university student have in store for his or her Christmas break? Christmas breaks are so typical if you spend it with your family back home. Of course, it must be the ideal but for a change, how about spending it somewhere and working on an endeavor in your chosen profession? All universities around the globe provide students Christmas breaks but what about in the Islamic region? We now explore the various practices of students around the world during Christmas break.
Well actually, every university in the world even in Islamic and Jewish countries like Israel do have their two-week Christmas breaks beginning on the week before Christmas and ending the day after New Year in the Gregorian calendar. That is for the sake of the Christian students because even in such countries as Israel and Saudi Arabia, there are a lot of Christian university students.
So in short, there really are no differences in Christmas breaks in universities around the world. The difference now lies in how you spend it if you’re not at home. For example, if you are a college exchange student in France coming from the Philippines and you’re taking up fashion design, you may want to spend your Christmas in Palma de Mallorca. After all, it is one of the hottest Christmas destinations in Europe nowadays. By the way, Palma de Mallorca is the capital of the Balearic archipelago off the Mediterranean coast of Spain.
Or if you’re someone from Maine and you’re a college exchange student in Paris, then savor your stay there by cruising at the bright lights of the city. Paris is known as the City of Lights and without doubt, the city is all the more lighted during the Christmas season. You may stroll around such enchanting sights as the Louvre, the Eiffel Tower, Champs Elysees, the Arc de Triomphe and everything else in between. You may savor bouillabaisse at any of the bistros or you may simply contemplate on the merriment of the season at the historic Notre Dame Cathedral or at the more serene Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal chapel nearby.
If you’re an agriculture student at the University of Madrid and you’re living in Salamanca, then you may want to practice different agronomy techniques for two weeks back in your small farm at the Salamanca region. Or if you are living along the coasts of Costa del Sol and you just got back due to a Christmas break at Les Roches School in Bluche, Switzerland where you are taking up a degree in hotel management, then you may want to have a voluntary internship for two weeks at any of the high-end beach resorts sprawling in Costa del Sol. Who knows, this may be your baptism of fire and your two weeks of internship may cause to catapult you to becoming a valedictorian in your class at Les Roches School. These and other ingenious forms of vacation for university students can be tried by anybody in the planet as long as they are college students.
RIGHT after high school, normal education process dictates that one should enroll in a college or a university. But there are some students who are struggling financially and who cannot afford a straight college education. This article is dedicated to them.
Going to college is actually a decision that has been crafted since high school. As early as when the student is still in junior high, he or she must be active in the college fairs that his or her school is participating. In these job fairs, admissions staffs of colleges in your area and even from neighboring states go to your high school to promote their institutions. Private colleges and universities go to private high schools which are mostly run by the Jesuits, Montessori and some nuns.
On the other hand, public colleges and universities go to public high schools. The advantage of being enrolled in a state college is that it has relatively low tuition since the institution is owned by the state government. A state college or a state university is basically the senior version of a community college. Where a community college caters to students at a particular county, state colleges and universities cater at the studentry of the whole state.
In these college fairs, admissions staffs are enticing high school folks to submit their college admissions essays. These essays are about everything that exposes oneself without inhibition to the college admissions staff who will evaluate them. There is really nothing that will make you fear in what to write in the essay. Just think of the first sentence and everything will be flowing.
Pour all your emotions in the college essay. Explain to the college admissions staff in a conversational tone on why you cannot afford the college education but why you badly need that degree. College admissions staffs are composed of educational psychologists who have the heart and the bias of college applicants. So if you do well on the essay, you can pass the initial hurdle to entering a college or university in your area.
Now, there are some colleges and universities which are not located in your area but you are compelled to take up your four-year academic course in one of them because it is in that particular college that you have passed your varsity scholarship. Even though all your tuition and other college miscellaneous fees are paid for with the scholarship grant, there are still overhead expenses that you have to account for such as board and lodging.
For this, there’s one answer – student loans. There are two types of student loans – federal student loans and private student loans. These two have a few things in common though – they are only payable upon a college student’s exit from the university, they have minimal interest rates and they are payable within a 30-year window. Because of these common features, another development has emerged in that field – the consolidation of student loans. Consolidating your student loans is just like consolidating your payables in your credit card. See, it’s that simple.
