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Final Four bound Wisconsin advances to first Final Four since 2000

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By Jack Baer THE DAILY CARDINAL

There’s a good chance that the “Frank Kaminsky” game just happened. But for now, head coach Bo Ryan, the Badgers and their massive crowd formed on State Street will only be focused on one thing in the coming week: the Final Four.

In front of an Arizona-heavy, hostile crowd, the No. 2 seed Badgers took down No. 1 seed Arizona in a 64-63 overtime thriller to survive and advance to the tournament’s final weekend in Cowboys Stadium located in Arlington, Texas.

They were led by the West Regional Most Outstanding Player junior center Frank Kaminsky, who scored 28

points on 11-of-20 shooting.

That total is the second highest in Wisconsin NCAA tournament history after Michael Finley’s 36 in 1994.

This will be the first Final Four in Bo Ryan’s career, and the first for Wisconsin since former head coach Dick Bennett’s miracle run in 2000. After 13 straight tournament appearances, this was long overdue for the consistent Ryan.

Both teams shot below 40 percent from the field, with Kaminsky and Arizona sophomore center Kaleb Tarczewski being the only starters to make more than half of their shots.

Arizona came into this game ranked as the No. 1 defensive team in the country according

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to Ken Pomeroy ratings and showed it through their relentless ball pressure defense.

Open shots were beyond scarce for the Badgers. A saving grace was that despite Arizona freshman forward Aaron Gordon’s 18 rebounds, the smaller Wisconsin team was able to keep it about even with rebounds at 38-39 Arizona.

The game started in Arizona’s favor, with the Wildcats taking a 22-14 lead in the first 13 minutes. Wisconsin was gradually able to claw back both before and after halftime, finally tying the score four minutes into the second half.

From there, no team took a lead greater than three points.

Regulation’s final score, an

alley-oop from Arizona freshman forward Rondae HollisJefferson and a final step-back jumper from junior guard Traevon Jackson that clanked away put both teams at 54 points and sent them to overtime. Jackson’s shot might have been ill-advised, as Kaminsky was being guarded by 6-foot3 Arizona junior guard Nick Johnson thanks to an Arizona defensive switch.

In the extra five minutes, the Badgers never trailed.

Arizona’s best chance to go ahead for good fell short thanks to a questionable offensive foul on Johnson. Wisconsin failed to inbound the ball and gave Arizona a final shot, but Johnson was unable to get off a

It’s your turn: a 360-degree look at the college experience +ACTION PROJECT ISSUE, B1-B12

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potential game-winner in time.

By game’s end, it was clear Frank Kaminsky’s star in college basketball was ready to shine. He was the clear offensive hero of the game, as Jackson was the only other Badger to score in double figures and that was on 4-of-14 shooting. When guarded by the 7-foot Tarczewski, Kaminsky was able to open his perimeter game, knocking down three 3-pointers. When guarded by Gordon, it was post moves and a deadly combination of footwork and length. He also pulled down 11 rebounds, seven of them offensive.

Wisconsin will play Kentucky Saturday at 7:49 p.m. in Arlington, Texas.

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Badgers to play Kentucky in Final Four

By Jack Baer THE DAILY CARDINAL

All year, there has been a perceived disconnect between Wisconsin’s “eye test” and its resume. Some may look at a Wisconsin team that has maybe two real National Basketball Association prospects and think it can’t compete with the new normal of obscene talent on elite teams, though they’ve been doing it all season.

This narrative showed up when Arizona was favored in the Elite Eight and will return with a vengeance over the coming week as the Badgers prepare for a team that is almost their exact opposite: Kentucky, who aces the “eye test” and has fallen short when it comes to game performance.

It’s not often you’re scheduled to play the preseason No. 1-ranked team and a No. 8 seed at the same time. That takes quite a fall from grace for a premier program. Kentucky struggled all year, going 12-6 during conference play in a weak Southeastern Conference.

Its best win was at home over Louisville. After that? Maybe Tennessee, also at home.

That’s a pretty disappointing season for what was arguably the greatest recruiting class in college basketball history.

According to 247Sports’ consensus recruit rankings, Kentucky’s class of 2013 included the No. 2, 5, 6, 9, 10 and 18 ranked freshmen. That number of recruits in the top 20 is unprecedented and created a team composed primarily of freshmen that is simply not natural when it comes to size and athleticism.

These guys would be considered a large team in the NBA. In

SHOAIB ALTAF/CARDINAL FILE PHOTO

Wisconsin will need to show its range against Kentucky because of the Wildcats’ size down low. college, they have become monsters among boys when it comes to size. The three guards who get regular playing time, James Young, Aaron Harrison and Andrew Harrison, all measure at least 6 feet 6 inches in height.

No guard in Wisconsin’s rotation is taller than 6 feet 3 inches.

To combat this, Wisconsin is going to have to move the ball around the perimeter quickly and negate some of Kentucky’s length with ball fakes. Very few teams are able to bang against the Wildcats down low, but forwards Frank Kaminsky and

Nigel Hayes’ combination of skill and quickness could give them a chance in the paint.

Kentucky head coach John Calipari likes to use his team’s length and the speed that comes with blue chip recruits to create a dribble-drive system that looks NBA-esque at times.

The guards slash into the paint and either try a point-blank shot or get the ball to a big man, either through a pass or offensive rebound.

The focus on interior scoring starts with freshman forward Julius Randle, the consensus

No. 2 recruit in Kentucky’s class.

Randle is considered a future NBA lottery pick and can play with a ferocity and strength that is borderline unstoppable, averaging 15.1 points per game and 10.1 rebounds per game.

Guarding him is going to require a heroic defensive effort from sophomore forward Sam Dekker or Hayes.

This attack on the rim helped the Wildcats lead the country in offensive rebounding and rank fifth nationally in free throws attempted per game. On defense, they rank eighth in blocks per

game. Their size simply allows them to do things that other teams can’t.

So how does a team like this lose as much as they have? It comes down to two things: outside shooting and team unity.

Kentucky ranks 273rd nationally in 3-pointers per game. While the guards are big, their outside shot is weak. The Wildcats’ three guards collectively shoot 34.4 percent from deep, which would rank fifth on Wisconsin if their shots were combined into a hypothetical player. This lack of reliable outside shots should see Wisconsin pack in its defense and force the guards to show they can hit threes.

The other reason for Kentucky’s struggles has been a little more intangible, as the disconnect between some of the fivestar recruits comes more from behavior and body language.

In many of Kentucky’s losses, a disconnect can be in seen in the play between the Harrison twins and their teammates. Neither player is very efficient when it comes to moving the ball, and both are below 1.5 in assist-to-turnover ratio.

Forcing the two players into bad passes and cutting off their passing lanes to a strong frontcourt will be key.

Overall, Kentucky has the look of a scary team. Every player who sees minutes for them could have a future in the NBA. But they’re young. They make mistakes. The have flaws in their system. If Wisconsin can maintain its discipline and pester the freshmen into making mistakes, the Badgers could make their first national championship game since World War II.

‘This one’s for Butch:’ The story behind Ryan’s historic run

By Zach Rastall THE DAILY CARDINAL

Over a 38-year span from 1976 to 2013, Wisconsin head coach Bo Ryan and his dad, Butch, attended every single Final Four.

Even during the years at Wisconsin where Ryan had to endure the pain of coming up short in the NCAA tournament, he would still attend with his dad. Butch never let his son hang his head for too long either, telling him after every agonizing March defeat that next year would be the year he and the Badgers would get there themselves.

Unfortunately, Butch Ryan will never see his son coach in the Final Four. Butch passed away last August after suffering a broken hip along with a bout of pneumonia. His death came just eight months after Bo’s mother, Louise, passed away.

So when the No. 2 seed Badgers punched their ticket to Arlington by outlasting Arizona in an overtime thriller Saturday, it was an emotional win for Bo Ryan, especially considering the significance of the day.

“It should always be about the players, but I’m going to get one comment in,” Ryan said. “Today would have been my dad’s 90th birthday. I just

thought I’d throw that in.”

Despite winning four national titles during his tenure at UW-Platteville and building one of the country’s most consistent programs at Wisconsin, Bo was never quite able to get over the NCAA tournament hump. This left him with the distinction of being the best active coach in the country to never reach the Final Four.

That all changed with Wisconsin’s memorable victory over the Wildcats in the Elite Eight, which advanced the Badgers to the final weekend of the tournament for the first time since 2000, when the team was coached by Dick Bennett.

The win was also extremely gratifying for the group of tight-knit Wisconsin players, who have made it no secret they wanted to be the team that finally got their coach to the Final Four.

“It’s very special being a senior and being the first class to get him to the Final Four,” senior guard Ben Brust said.

Brust was among the group of four players that attended Butch Ryan’s funeral, along with redshirt senior forward Zach Bohannon, redshirt junior guard Josh Gasser and junior forward Frank Kaminsky.

“Me, Zach, Frank and Josh went out to Philadelphia for [Ryan’s] dad’s funeral,” Brust said. “We learned a lot about just how much of a star Butch was at the Final Four. For coach Ryan to get there on what would have been Butch’s 90th birthday was very cool.”

The significance of the win for Bo Ryan was evident in his postgame interview, where fans got to see a side of the coach most never have before.

When asked about his late father, an emotional Ryan had to fight back tears.

“It’s going to be tough. It’s going to be tough to be there coaching without him,” Ryan said.

“But I can’t imagine him being any happier or my mom who passed away about a year ago.”

It certainly will be difficult for Ryan to travel to the Final Four without his dad for the first time, but attending as a coach instead of a spectator is about the best way he could honor the memory of Butch Ryan.

Bo paid tribute to his late father one last time at the end of his postgame interview Saturday, pointing to the sky while uttering one final sentence, perfectly summing up the win’s significance.

“This one’s for Butch.”

SHOAIB ALTAF/CARDINAL FILE PHOTO

Head coach Bo Ryan honored his late father after Saturday’s win, remembering 38 years of attending the Final Four together.

