Fr froee...l m h ike om eve e d ry uri th ng ing Th yo ank u’l sg l ta ivin ke g...
Volume 1, Issue 3 | 11/09/11 - 11/30/11 | theblacksheeponline.com
The
Black Sheep
“A College Newspaper That’s Actually About College”
“I’m here, but I really don’t want to be...” Kiara Powell wrote this At the beginning of the semester when your professor posts the syllabus on Blackboard, you scroll through the same dead-horse outline, specifically skipping the parts about when tests will be, what’s going to happen on what day, VCU honor code blah, blah, blah, until you finally get to the attendance policy and see that dreaded message: “Attendance will be taken every class.” Seriously? That ruins your plans of skipping out on class to enjoy the weather in The Compass on warm days or snuggling deeper into your covers on cold days. VCU professors are notorious for having mandatory attendance policies, and it’s even worse when the professor launches a PowerPoint presentation on the projector and says, “All of these are available on Blackboard.” So you’re just wasting your time coming to class, all for nothing? It would be okay if the teacher actually gave you additional handouts to go along with the slideshows, you know, with the help of their TAs and all; but no, you have to sit there after hauling your ass to class, which is a struggle for many -- especially if you live in the apartments on Broad Street and have a class in Oliver Hall, or making it from your residence on Cary Street to
Other stuff
Inside
the 500 academic building, which is even further that you’d be willing to walk for a party. We can understand why showing up late to class—or having an empty classroom—may annoy some teachers, but if the entire class lecture is based on droning on with the same words that are on the slide, can’t they at least make it interesting? Blow something up? Do a funny dance on stage, or even have your lecture on something a little different than what’s on the PowerPoint so our notes can at least be a little helpful? Then with that, maybe students will actually come to class. In the same category are those teachers who always try to trick you into coming. If they’re not sadistically taking a roll call in Harris, then they’ll have you bring a clicker to class, only to click if you’re in attendance. They may even try and bribe you into staying by saying that “clicker questions” are worth bonus points—and who doesn’t want those? These clicker questions always seem to be in the class that you hate. You really don’t want to show up, because it’s that time of the semester when you just don’t give a fuck: you’d rather die than drag your ass out of bed and be read a PowerPoint slide that you could be in bed in your PJs reading your-
04: call of duty vs. girlfriend duty What’s more important, head or a headshot?
self. You force yourself to go anyways because of those damn clicker points and just check your Facebook and Twitter for the entire hour. And finally, we have those classes where the teacher actually takes attendance. Like the “put-on-your-glasses-takes-out-the-paper-and-looks-over-the-roll” type of attendance. What’s the point of taking attendance in a class of 100+ people? God forbid your last name ends in a “V” and the teacher is calling roll in a Temple lecture room. If the attendance is taken randomly this becomes a game of “will he or won’t he?” Having to determine when the teacher is going to take attendance is the equivalent of solving a complex algebra problem where you always get the answer wrong. Attendance is taken on the one day you decide to skip class. It never fails. The truth is, if professors can’t even take the time to learn our names, then it becomes a fine line between actually caring about students learning and just being a dick. If mandatory attendance is an overwhelming issue for a professor then they should probably go back to teaching elementary school where they can be sure that parents will throw their kids on the school bus to get them to school in the morning.
05: Dude, C’mon Man, Party Foul Well, what if it isn’t one?
11: the black sheep interviews:
Double trouble with Mat Kearney and 12th Planet!