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Q&A with Arizona student reporters

By Emily Gerber THE DAILY CARDINAL

While Badger fans celebrated the men’s basketball NCAA overtime win Saturday across Madison, fans of the University of Arizona took to the streets for a different reason. The Daily Cardinal spoke to Arizona sophomore Ethan McSweeney and freshman Jazmine FosterHall, the news editor and assistant news editor of The Daily Wildcat Sunday, to gain insight on the Tucson riots.

The Daily Cardinal: Can

you describe the overall scene after the game? We have seen a lot of videos, but what was it like actually being there?

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University and city police patrol State Street after Wisconsin qualified for the NCAA Final Four.

Swarming State Street Police describe post-game gathering as ‘peaceful’

By Patricia Johnson THE DAILY CARDINAL

With mere seconds left in the Badgers’ Elite Eight basketball game, anxious fans watched as the team beat No. 1 seed Arizona, opening the floodgates for a city-wide stampede of celebration.

State Street became the destination for between 8-10,000 student and nonstudent fans alike to revel in the basketball team’s accomplishment. The gathering also drew Madison and UW police who were prepared for a potential night of chaos.

Both Madison and UW Police Departments worked in conjunction with one another for what turned out to be

a “peaceful” event despite the boisterous crowd, according to UW-Madison Police Department spokesperson Marc Lovicott.

Both departments also increased officers on patrol in anticipation of a mass gathering similar to one that happened after the Badgers made it to the Final Four 14 years ago, according to Lovicott.

“Once students started getting onto State Street, we did ask other departments, nearby municipalities to come in if they could help us but it really ended up not being necessary,” Lovicott said. “Everyone was really peaceful.”

Although there were many adventurous people in the crowd who climbed on scaffolding and slender trees planted along State Street, there were very few serious conflicts.

There were “maybe some bumps and bruises but nothing significant that was reported to us,” Lovicott said.

He also said UWPD did not

make any arrests.

“We were there just in case, just to monitor the situation, but everyone was very respectful and it was a great celebratory night,” Lovicott said.

Lt. Amy Schwartz of the Madison Police Department also expressed her relief for Saturday night’s positive atmosphere.

According to Schwartz, the crowd dissipated shortly after midnight. Schwartz said she was under the impression the MPD had very few student arrests related to the celebration.

Both Schwartz and Lovicott expect the MPD and UWPD to develop operational plans for the upcoming weekend when the Badgers take on the Kentucky Wildcats for the national semifinals.

“I’ve heard from a lot of students that were down there that they’re marking this as the high point of their whole career here at UW and we’re glad that was able to happen,” Schwartz said.

Ethan McSweeney: It was pretty crazy. I guess things started after the game ended – it was really close, we missed that shot at the buzzer.

There are all of these bars on University Boulevard, and so people were watching the game there and toward the end of the game people were overflowing out of the bars onto the sidewalks trying to watch the end of the game. When we lost, fans started leaving but because everyone was leaving at the same time, people were walking in the streets, police were trying to herd people off of the streets.

I would say approximately 20 minutes after game ended was when rioting began.

Jazmine

Foster-Hall:

There were riot police already on University Boulevard before the game even ended. They lined up across University Boulevard, and they formed a wall on the street and people just startied chanting “U of A.” They ran on to this streetcar platform, and people just saw all the riot police lined up and they started throwing stuff at

EM:

the police and they moved into the intersection in front of the police. And then the Tucson Police declared “unlawful assembly” and gave the orders in both English and Spanish.

That’s when they started firing pepper balls and throwing pepper gas canisters at fans. It was kind of a slow process of trying to move people down University Boulevard and out of the area.

While they were advancing down the road they were just continually firing pepper balls and throwing pepper canisters.

DC: How do you think last

night and this morning’s events will affect the relationship of students and the community with the police in the future?

EM: I don’t want to speculate, but fans and students were pretty upset with police.

JF-H: The crowd was chanting “fuck the police” at points.

EM: And they were throwing beer, they were throwing objects— firecrackers, smokebombs—at the police.

DC: How would you describe the mood on campus today?

Have things died down a little bit or are they still pretty hostile?

JF-H: Students are certainly

still talking about it. The majority of the students I’ve run into or that I’ve overheard speaking were definitely talking about the events from last night.

The ones that I overheard were complaining about the actions of the police. I cannot say that that represents the mentality as a whole, but it does seem to be a pretty big topic of conversation on campus right now.

EM: It’s really the only thing people are talking about.

Campus welcomes Badgers back home following Elite Eight victory

By Adelina Yankova THE DAILY CARDINAL

When future Badgers and roommates-to-be Abigail Miller and Megan Baker first made plans to meet on University of Wisconsin-Madison’s campus Sunday, they did not anticipate joining a crowd of thousands in welcoming home the Wisconsin men’s basketball team.

Like their fellow attendees, however, the girls quickly changed plans to accommodate a visit to the Kohl Center following the Badgers’ advancement to the Final Four Saturday night.

Among a sea of red and white, Miller and Baker awaited the team’s arrival as the UW-Madison marching band played popular Wisconsin cheers, crowd favorites the two admitted they have yet to learn.

The event drew in dedicated Badger fans such as December 2013 graduate Daniel Mann who said he has been dili-

gent about keeping up with Wisconsin basketball.

“My heart was beating so fast that I wouldn’t need to work out ever again,” Mann said about watching the game, adding jokingly, “I’m from Minnesota so we don’t get much winning teams very often and just to have some team in a championship game is very exciting.”

While fellow spectator Kaylynn Johnson does not consider herself a basketball fanatic, she said she shared in the excitement of the game and urged her friends to join her at the Kohl Center.

“I don’t know much about basketball, but even I was nervous. I think [at] Wisconsin everybody’s a family, everyone’s a team,” Johnson said, gesturing across the aisle. “I don’t know anybody over on that side, but I feel like we all come together and we’re all just

one big Badger family.”

Support for the Badgers has been pouring in from all areas of the state, as pointed out by UW-Madison freshman Pamela Voegeli, who watched last night’s game at her home in Beloit, Wis. “My whole hometown today, that’s all anybody was talking about,” Voegeli said. “I went to church, I went to a couple restaurants and … all they were talking about was the Badgers and how good they did and how good they will do.”

As the Badgers took the stage alongside head coach Bo Ryan, the crowd erupted in applause followed by more cheers as players spoke of the game ahead.

“We won some hardware, we finally got it, but, you know, our slogan is kind of ‘Why not us?’” redshirt junior guard Josh Gasser said. “Why can’t we finish this thing off, why can’t we

DREW GILMORE/THE DAILY CARDINAL

UW-Madison fans show support for the men’s basketball team upon their homecoming at the Kohl Center Sunday. win two more games?”

Ryan expressed gratitude toward the fans as he displayed part of the net he cut from a basket last night.

“I just wish we could take

this and put it into about 100,000 pieces and give [a piece to] every fan, everybody that supported us, the people like you that helped make all this possible,” Ryan said.

Sports Badger basketball season timeline MONDAY MARCH 31, 2014 DAILYCARDINAL.COM

1) Big nonconference wins

Compiled by Brett Bachman

2) Best start in program history

Nov. 12 and Dec. 4 Oct. 30Jan. 8

WIL GIBB/CARDINAL FILE PHOTO

Sophomore forward Sam Dekker lets loose a shot against Florida.

It has been a season of highs and lows for Wisconsin, marked by the ecstasy of big wins and the stinging pain of unexpected defeat. The Badgers began their 2013-’14 campaign on a steep upward trajectory, beating thenNo. 11 Florida in just the third game of the season.

The Gators were admittedly missing five key players, includ-

ing this year’s SEC Player of the Year, senior guard Scottie Wilbekin and SEC Sixth Man of the Year, sophomore forward Dorian Finney-Smith.

Next the Badgers took down a quality Virginia team, giving head coach Bo Ryan his 300th win at Wisconsin, becoming just the ninth Big Ten coach to reach the milestone.

WIL GIBB/CARDINAL FILE PHOTO

Redshirt junior guard Josh Gasser celebrates during Wisconsin’s victory over in-state rival Marquette in December.

Two months of perfect basketball for Wisconsin culminated in a rout of Illinois Jan. 8, giving this year’s squad sole ownership of the best start in school history, 16 straight wins.

Highlighting the season-opening streak was a Championship at the Cancun Challenge after victories over

3) Free fallin’ Jan. 14Feb. 1

St. Louis and West Virginia.

Sophomore forward Sam Dekker was also named Tournament MVP, while junior guard Traevon Jackson made the All-Tournament Team.

Over that span, the Badgers beat three Associated Press Top 25 teams, including Illinois, Florida and Iowa.

4) Picking up the pieces Feb. 4March 9 NICK MONFELI/CARDINAL FILE PHOTO

Head coach Bo Ryan addresses his team during a loss to Northwestern at home, one of UW’s four January losses.

“Everything ends badly, otherwise it wouldn’t end.”

Tom Cruise might as well have been talking about the 2013-’14 Badgers in “Cocktail.”

After a spectacular 16-0 start Wisconsin went belly-up in midJanuary, losing five of six games over a two-week span, including two home losses to Michigan

and Northwestern.

Cold shooting doomed the Badgers, who shot 0.413 in their skid compared to 0.459 on the season.

Wisconsin’s silver lining came in the form of freshman forward Nigel Hayes, who had breakout games off the bench against Minnesota and Ohio State.

COURTNEY KESSLER/CARDINAL FILE PHOTO

Wisconsin bench players cheer after a made basket against then-No. 8 Michigan State, a game UW went on to win 60-58.

5) A tournament for the ages March 14Present

SHOAIB ALTAF/CARDINAL FILE PHOTO

Badger players react to a third-round NCAA Tournament victory over Oregon, in which UW outrebounded the Fighting Ducks 36-26.

After losing in the second round of the Big Ten Tournament to then-No. 3 seed Michigan State, No. 2 seed Wisconsin started its tournament run in high fashion with a 75-35 rout of No. 15 seed American, setting a school record for the largest margin of victory in an NCAA game.

From there it was off to the

races, with cruise-control victories over Oregon and Baylor before emerging victorious from an overtime thriller against No. 1 seed Arizona.

The victory propelled the Badgers to their first Final Four appearance in 14 years, and the first in head coach Bo Ryan’s already illustrious career.

As quickly as the January blues set in for Wisconsin, they were over just as fast. A convincing win over Illinois was all it took for the Badgers to regain momentum before going on another eight-game win streak.

In the process UW took down three more AP Top 25 teams, including then-No. 8 Michigan

State and then-No. 15 teams Michigan and Iowa.

In a microcosm of the second half of the season Wisconsin fought back from a 29-19 halftime deficit against Indiana, eventually winning the game 69-58 to exact revenge on the Hoosier team that handed the Badgers their first loss of the year.

Wisconsin basketball by the numbers:

0 3 16 40 43 321

Times Bo Ryan won an Elite Eight game before this season Badger victories over No. 1 seeds this year (Florida, Virginia and Arizona) Games Wisconsin won to start off the season, a school record Wisconsin’s largest margin of victory in an NCAA game, a record set against American in the second round of the NCAA Tournament The school record number of points junior center Frank Kaminsky scored against North Dakota earlier this season The total number of wins Bo Ryan has as head coach of the Badgers

Action Project Issue, March 2014

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Action Project Issue, March 2014

An independent student newspaper, serving the University of Wisconsin-Madison community since 1892 Volume 123, Issue 96

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News Team News Manager Sam Cusick Campus Editor Adelina Yankova College Editor Emily Gerber City Editor Patricia Johnson State Editor Eoin Cottrell Associate News Editor Dana Kampa Features Editor Melissa Howison Opinion Editors Haleigh Amant • Ryan Bullen Editorial Board Chair Anna Duffin Arts Editors Cheyenne Langkamp • Sean Reichard Sports Editors Brett Bachman • Jonah Beleckis Page Two Editors Andy Holsteen • Kane Kaiman Photo Editors Courtney Kessler • Jane Thompson Graphics Editors Mikaela Albright • Haley Henschel Multimedia Editor Amy Gruntner • Grey Satterfield Science Editor Nia Sathiamoorthi Life & Style Editor Katy Hertel Special Pages Editor Samy Moskol Social Media Manager Rachel Wanat Copy Chiefs Vince Huth • Justine Jones Maya Miller • Kayla Schmidt

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Editorial Board Haleigh Amant • Abigail Becker Ryan Bullen • Anna Duffin Mara Jezoir • Cheyenne Langkamp Tyler Nickerson • Michael Penn Nikki Stout

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From the management desk Navigating the college journey in the game of ‘Life’

ABBY BECKER AND MARA JEZIOR management team

W

ith the Badger men’s basketball team headed to the Final Four Saturday, we can’t help but gloat about how awesome it is to be a Badger. This is a time to join in the collective soul of the student body. While our time at college is only a stop on the gameboard, being a Badger is for “Life.” We’re super cheesy, we know. But hey, this is Wisconsin.

What does the journey of higher education mean in 2014?

For some of us, it’s a rite of passage into adulthood and a time to explore. For others, it’s a necessity to secure a meaningful and successful career.

Our time here is flooded with choices that seem like they’ll map the rest of our lives. We don’t know about you, but the two of us worry about this often. With one year left before we graduate, this feels like the time to learn any last-minute skills that will give us an edge in the job market.

The idea for the second issue of the Action Project originally came from our own worries about succeeding in post-graduate life. As students, we’re in control of our futures, but with

so many options, are we making the right choices? Will what we’re doing in college—from academics to internships to extracurricular activities—be enough to secure successful and fulfilling careers after graduation?

We can’t be the only students with these concerns.

Every stage of college introduces new challenges and choices, from deciding on a college, a major, individual classes and extracurricular activities.

Sometimes the weight of these decisions feels insurmountable.

This issue is about the journey of college. You will find articles on students who chose to take a gap year before continuing on with higher education, the advantages of studying or interning abroad, the long-term effects of concentration drugs as well as other issues facing students at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

It’s your turn to make the next move in the game of Life. Which

path will you choose?

The Daily Cardinal would like to acknowledge the charitable arm of The Capital Times for providing the funds to make the Action Project possible. See what your fellow Badgers think about why they chose college in the game of Life and let us know what you think by emailing actionproject@dailycardinal.com or tweeting at #dcactionproject.

On, Wisconsin!

It’s your turn to take the next move in the game of LIfe. Which path will you choose?

Maybe the two of us worry too much. Probably. But this issue aims to help you through the hard decisions and also realize that they aren’t actually the deciding move in the game. The choices we make in college are important, but there is always room for improvement, growth and change beyond graduation. That is sometimes hard to remember.

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The Daily Cardinal would like to recognize

The Evjue Foundation, Inc. (the charitable arm of The Capital Times)

for providing the funds to make the Action Project possible.

THANK YOU

For the record Corrections or clarifications?

Call The Daily Cardinal office at 608-262-8000 or send an email to edit@dailycardinal.com.

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Action Project Issue, March 2014 B3 l

Bridging the gap between indecision and purpose Story by Lilly Eggert Deviating from academic norms proves to make all the difference for three current UW students

T

he train of American education boards students at preschool and stops every nine months when summer rolls around to allow passengers to stretch their legs and explore the scenery, in hopes they will find an academic track to continue navigating before reaching the final destination of college graduation.

Some students can find clarity in their studies and travel straight to college after the high school graduation stop. But others, such as University of Wisconsin-Madison sophomore Erica Anderson, find it beneficial to “interrupt the cycle” when developing an academic focus and jump-starting an understanding of the world outside the classroom.

Anderson decided to take a gap year when she realized she did not want to rush right into another four years of school.

Instead, she wanted to immerse herself in another

sophomore Kendra Burpee opted for an experience abroad after completing high school. Through a program called Youth Exchange and Study, Burpee went to Gaziantep, Turkey on a full scholarship and completed the equivalent of a fifth year of high school, in Turkish.

Both Anderson and Burpee said they had fulfilling and inspiring gap year experiences that ultimately called them back to the United States to pursue college degrees, which is consistent with 90 percent of gap year students, according to the American Gap Association.

Burpee’s parents, however, were concerned her gap year might inspire her to continue traveling rather than head to college. Burpee proved them wrong.

“When I was traveling, I realized that I wanted to learn more about these things that I was seeing,” she said. “It makes my classes a lot more inspiring.”

Burpee, who also spent last summer in Turkey to improve her fluency in the language, plans to study at a Turkish university next year and is majoring in languages and cultures of Asia in addition to pursuing certificates in Middle Eastern studies and Women’s Studies. She will graduate from UW-Madison a year earlier than expected, due to the retro credits she earned in Turkey.

“I really wanted to have an adult life,” Deitz said. Although he was already more independent than many others his age, Deitz realized he was limited by not having a college degree in the professional world.

Comparing his jobs in the food service industry to those in the fields of education and social work helped him realize that a higher education would be necessary for what he wanted to pursue professionally. Working in food service, Deitz added, was not very fulfilling.

“It wasn’t what I really wanted to do with my life and that wasn’t the social scene I wanted to remain in through my young adult life,” Deitz said. On top of that, he realized he would need to graduate from college in order to progress in the education field.

“All of my superiors in the school district divisions had degrees,” he said.

He completed his application to UW-Madison for the second time and is now a freshman at the university.

While Deitz, Burpee and Anderson had only positive things to say about their gap years, a survey conducted by the

PHOTO COURTESY OF ERICA ANDERSON

Erica Anderson said her gap year in Senegal diversified her world perspective and better prepared her for college. similar benefits for undergraduates with graduate school aspirations.

“That time only strengthens your application,” Nelson said.

She and four other advisors help students throughout the process of applying to programs in various health professions. Admissions committees, according to Nelson, are looking for diversity in applicants.

If taking a gap year and

encourage students to do so.

Seeking diverse surroundings to differentiate oneself in the increasingly competitive academic pool may be what it takes to find the right path, according to Anderson.

Breaking away from the conventional American education model might give students the ability “to step back or realize that there are many diverse ways of thinking and living in the world,” Anderson said. There are unlimited ways to do so, she added.

According to Anderson, further integration of the

GRAPHIC BY HALEY HENSCHEL

culture and become more globally aware through a program called Global Citizen Year.

Anderson, who spoke French before departing, spent one aca-

"... There are many diverse ways of thinking and living in the world.”

Erica Anderson

sophomore, UW-Madison

demic year in Senegal with a host family where she learned Wolof— one of the many unofficial national languages—and worked in an orchard and at a primary school.

Anderson said her experiences abroad shaped her academics and said she “naturally settled into this intersection between agriculture and social justice.”

She is now pursuing a degree in community and environmental sociology at UW-Madison.

Similarly, fellow UW-Madison

UW-Madison freshman Wilder Deitz took a different route than Burpee and Anderson, and decided to spend his gap year in his hometown of Madison to work various teaching jobs.

Similarly to Burpee and Anderson, though, his experiences working with students and educators ultimately influenced his intended social work major at the university.

After graduating early from high school in January of his senior year, Deitz began volunteering at the Rainbow Project, an organization that provides services to children and families with traumatic or abusive pasts. He also tutored at local middle schools and high schools in addition to working several jobs in the food service industry. Meanwhile, Deitz applied to colleges in the Madison area, hoping to spend his first year of college at UW-Madison.

Deitz was not accepted to UW-Madison the first time he applied and decided the real-world experience he would receive from continuing to volunteer and tutor would make it more difficult for the university to reject him a second time. So he moved into a house on the east side of Madison and began working 30 to 40 hours per week to revamp his resume and learn to live on his own for another year before applying again.

H i g h e r Education Institute at the University of C a l i f o r n i a-L o s Angeles, showed that of 300,000 firsttime college students entering a four-year university, only 1.2 percent took a year off before entering college. Although the AGA said this number is steadily rising, Burpee said one possible explanation is that more students do not take this opportunity is because many do not know it is an option.

Though “higher education is definitely acknowledging the trend,” Anderson said the overwhelming approach is to continue right on to college after high school and just “get it done.”

Deitz agreed and said perceived competition among peers on social media might influence students to follow the standard education model.

“People present themselves on Facebook as being as successful as they can make themselves look,” Deitz said, which then creates a “competitive air” and pressure to follow what everyone else is doing.

Anderson, Burpee and Deitz all felt taking a gap year instead enhanced their undergraduate educations.

Additionally, Susan Nelson, a pre-health advisor at UW-Madison, said detouring from the traditional American education track can have

gaining work experience helps a student become more diverse, then she and the other pre-health advisors

gap year into the American education culture will require increasing focus on experiential learning and broadening the accepted ways students can spend their time if they choose to break from the traditional route.

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Action Project Issue, March 2014

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Creating a common academic language

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Story by Gillian McBride h e m o d e r n u n ive rs i t y d o e s n’ t believe in a curriculum,” University

of Wisconsin-Madison professor Richard Avramenko insists.

Avramenko is one of three permanent faculty members with the Integrated Liberal Studies program in the College of Letters and Science. He said the ILS program helps provide a more cohesive coursework for students struggling to synthesize the knowledge between their general education requirements and areas of study.

Formerly known as the t wo -ye a r E x p e r i m e nt a l College, founded by educator Alexander Meiklejohn in 1927, the program presents itself on its website as a “college within a college” that fosters an “integrated understanding of the great themes of human inquiry and expression” through its interdisciplinary courses and certificate program—a “more cohesive alternative” to the traditional approach of earning a degree.

He gives the example of how land is understood in different fields of study, referring to the legal ownership of property, the sentimental relationship to it or the physical composition of its soil. Understanding the common ground between these interpretations can help students and experts in these fields see the implications of their knowledge.

Adam Nelson, professor of educational policy studies and history at UW-Madison has closely studied Meiklejohn’s legacy and the development of the ILS program.

The program historically struggled with chronic underenrollment and a lack of interest by students and university administration. Nelson said a large research university such as UW-Madison naturally resists the idea of integrated learning in its focus on specialized knowledge.

"Students are often told to get a degree to get a job ... That’s not the whole process of getting an education. If you want to be a leader, it might not even be half. "

Adam Nelson

professor of educational policy studies

People begin to learn when they can relate existing knowledge to new understandings and apply it to their own experiences, according to Avramenko.

“It’s about creating a common language for all students,” Avramenko said.

“Students are often told to get a degree to get a job,” he said. Nelson added although that is not necessarily bad, it is also not the correct approach to critical learning.

“That’s not the whole process of getting an education,” he

SHOAIB ALTAF/CARDINAL FILE PHOTO

The Meiklejohn House, located at the corner of West Johnson and North Charter Streets, houses the current Integrated Liberal Studies program at UW-Madison. said. “If you want to be a leader, it might not even be half.”

Nelson explained the creativity, adaptability and passion required to be an effective leader are characteristics of people who have received a liberal education. These students, he said, are more equipped to draw original conclusions from existing ideas because they “have a sense of the arc of history and their place in it, and see the past in terms of the present.”

According to Avramenko, choosing between a liberal or pre-professional approach results in an insufficient education. Accompanied by a regular degree, he said a person with an integrated learning experience can “fully bring to bear [their] knowledge” and ask the ethical questions about its applications.

Students at UW-Madison can obtain that experience by satisfying breadth requirements in ILS courses, which are cross-listed with other departments, and through the 18-credit ILS certificate in the College of Letters and Science.

Nelson admits liberally

unsure future.

“It’s uncertain what ILS will look like in a year,” Avramenko said. He said he does not expect its complete abolition, but predicts the program may soon be forced to join a larger department to survive.

Nelson insists the current

"We need students who think about a future not in pieces ... if you don’t have people willing to take the risk of synthesis, all you get is more fracture ."

Adam Nelson

professor of educational policy studies

minded educators have a tendency to push self-serving agendas, which is not always a productive method.

“The tendency is to say every student should get this experience,” Nelson said. Yet, he said he recognizes that students ultimately choose to invest in higher education to succeed professionally, which in turn benefits the university’s ability to fare well under political scrutiny.

“I try to remind people that a truly rigorous integrated education has never been mass education,” Nelson said.

Fortunately for ILS, Nelson said, administrators recognized these tensions in the past and were able to prioritize a fulfilling undergraduate education while the university consistently ranked highly in specialized fields of study. He commends Chancellor Rebecca Blank for her pledge to continue this co-existence.

However, recent discussions over the budget model and physical structure of UW-Madison academic departments leave the small-but-independent ILS program with an

state of the program mimics the transition from the Experimental College to the Integrated Liberal Studies program in 1948, and is hopeful that—in the event it may have to assimilate with a department— it will remain true to providing a cohesive, interdisciplinary educational supplement.

In an “age of fracture,” according to Nelson, where competition between ideas is emphasized over collaboration, the saving grace of the ILS program will ultimately be in its “attempts to seek the good.”

Rather than cynicism or apathy in the face of complexity, Nelson said a proper integrated education emphasizes “hope, community and cautious optimism” along with the “spirit of mind” to rise above problems, synthesize ideas and rally people to enact real change.

“The modern world is too complex for anyone to understand, but we can’t just throw up our hands,” Nelson said.

“We need students who think about a future not in pieces … if you don’t have people willing to take the risk of synthesis, all you get is more fracture.”

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UW strives to improve lagging advising services Story by Sarah Olson

W

hen members of the CrossCollege Advising Service interviewed students on Library Mall, the most common response was “go to your advisor,” according to CCAS advisor Amy Shannon.

“It sounds self-serving, but it’s not,” Shannon said. “I swear we did not plant these people.”

Many students avoid advising due to negative Student Orientation and Registration experiences, University of WisconsinMadison junior Ally Jagodzinski said.

To improve the process and make SOAR more encouraging than stressful, the Office of Undergraduate Advising is consolidating course enrollment tools, according to Director Wren Singer.

Singer said “don’t give up,” in the meantime. “You want to take advantage of every drop of what we have to offer you, so go back,” she added.

Many students go into advising appointments with unrealistic expectations only to

I

n 2010, the University of Wisconsin-Madison set aside $1.5 million in supplemental student tuition charges to improve the quality and accessibility of academic and career advising for undergraduate students.

The funding came from the Madison Initiative for

Tommy yonash/the daily cardinal

Academic Advisor in the Cross-College Advising Service Angie Rieves speaks with a student during an advising appointment in Ingraham Hall. come out discouraged, according to Singer.

Students, especially right out of high school, want to be told what classes to take or what to major in, for example.

But Singer said advising should teach students how to make their own decisions and guide them to helpful resources.

“We want advisors to be a coach and a mentor, and someone students can talk to

as you figure out—from your first day of college to your last—how you’re going to make the most of everything we have here to prepare you for the future,” Singer said.

In this sense, advising “is a two-way street,” according to UW-Madison junior and resident hall peer advisor Andre Tan. “We view higher education as some sort of purchase, when in fact it requires work

Undergraduates, which invests student tuition dollars in the overall undergraduate experience and provides need-based financial aid.

The resulting report, completed by an MIU advising workgroup, outlined four areas in which the university’s advising was underperforming:

UW-Madison lacks a campus-wide leadership and coordination of advising

Undergraduates’ access to advisors needs to be improved Between 600 and 700 academic and career advisors currently serve UW-Madison’s 29,504 undergraduate students, according to Wren Singer, director of the Office of Undergraduate Advising. However, the university does not have a system to explicitly measure usage.

“Advisors are notoriously really busy and have lots and lots of appointments,” Singer said.

To alleviate advisor workloads, the university hired 34 academic advisors and advising leaders in 2011 using MIU funding, according to a 2013 MIU accountability report. The new hires allowed the university to create the Center for Pre-Law Advising, which opened in 2012.

The staff expansion also increased accessibility in the Center for PreHealth Advising, the College of

Agriculture and Life Sciences, the biology major, the College of Engineering, the Cross-College Advising Service and transfer advising.

The College of Engineering reduced the number of pre-engineering students per advisor from from 600 to 310, according to the report. Additionally, appointment times for the biology major—the most popular undergraduate major at UW-Madison—increased in duration from 20 minutes to 30 minutes.

UW-Madison freshman Rosie Uhen, an intended biology major, said she has not experienced problems scheduling an appointment with her CCAS advisor, Amy Shannon.

“I’ve had all-around great support from both the student advisors and my CCAS advisor,” Uhen said. “They’ve been wonderful.”

New advising-related technologies and information systems are needed Students need better tools to enroll in classes, Singer said.

Advisors have to spend time teaching students how to navigate the student center and enroll in classes when they could be having more meaningful conversations about academic planning and career goals.

“The system you have to use to enroll in your classes is ridiculously complicated,” Singer said. “We have to fix that.

We have to make that easier.”

Shannon, for example, said she would like students to be able to organize their course schedules and input that information in one place.

“Having multiple different enrollment

on both sides,” Tan said.

Shannon, who also works in the Exploration Center for Majors and Careers, said students can incite more meaningful conversations about individual interests and skills by investigating their options beforehand and bringing questions to advising appointments.

The most common mistake Shannon said students make is overdrawing the connection between majors and careers.

Only a handful of majors lead directly to a highly specific career, according to Shannon. Most others lend themselves to a variety of careers.

“What you’re interested in, what you’re good at doing, the experiences you’ve had, the skills you’ve built—that’s what helps you decide and move into the working world,” Shannon said.

Students can use their DARS report and course guide to plan their schedules, Shannon said. An advisor’s unique ability is asking students the questions they did not think to ask, that could change the way they play the game of life.

“We’re waiting and eager to have these conversations with you … but it starts with you coming to that appointment,” Shannon said.

tools that function mostly separately and kind of connect at points I think is very confusing to students,” Shannon said.

Singer said the information systems advisors use also need to be more accessible and searchable.

MIU funding has gone toward improving the already existing Advisor Notes System, a system that allows advisors to categorize and log interactions with students, according to the follow-up 2013 MIU accountability report.

“It’s been really helpful,” Shannon said. “Before students come in, I try to look at their picture, their preferred name and what they’ve talked about before with advisors.”

The MIU advising workgroup also recommended creating a central director of academic advising to provide coordination among advising units on campus.

The university appointed Singer to the position in 2011 when creating the Office of Undergraduate advising.

Advising at UW-Madison is decentralized, Singer said, which means each school, college and department manages its own advising. The Office of Undergraduate Advising was created to coordinate and support each of these efforts.

Residence hall peer advisor and UW-Madison junior Andre Tan said it is difficult to figure out where to seek advising as a student, because it exists in so many places and forms.

“I think the general consensus is that

it’s really messy all over campus because there are so many services,” Tan said.

The report also suggested creating an advising leadership council with a representative from each of the 11 schools and colleges who has decisionmaking power.

The advising leadership council formed approximately a year and half ago, according to Singer, and meets every two weeks to talk about campus-wide improvements to aspects of undergraduate advising. Discussion topics include SOAR, advisor evaluation and technology. “[The council] is where we’re going to have a lot of opportunities to improve things because these are the people that can make it happen in each of the colleges,” Singer said. “And it’s been going really well.”

Comprehensive and ongoing training, professional development and assessment would improve the quality of advising at UW-Madison “I think we need to train people more, and we’re really off to a good start on that,” Singer said. “We need to figure out how to evaluate advisors better and provide them with good feedback about how to do their jobs better.”

Starting in 2013, every new academic advisor participates in an eight-hour group training session, where they learn about the university’s academic system and advising techniques, according to Singer.

Advisors also have a “menu” of training and professional development opportunities available to them throughout the year, and approximately 90 to 95 percent of advisors choose to participate, according to Singer.

“Advisors really want to do this, they want to be good at their jobs, they want to be trained,” Singer said. “We don’t need to require it because that’s what they want to do.”

Shannon said a three-hour CCAS staff meeting every other week is devot-

ed to professional development, where advisors learn about new programs and tools as well as talk about strategies to engage students.

“We’re looking at … how do we create a welcoming environment, how do we learn to ask questions in a way that invites somebody into the conversation?” Shannon said.

Additionally, the university does not have a means to measure campus-wide satisfaction with advising, although many individual departments seek student feedback in surveys, Singer said.

However, the majority of the feedback the Office of Undergraduate Advising receives comes in the form of stories and anecdotes. Singer said she intends to change that.

“If you came back and interviewed me in five to 10 years from now, I hope I have a whole different story to tell you about how all this works,” Singer said. “Because that’s the purpose of what I’m doing.”

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Action Project Issue, March 2014

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Going beyond immediate drug ‘fixes’ Story by Dana Kampa How tired do you feel right now? How many papers, work shifts and parties are pulling on your conscious, demanding your attention? How are you going to cope? Students and doctors question the largely unknown long-term effects of stimulant drugs and whether they are worth the risk.

Adderall, “the study drug,” is a psychostimulant generally prescribed to treat Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and heightens awareness and alertness in certain parts of the brain. It is becoming more prevalent on university campuses, according to Gerald Ryan, M.D. University Health Systems director of medical services.

Ryan said he worries about students using substances to solve immediate problems without considering possible lifelong consequences.

A University of WisconsinMadison student, who wished to remain anonymous, spoke about the only time she tried Adderall after finding a blue pill at Memorial Library.

“I saw it on the desk and was like, ‘free Adderall!’” the student said.

Adderall has a high potential for abuse, according to a 2008 U.S. National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health study. Effects of prolonged stimulant treatment have not been fully explored, yet the number of amphetamine prescriptions exceeded eight million in 2000.

Ryan said the most controversial long-term effects of Adderall concern how it affects the heart because the drug over-engages natural body stimulants such as adrenaline and epinephrine.

“Your body has difficulty sustaining itself if it’s constantly being stimulated in that way,” Ryan said.

He also said people can develop conditions later in life that seem related to ove r s t i m ulation at a younger age, specifically irregular heart activity that commonly causes poor blood flow.

Doctors are

concerned whether people who have used Adderall in the past will be at a greater health risk when they get older, he added.

Ryan said while deaths associated with narcotic drugs such as heroin and oxycodone are much higher than those with stimulants, he stressed the importance of not overusing any drug.

“The brain just doesn’t like that,” Ryan said. “It needs time to rejuvenate.”

Difficulty in managing the distribution of Adderall and other stimulants comes from the complexity of diagnosing ADHD, according to Ryan.

Stimulants can improve written recall memory, which Ryan said is the main form of testing in schools. However, it actually impairs tasks requiring innovation and creativity.

But, artificially heightened awareness can be positive when controlled, making Adderall an effective medical treatment, Ryan said. Ethical questions arise when it is used to gain a competitive edge.

“Often the people pushing for someone to take a stimulant are the parents,” Ryan said.

“They want make sure their kid has every opportunity to score as high as possible.”

The United States experiences higher consumption rates of brain-altering drugs than the rest of the world, Ryan added.

Ryan also said students can become dependent upon Adderall, although it is rare.

Addiction signs include increased tolerance, more frequent “quick fixes,” snorting, smoking or injecting the drug, loss of control, resorting to theft and continued use despite damaging consequences, according to the UHS website.

Adderall, similar to other stimulant drugs, is illegal to obtain without a prescription and violators could face felony charges with significant fines and possibly jail

GRAPHIC BY MIKAELA ALBRIGHT

time. UW-Madison students may also face disciplinary actions for non-academic misconduct, according to UHS. Another anonymous UW-Madison student said he uses caffeine pills to tackle a demanding workload. Ryan said changing caffeine consumption habits presents the biggest issue.

“The crash is pretty god damn awful,” the student said.

A third UW-Madison student said he mainly drinks coffee and 5 Hour Energy, but has also used Adderall a few times– once for the ACT and once to increase his work performance.

“I would recommend sleep foremost, but obviously in college you don’t have that much time,” he said. “We need to slow down college life. It’s not good if we’re setting people up to use stimulants.”

A final UW-Madison student challenged a common misconception when people believe they are disadvantaged academically because they are not using stimulants, despite not being diagnosed with ADHD. “To say they are at a disadvantage is not really true compared to my situation,” the student said. “I think it puts me at an even playing field. If everyone used it, I would again be at a disadvantage.”

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Action Project Issue, March 2014

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Time abroad sparks global learning

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Story by Bri Maas wenty-five wooden desks sit in neat rows facing a blackboard covered in

fragments of calculus equations, foreign words and declarations that “Erin was here,” all smeared and clouded by dust-saturated erasers. A clock hangs above the exit—a lagging reminder of the minutes remaining in class, while a teacher at the front drones to sleepy-eyed students.

This traditional impression of a classroom becomes outdated when considering statistics from the study abroad office that 2,159 University of Wisconsin-Madison students studied abroad and 147 students interned abroad during the 2010-’11 academic year.

Available programs are located in more than 70 countries ranging from Finland to Vietnam, each offering vastly diverse international scholastic and work experiences, proving education has moved to a global scale.

PHOTO COURTESY OF LESLIE JERNEGAN

combined travel with something to impress future employers.

“What I thought of it as was an investment,” Jernegan said. “I thought I could knock two birds with one stone: get the abroad experience and also have the job experience on my resume.”

In contrast to Jernegan hoping to foster her professional marketability, UW-Madison junior Sierra Buehlman Barbeau said the opportunity to improve her Arabic language skills while fully immersed in Muslim culture lured her to study abroad in Morocco.

PHOTO COURTESY OF SIERRA BEUHLMAN BARBEAU

Sierra Beuhlman Barbeau said delving into Muslim culture was her favorite part of studying abroad in Morocco.

However, there is no universal way to gain a global education, according to University of Wisconsin-Madison senior Sam Eichner. Each experience is customizable and depends on the student.

For example, Eichner said his primary concern was whether he

“Living with a host family, I was able to see the family roles, like what a woman’s role in the family is and what the 17-year-old daughter’s role was in comparison with her 11-yearold brother,” Buehlman Barbeau said. “I feel like I really got to look into real life in Morocco.”

Recent University of Wisconsin-Madison graduate Leslie Jernegan said interning abroad in London fulfilled her professional goals while giving her the global exposure she craved. quickly learned her assumptions were wrong.

“It was very surprising to see how much the younger Moroccans were integrating western culture into their lives,” Buehlman Barbeau said. “You would see teenage Moroccan girls with their headscarves, but they were wearing the tight clothing that you would see on any street in America.”

Eichner said he anticipated feeling awkward at first in a foreign country and was surprised when that feeling remained throughout his stay in France.

“It’s more shocking than you’d think being in a different country that doesn’t speak your home language,” Eichner said. “You feel like you’re kind of intruding on other people’s world, but in a good way... That good sense of being uncomfortable never went away, and it never ceased to fascinate me.”

While some study abroad programs are very structured, international internships often leave students with more flexibility when planning their time abroad.

Jernegan said this freedom amazed her during her internship in London, when she was charged with figuring out housing, transportation, making

"It’s more shocking than you’d think being

nities to try something new.

In London, Jernegan also said she learned the most from professionally engaging with people of diverse backgrounds.

"When you’re in college you’re still kind of in a bubble, so it’s that first sense of not feeling safe anymore, which is kind of a great thing."

Leslie Jernegan

junior, UW-Madison

college you’re still kind of in a bubble, so it’s that first sense of not feeling safe anymore, which is kind of a great thing.”

In countries all over the world and in varying programs, the most important educational experiences come from outside the classroom, according to Eichner.

Attendance was not as much a priority for him as was meandering through the streets and talking to locals in the French college town where he stayed.

“Nobody would say that going to class was what they gained the most from,” Eichner said. He added the real benefit of studying abroad is the countless opportu-

MOZART

in a different country that doesn’t speak your

“[My internship] made me really look at how different cultures interact in the workplace and how you can get along with different people in an increasingly globalized world,” Jernegan said.

For Buehlman Barbeau, coming back to the United States from Morocco was a moving experience in itself and taught her to appreciate all that she has.

“Overhearing people complaining and wanting more was the hardest part of the reverse culture shock,” she said. “We’re so lucky here, and people don’t always realize that.”

Requiem

MADISON SYMPHONY CHORUS

home language."

BEVERLY TAYLOR, Director EMILY BIRSAN, Soprano DANIELA MACK, Contralto WESLEY ROGERS, Tenor LIAM MORAN, Bass

Sam Eichner

senior, UW-Madison

would be able to study abroad in France and still graduate in four years. He said planning ahead is crucial to successfully completing a study abroad program.

“You’ve got to make sure that you are taking courses that you can transfer back to Madison,” Eichner said. Most of those will not be major-specific, he added.

UW-Madison junior Leslie Jernegan said an internship abroad made more sense for her because it

friends and surviving on a limited budget all on her own.

“It was the first big real world experience that I had,” Jernegan said. “When you’re in

Whether studying or interning abroad, Eichner, Jernegan and Buehlman Barbeau all agreed the most important aspect of seeking a global education is to maintain an open mind and prepare for all expectations to be shattered, regardless of one’s chosen path.

Buehlman Barbeau said she expected to see caricatures of the stereotypes often associated with Muslim countries but

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Slavonic Dance No. 1

Student Rush $12 or $15

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Action Project Issue, March 2014

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Legislators work to improve students’ access to post-graduate information before enrollment Individuals with a bachelor’s degree from a four-year public university who graduated with student loan debt in 20112012:

57%

Median Annual Income Statistics, 2011, ages 25-34 Women with a...

$26,300 bachelor’s degree: $42,100

high school diploma:

E

$34,000 bachelor’s degree: $51,800

high school diploma:

Unemployment rates, bachelor’s degree or higher: 6% 2012, ages 20-24: high school diploma and no college: 18.3%

$26,500

Graphic by justine jones/data collected from the college board, national center for education statistics

Story by Melissa Howison xpensive introductory textbooks? Check. A more refined wardrobe to impress potential new friends?

Check. Self-conducted cost-benefit analysis of majors with their average post-graduate earnings to determine an academic path before struggling through a basic economics class? Probably not.

Reflecting on their own experiences, one outgoing University of Wisconsin-Madison student and a recent alumnus question the impact of a bill circulating through Congress that would mandate universities publish those figures.

Having garnered bipartisan support since first introduced by U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., in February 2012, the Student Right to Know Before You Go Act of 2013 spurred sister legislation in the United States House of Representatives as a bill proposed by U.S. Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif.

A key stipulation in the package aims to supply prospective students with the “tools needed for a more complete picture of the value of their education,” according to a statement from Wyden’s office.

One proposed tool would require every college and university submit the annual salary amounts and specific degrees of each alumnus to public, state-run databases.

Inside Higher Ed reporter Libby Nelson wrote on Feb. 6, 2013 that oppositional forces denounce the simplistic display of such complex information because it stands to misrepresent the nuanced investment returns various fields of study appreciate. For example, Nelson said people who graduate with humanities majors often earn less than their peers initially but later make up for that income gap.

UW-Madison 2006 graduate Ben Schumaker said having access to expected financial outcomes when choosing his major would not have altered his academic course.

“I couldn’t have cared less about how much money I was going to make,” Schumaker said. “I was much more interested in doing something that was meaningful to me.”

However, Schumaker is quick to disclose the unorthodox nature of his career path–he founded a non-profit organization called the Memory Project to serve neglected children–and said he understands how unique financial situations constrain students’ individual considerations.

Men with a...

Average amount borrowed in student loan debt:

Schumaker also said rising tuition rates thwart adventurous professional endeavors and dampen the entrepreneurial spirit he deems fundamental to a healthy economy.

“It’s scary to hear some of the statistics about how it’s getting harder and harder to pay for college and the debt that people come out with ... they’re just going to be locked into a path of work, work, work to pay down that debt,” Schumaker said.

“In a way I think it stifles creativity.”

According to College Board, 57

cess to zeal, an interdisciplinary learning approach and a close proximity to peers with diverging intellectual interests.

“I think that’s what the real world will be all about, is working with a diverse set of people and synthesizing ideas from each other and combining ideas,” Frye said.

In fact, Frye said being motivated strictly by money would have kept him from exploring UW-Madison’s offerings when he was an undeclared freshman, denying him the most valuable aspects of his education.

Frye examined hydropower and social dynamics through a

"In the scope of your entire life, that stuff that ends up on your transcript isn’t as important as the overall experiences you gain in college."

Ben Schumaker

2006 graduate, UW-Madison

percent of college seniors graduated with student loan debt in 2011, at an average of $25,000 per loanee.

Nonetheless, UW-Madison senior Ian Frye, said he too anticipates the proposed database would have minimally impacted the trajectory of his studies or his overall college satisfaction.

Rather, Frye credits his suc-

Buddhist lens while studying abroad in Bhutan, which compelled him to blend an international relations major with environmental studies, immensely expanding his undergraduate experience.

“Inter-cultural communication I think is also huge, and I’ve definitely gained that,” Frye said. “As far as technical skills? I

don’t know. We’ll see.”

Schumaker jokes in hindsight about how unnecessary his fixations with achieving perfect grades and choosing the correct major turned out to be. In fairness, Schumaker said he never approached academia with a clear vision for his future and therefore graduated without a good sense of how he wanted to contribute to society.

“That’s why I just went and decided to go do some volunteering in Guatemala,” Schumaker said. “And sure enough in that year ... I sort of came upon the idea for what I’ve ended up doing my whole career.”

The Memory Project, started

by Schumaker, pairs underprivileged and orphaned youth with art students, who then paint a portrait of the child as a keepsake to “help the kids see themselves as works of art,” according to the organization’s website.

Although Schumaker is among the minority of college graduates who develop their own careers, he believes maintaining a certain level of perspective can be applied universally.

“In the scope of your entire life, that stuff that ends up on your transcript isn’t as important as the overall experiences you gain in college: the people that you meet, the ideas you’re exposed to, the passion you develop for a certain line of work or a certain social cause or a certain

field of study,” Schumaker said.

While Frye agrees, he said he also thinks the university could be more helpful in securing futures for current and incoming students.

Frye said the emerging local technology sector presents the perfect platform to develop collaborative partnerships and connect students with internships to give them the practical knowledge about what to expect post-graduation. Madison’s longstanding prioritization of government and education also present comparable opportunities for students on the other end of the disciplinary spectrum, according to Frye.

Despite relative uncertainty about his future, Frye said he will confront it confidently because UW-Madison has more than rewarded the cost of his education.

“Comparatively, to other public schools, yes, I definitely think we get the most out of what we pay for,” Frye said.

But the national story reads slightly differently, he added.

“As a whole, I don’t think students are getting enough out of their money for their college education,” Frye said.

The Student Right to Know Before You Go Act of 2013 has been read on the Senate floor twice and now sits in the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, & Pensions.

Meghann Stelzner contributed to this report.

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Action Project Issue, March 2014

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How to market yourself on Facebook

By Kayleigh Norgord The Daily Cardinal

With the snow finally melting and the sun beginning to shine down on the beautiful city of Madison, no one welcomes the first signs of spring more than Sconnie students. But as the finish line to another year of college draws closer, the fear of finding a job can be frightening for those about to graduate. As social media continues to grow as an information sharing source within society, employers turn to outlets such as Facebook increasingly while searching for new hires in an attempt to learn as much about candidates as they can. Here are some of the do’s and don’ts of how you can create an informative Facebook profile that shows off worker qualities and accomplishments while providing a unique portrait of yourself as a person: DO have a profile picture that shows your personality… to an extent.

No employer wants to see those deuces and duck lips selfies or a photo of your shining moment beside the keg on game day, just as you wouldn’t want to work in an environment that fails to take its employees seriously. Before

you start the job search, make sure that your profile pictures shows a smiling, confident, yet collected version of yourself, as that will be what employers are looking for, regardless of what job you’re applying for.

DO include a thorough record of your work and education history in the “About” section. Advertising your schooling and job experiences, regardless of whether you were a bartender on State Street or had a once-in-a-lifetime internship in Los Angeles last summer, shows that you have marketable skills. Any sort of interaction with customers or even other employees is a major selling point because many of those sorts of abilities are universal and can transfer over to be used in other job fields.

Never be shy about the fact that you have been actively working both as an employee and as a student!

DON’T include fifty million page likes in your “About” section. Try to stick to a few page likes for each category that show off yourself at the present time and make you seem like a wellrounded, interesting individual with qualities that pertain to the job you’re

applying for. Examples of things you don’t need to show up under your likes are: “When you get a text from that special someone” and “Smile because it makes your day” and “Sleeping.” Feel free to express your interests, but make sure they are up to date and to set a limit so employers can quickly scroll and receive a snapshot of who you are.

DON’T think that just because the photos you are tagged in are not visible to the public and only your “friends” can see them that employers still can’t find a way to look through them. More and more these days, places looking to hire are finding ways to look at entire Facebook profiles so they can see if the person in the profile picture and at the job interview matches with what goes on behind the scenes. While most employers realize that the people working for them have a social life separate from work, they don’t want to see their employees’ drunken adventures, so make sure all of those partying college pictures show a smiling, clear-eyed face, sans red solo cup.

Need more tips on perfecting your profle?

Email Kayleigh at knorgord@wisc.edu.

Graphic by Mikaela albright

Dress your best to create an exceptional first impression

By Sammy Silverman The Daily Cardinal

Spring is finally here again, and with the (slightly) warmer weather comes the frantic search for summer internships and postgraduation jobs. As the cover letters turn into interviews, stress levels get higher as we try to control and perfect every factor that employers look at when considering whom to hire. Of course, they look at your resume and carefully consider your credentials and recommendations. However, the first impression that you give in a face-to-face interview can often be a make-or-break moment in any industry. Are you dressed for success? Your interview attire could be the solution to your internship or job hunt.

No matter what field you are in, it is important to look your best when attending an interview. This holds true whether you are applying for an unpaid internship or a “real job” with a salary and benefits. By attending an interview in the appropriate

attire, employers will understand that you are serious, committed and ready to work.

Not sure what counts as appropriate attire?

When putting together your outfit, think of what you would wear to your first day at work. Not only will you have a suitable look for the interview, but it will keep you in a positive mentality for getting the job.

For women, business casual attire implies dress pants or nice black or khaki pants, paired with a nice top. A classic blazer over any top also adds a nice touch and a hint of professionalism. Gap on State Street currently has a variety of business casual summer blazers which are perfect to add a pop of color for your outfit. Pairing a cardigan with any bottom is also a classy and stylish way to look professional. To add to this, make sure that your hair is out of your face. A small headband can help you with this. You don’t want to be playing with your hair through the entire interview. Headbands come in a variety of

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shapes, sizes and colors at stores like Urban Outfitters on State Street. Try it on in the store so you know that the headband makes you feel confident and comfortable.

This spring, pastel colors are sure to be a hit. Match a floral skirt with a pastel top to make a trendy spring interview outfit.

These shades are subtle for your interview and will make sure that your outfit doesn’t overshadow you and your personality. If you are looking for a reasonably priced interview outfit on campus, check out Pitaya on East Campus Mall. They will have everything you need to dress you from head to toe for your interview.

For men, you can never go wrong with a pair of slacks and a dress shirt. The shirt should be tucked in, and it generally looks nice if you are wearing a simple belt as well. Sperrys or loafers are both casual shoes that a lot of men own. But with a nice pair of slacks, they can be dressed up for an interview if you do not

own dress shoes. Just make sure these are dark colored Sperrys, and not the light camel boat shoes. In Madison, Jazzman is your answer. Located right on State Street, Jazzman has everything for your interview, whether it’s business professional or business casual. Jazzman sells suits, shoes and everything in between. No matter what you are looking for, Jazzman can help you out with their reasonable prices.

They often run huge sales as well.

Overall, your professional style can drastically alter your interview experience.

With style and class, you can succeed at giving a great first impression to your interviewer. Who knows, maybe they’ll even compliment your style, asking where you got a specific clothing item. Even before the conversation starts, you will have impressed them with the way you dressed.

Looking for more suggestions on what to wear to your next interview? Email Sammy at srsilverman@wisc.edu.

How to prepare for a great interview

By Courtney Pelot The Daily Cardinal

Many college students worry about scoring a summer internship or job after college. A huge part of their fear surrounds the interview process. What should I wear?

What should I say? These are just some of the questions whizzing through many college students’ heads. I’m here to offer some advice and helpful tips to help you have a successful interview!

I compete in pageants and have spent many months preparing for the 10-minute private interview that is a component of the Miss America Organization pageants. From this experience, I have learned that practice really does make perfect. Make a list of some of the most common interview questions that an employer may ask and practice answering these questions. By preparing, you will appear calm, cool and collected when those questions come up in the interview room. Be sure to visit the company’s website to study their history and mission statement as well.

The first impression is a very crucial moment in the interview process. You get one chance at a first impression, so give it your all. For pageants, I prepared what I would say and act the moment I stepped into the interview room and met the judges. Be confident and have good eye contact.

Have a firm handshake ready to go as well.

Glamour covered the topic of interviews and first impressions in its April issue.

Instead of having the typical note from the

editor-in-chief at the beginning of the magazine, the editor, Cindi Leive, decided to do a piece called “Six Reasons I Should Hire You.” This honest and personal look at directly what an employer is looking for in potential candidates has extremely helpful information. What made her list? Ask the employer directly for the job. It shows you’ve got guts.

Never talk negatively about any past or current employers. Instead, tell the person interviewing you what you learned during your time at that job. The advice that stuck with me the most was that you should always look put together. She stresses that appearances really do matter in the interview.

One of the greatest resources I have recently discovered for information on all things interview related is the book, “Work Hard, No Pay.” The Intern Queen, Lauren Berger, wrote this book to help college students ace their phone, Skype and in person interviews to land internships and jobs. I also had the chance to hear her speak on this subject at UW a few weeks ago. She really stressed the importance of keeping in touch with your professional contacts. She recommends contact them, with just a short simple email, three times a year.

I wish you the best of luck on all of your upcoming interviews! Follow these tips and I’m sure you’ll make a lasting impression.

Want to learn more about what it takes to have a successful interview? Email Courtney at cpelot@wisc.edu.

opinion

B10 Action Project, March 2014 l

view Cardinal View editorials represent The Daily Cardinal’s organizational opinion. Each editorial is crafted independent of news coverage.

I

Job insecurity skews value of college degree

ncreasing job insecurity in an unstable economy makes getting a college degree a doubleedged sword: the financial investment is a risk that may not pay off, but at the same time, without a degree there are few secure and potentially fulfilling career options.

A college education used to be a privilege for those who could pay for it. But the advantages affluence fosters in an increasingly competitive job market are everwidening the already inflated income gap in the United States. A humanities education is becoming less useful in a workforce with an abundance of Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics positions and shortage of other lucrative career options. The unemployment rate for people with humanities degrees increased from 5 percent to 13 percent between 1994 and 2009, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.

Despite a huge demand for STEM skills, the K-12 education system lags behind other developed countries in math and science, according to The Program for International Student Assessment, this creates a shortage of STEMfocused individuals to go into careers that will tangibly boost economic growth.

The college students of 2014 were in high school or entering college when the Great Recession hit. With a hyperawareness of the struggles of post-graduate life— unpaid internships, moving back home or working jobs for which they’re overqualified—students face a pressure to learn skills outside of the classroom. Bulking up resumes with extracurricular work is one way students attempt to differentiate themselves to employers, on top of maintaining GPAs and other responsibilities. Instead of attending college with the goal of learn-

ing, college’s purpose has shifted to vocational work, in areas such as engineering, journalism and business. Higher education has been commodified so that students now think in economic terms of what each class costs and how classes can benefit them in terms of their future job placement and income.

A court decision recently granted football players on scholarship at Northwestern University the right to form a union and collectively bargain, showing that student-athletes consider themselves as employees to the university rather than actual college students. Such a decision demonstrates how the ideas behind a college education have shifted for this entire generation of young adults: Instead of college being an initiation into adulthood or learning experience to broaden the mind, it has become a business deal between a university and its students. Most students are forced

dailycardinal.com to buy into this business scheme if they wish to succeed. This is not to say a college education does not have innumerable benefits to the individual’s journey, but the notion that one must pay thousands and thousands of dollars— either through loans, scholarships or family income—to gain a living wage shows that college no longer serves its intended purpose.

Additionally, one of the primary functions of a university should be to teach students how to be wellrounded citizens. Universities are failing students when they do not stress a well-rounded education or promote becoming a contributing member of society with diverse knowledge. With the commodification of higher education, the idea of learning-focused education and curriculum is falling to the wayside.

Students are dissuaded from learning for the sake of learning because there is so much pressure to become successful and remain competitive as a newcomer to the struggling job market. The prevailing mindset is that students are more careerfocused than learning-focused.

Instead of teaching students about the world, higher education institutions are often choosing to only teach a skill. We must wonder, was this the original purpose of higher education? There’s an assumption you need a college degree to get a job. For many young people, that’s a driving reason to go to college. But now it seems as if a college degree is a bare minimum requirement for success.

As the cost of a degree goes up and its value goes down, many students are going to be stuck in a bubble of debt and job insecurity.

People are fighting to make college more accessible, but state budget cuts mean students will have to foot more of the bill. As a result, the cost of public higher education is widening the income gap—as tuition increases more low-income students are getting priced out, ultimately hindering the possibility of socioeconomic mobility.

For our parents, a college degree was enough to get a job, but now students are expected to do much more. Students cannot rely merely on the presence of a college degree.

They need to have professional experience, internships and other real-world experiences to succeed.

For the students whose degrees can’t stand alone in the job market, options like graduate degrees are looking more appealing, but again, that incurs greater cost as well. So what’s the solution to this problem?

New models that provide lucrative and fulfilling options to young people outside of getting a four-year degree could alleviate the financial and individual pressure of attaining a diploma. This includes a greater emphasis on attending technical and vocational schools.

Ultimately, personal initiative is key. A higher education institution cannot force its students to engage in extracurricular activities, but in majors where jobs are not as attainable directly out of college, getting involved can provide avenues that lead to career possibilities. Students have the potential to increase the value of their undergraduate experience by seeking out realworld opportunities that broaden and develop their skill sets.

Please send all feedback to opinion@dailycardinal.com.

Affirmative action policy in higher ed reinforces racial discrimination HALEIGH AMANT AND RYAN BULLEN opinion editors

T

he tireless and honorable efforts of Doctor Martin Luther King Jr. to promote racial equality in the United States can be summed up with one of his most famous quotes: “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” This quote should summarize where we should be in the United States today regarding race; however, a policy meant to move us in Dr. King’s direction in fact hinders us. This policy is affirmative action in higher education.

In order to make sure we don’t offend anyone, we would like to first and foremost put it out there that we applaud and understand the goals of affirmative action as a concept.

However, it has become glaringly obvious that affirmative action is not the correct way to promote diversity in a university setting. Affirmative action is used to promote diversity in higher education by creating special opportunities for certain groups who suffer from discrimination. This is used in universities by setting certain percentages or quotas to be filled by members of certain racial or ethnic groups in each admissions cycle. Though it is an honorable goal to promote diversity in a setting of

higher education, affirmative action has instead of equalizing the admission process, made it inherently unfair as a whole.

To begin with, affirmative action is dehumanizing and reinforces racism. By being required to check a box of your racial status, “Caucasian,” “African American” or “Pacific Islander,” you become a statistic, a number, your character is sorted into a category that makes you more easily sortable in the admissions process.

For instance, instead of your decision for admission being based solely on your qualifications, your experiences or the trials you as a person have had to go through that have an opportunity to be discussed in your admissions essay, you are required to check a box which generalizes you. By allowing this practice, instead of hindering racism and promoting diversity, we are actually reinforcing the separatism that racism embodies.

Why are we still at the point where we are defined by our race, not by our character, especially in an institution said to be so enlightening as higher education. This also reinforces racism by belittling the students who are of different races, but got in because of their qualifications rather than affirmative action. It is not fair that this student must defend

their qualifications and rights to be at an elite university primarily because of the harmful assumption that affirmative action was the main reason for their admission.

because of the belittling of college degrees based on relaxed academic standards. In his memoir, “My Grandfather’s Son,” Thomas says, “I learned the hard way that a law degree from Yale meant one thing for white graduates and another for blacks, no matter how much anyone denied it.”

He continues by saying, “I’d graduated from one of America’s top law schools, but racial preference had robbed my achievement of its true value.” In addition to not being fair towards qualified students of majority races, it is unfair to the accepted students who may not be academically prepared to succeed at the university level.

While not the norm, many of the students who benefit from affirmative action could perGRAPHIC BY MIKAELA ALBRIGHT haps be set up for failure and have a real danger of Affirmative action can dropping out of school all-thealso create unfair situations while compiling the huge debt of denying qualified students from higher education tuition. and instead choosing a lesser- Admissions to an institution of qualified student simply based higher learning should be simply on fulfilling a racial quota. about qualifications.

How can a university claim to We understand the goal of uphold certain academic stan- promoting diversity in higher dards and yet be willing to education is important; however, bend the rules for the purposes we believe the problem of lack of of affirmative action? Supreme diversity in education starts with Court Justice Clarence Thomas, problems at lower levels of eduhimself an African American, cation. We need to address the has maintained a strong anti- problem at its root cause and we affirmative action stance can start with public education

reform. The problem is people in more privileged areas have access to a far-superior level of public education, whereas children in under-privileged neighborhoods are not given access to this same level of quality education. Instead of focusing on policies such as affirmative action in higher education, perhaps it would be more beneficial to focus on creating circumstances in which kids in underprivileged neighborhoods are guaranteed access to the same levels of education as those in privileged neighborhoods.

By doing this, we are creating a level playing field for kids of all races, ensuring each child has the opportunity to get an education which fully prepares them for the difficulties of higher education.

This also takes race out of the question. Access to public education would be about kids of every race, not about filling a quota in a university admissions process based solely on race.

Unfortunately, our society still views an individual’s race through an uninformed and jaded lens. The policy of affirmative action in higher education only heightens the scope of this lens. By ending the use of affirmative action education, we can take a vital step toward truly judging a person based on the content of their character and not the color of their skin.

Haleigh is a senior and Ryan is a junior. Both students are majoring in political science. Please send all feedback to opinion@ dailycardinal.com or actionproject@dailycardinal.com.

opinion dailycardinal.com

Action Project Issue, March 2014

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MOOCs remain a debated form of college education ABBY BECKER editor-in-chief

M

oving from a traditional lecture hall setting to an online digital classroom is a phenomenon that those in higher education are consistently debating.

Massive Open Online Courses, the latest trend of online higher education, embody the idea of fostering large-scale participation and education through open access on the Internet. While the idealistic program has good intentions, the presence of online programs such as MOOCs cause confusion about the traditional higher-education degree. MOOCs promise a free education to anyone who signs up for the course, but are online students learning as much as they would in a traditional classroom setting?

MOOCs are a relatively new trend in higher education, and according to a 2013 Survey of Online Learning Report from the Babson Survey Research Group only a small portion of higher education institutions are experimenting with MOOCs and a large number of those are in the planning stages. MOOCs are different from regular online course instruction because those who can enroll in a MOOC do not have to be registered students at a school. Secondly, open online courses have the capability for unlimited participation and there is no cost. Thirdly, no credit is given to those who finish a MOOC. The number of higher education institutions offering MOOCs

grew slightly from 2.6 percent in 2012 to 5 percent in 2013. Fifty three percent of higher education institutions report that they are undecided about MOOCs and only 23 percent of academic leaders believe MOOCs are a sustainable method of online education, which decreased from 28 percent in 2012. Perhaps the most important result of this report is that 64 percent of academic leaders are concerned that the credentials for completing a MOOC will cause confusion about higher education degrees. This number is up from 55 percent in 2012. The University of Wisconsin-Madison is part of the 5 percent of academic institutions offering MOOCs and is currently in phase two of the MOOC integration process.

MOOCs are beneficial in that they open education to a massive online audience at no cost.

“MOOCs are a means to increase the range of ways we can offer education to learners,” former Chancellor David Ward said in a statement Feb. 20, 2013. “The future of learning is connecting with people where they are at—increasingly, those places are online. We fully recognize the necessity for direct personal communication in higher education, but we must also experiment and explore the potentialities of online technologies.”

Additionally, Provost Paul DeLuca said MOOCs will not only provide an alternative means of education for students but also for the university. “Students will benefit from having additional options in their

education, and we will learn much from these courses that will help us in our future educational efforts,” DeLuca said in the February statement.

Creating alternative education models to “meet people where they are at” is one of the most important aspects of MOOCs and other forms of online education. For that reason, I commend the idealistic characteristics of innovative online education. But the problem lies in that for the course to be successful, the students enrolled in MOOCs need to have the personal initiative to complete the class, which is difficult to track. Accountability measures are lacking in MOOCs. Are the resources spent investing in MOOCs worth it if students are not finishing the classes or are not gaining as much as they would in a traditional classroom setting?

The Chronicle of Higher Education reports there is movement toward credentialing MOOCs. “Badges” are the latest method utilized by the free online education group called the Khan Academy. These “badges” are used to show students have mastered certain skills learned through an online program.

Another method the article references is the idea of certificates.

But these methods still pose confusion over the value of a college degree. What does a certificate or “badge” in a MOOC look like to a potential employer? And how does that differ from what a college degree looks like on a resume?

MOOC credentialing still remains confusing to academic leaders, as exemplified by the 9 percent increase in survey takers who believe credentials for MOOC

Credentials for MOOC Complication Will Cause Confusion About Higher 80

Education Degrees—2012 &2 013

70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0

2012 Agree

2013 Neutral

Disagree

Source: Babson Survey Research Group GRAPHIC BY MIKAELA ALBRIGHT

completion will cause confusion about higher education degrees.

As MOOCs progress, there will be many questions to answer. There’s always the financial question of how to keep online programs from becoming a drain on a university.

Additionally, there’s the quality aspect to consider. Do MOOCs provide as successful of an education as a traditional classroom setting? MOOCs are beneficial in that they open education to a massive online audience at no

cost. But whether they will contribute positively in a sustainable way to the higher education environment remains to be seen. As MOOCs continue to become more common within universities, it would be wise to weigh whether or not this form of online education is a worthwhile investment.

Abby is a junior majoring in journalism. Please send all feedback to opinion@dailycardinal. com or actionproject@dailycardinal.com.

Computer coding education increases in importance MARA JEZIOR managing editor

I

recently asked a friend what she thinks will be the most useful language to know in the future. Her answer? A computer coding language. Although it wasn’t the answer I was looking for, it makes sense.

As a junior about to enroll in classes for my last year of college, I’ve recently been weighing what I still want to learn.

My majors are set and I don’t have the time or resources to make drastic changes to my education path, but what kind of things will be useful as the next crop of students enter the workforce?

Even if students do not end up in tech careers, understanding the basics of coding can still serve as an engaging mental exercise.

Learning the fundamentals of computer programming is proving to be a marketable skill in a variety of industries. While an extensive knowledge is not necessary for all young professionals, a working knowledge of how to code is an increasingly useful asset, even for

those pursuing degrees in the area of humanities. People with computer programming skills are often guaranteed jobs out of college as a new wave of digital entrepreneurship takes off. According to TIME magazine, the third most in-demand jobs right now are in software development, with a median salary of just under $100,000 a year.

For those who think coding seems mundane, many of the products programmers are creating are innovative, useful and highly marketable. As a hopeful journalist, the prospects of online journalism are innumerable and knowing how to code plays a role in that. The media field is one place we are seeing experimentation and new ideas as consumers flock to the Internet for news.

Looking back, I wish I had taken even one computer science class in my undergraduate career. But what’s the point of looking back? Let’s look forward. Seizing the opportunity to learn at least the fundamentals and general theory behind programming and web design is not a waste of time. Whether during one’s college experience or beyond, it is never too late to learn. Still, as a child, I thought of the people who created and programmed computers as geniuses, automatically ruling myself out of the possibility of a

The Daily Cardinal would like to recognize

The Evjue Foundation, Inc. GRAPHIC BY MIKAELA ALBRIGHT

future in the tech industry.

One thing education leaders can do to better prepare the next generation for a techcentered world is to introduce coding into curriculums in elementary and middle school.

Learning the fundamentals of computer programming is proving to be a marketable skill in a variety of industries.

With the right education and encouragement, people can be immersed in how to code from an earlier age, at a time when it is the easiest to learn the fundamentals. I wish I had known earlier that it doesn’t take a genius to code, it takes logic. Even if students do not end up in tech careers, under-

standing the basics of coding can still serves an engaging mental exercise. While there are academic resources to learn programming, there are also things you can do individually.

Websites like codeacademy.com and teamtreehouse.com provide online training for people who want to learn on their own.

As technology becomes more important in how the world functions, encouraging coding literacy for all ages, and specifically from an early age, will help the United States stay ahead in an increasingly competitive global economy.

Mara Jezior is a junior studying journalism and history at UW-Madison. Do you agree with her about coding’s importance? Email Mara at mara. jezior@dailycardinal.com t o tell her what you think.

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“I want to be a doctor.”

University of WisconsinMadison students and alumni reflect on their decision to pursue a post-secondary education despite increasing publicity about the decreasing value of a degree in the modern global economy.

“I wanted to have a rockin’ good time.”

I chose college in The Game of because...

“I want to open my eyes to new life experiences.” photos by drew gilmore/the daily cardinal