Tangents & Tirades

by The Cowl Editor on October 31, 2019


Opinion


Photos courtesy of Public Domain Pictures.

 

Take the Challenge, Not the “Easy A”

As spring 2020 registration comes around the corner, students should focus more on what classes interest them rather than if the class is an “easy A.” 

The website RateMyProfessor.com has been a blessing and a curse for college students when deciding their class schedule. While it is nice for students to look up their professors and see what type of teaching style they have and other reviews, this can also limit a students full learning experience. 

Every student has a different teaching style that fits them best, and a lot of people can disagree about whether or not they enjoy a certain professor. For this reason, RateMyProfessor.com can be a waste of time and opportunity for many students. 

For some Providence College seniors, this upcoming spring semester can be the last time taking classes as an undergrad student. Therefore, students should take into consideration their interests or even challenge themselves to take a thought- provoking class instead of one that is boring or does not require attendance. 

Being a liberal arts college, PC offers a variety of very different courses ranging from the arts to the sciences and more. Students should explore other fields of study in their electives to broaden their range of knowledge and spark new interests. 

With class registration approaching in the coming weeks, PC students should consider other course options besides what is the easiest and focus on what can expand their learning and interests. 

—Marie Sweeney ’20

 

 

Photos courtesy of Public Domain Files and Pixabay.

 

Appreciating Underground Films

This year, the theatres have been inundated with blockbuster hits from Marvel’s Avengers: Endgame to the upcoming Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. Every few months, box office records are being shattered and people flock to the theatres to see the latest installment of their favorite franchises. While this record breaking year is certainly notable, the blockbuster culture has made it much harder for smaller, independent films to get the advertising they need. 

Films with smaller box office numbers tend to be showcased only for the few months leading up to the Academy Awards. Additionally, they have to spend much more money on advertising as a way to increase the possibility of a successful opening weekend. Because they often are not attached to a particular franchise, audiences will question if the movie is worth seeing. 

This phenomenon is particularly disheartening, especially considering the fact that these lesser anticipated movies are often the most celebrated films during the upcoming awards season. 

For example, last year’s Academy Award winner for Best Picture—Green Book—had a fairly dismal opening weekend in the box office. Though it had steady success and was obviously a masterful craft, the movie was not granted as much attention as sequels and extensions of already beloved franchises.

While these long-running movie series are a fantastic staple in our society, they often take away from the success of independent movies as a whole. 

—Julia McCoy ’22

 

 

Photo courtesy of clipart-library.com.

 

Clean Your Dirty Laundry (Room)

Doing laundry is a necessary part of living independently on a college campus. Yet, it is also a difficult part of living on a college campus and is often a burden. 

The laundry rooms for some buildings at Providence College are co-ed, which poses an awkwardness when people are moving clothes out of a machine. Some of the machines are also broken, which causes students to waste time when a load is not actually washed or dried. 

There is an unspoken rule at PC that when clothing is left after a cycle in a machine for too long, people move it onto a table to put their stuff in. But this becomes slightly uncomfortable in the co-ed laundry rooms when boys’ and girls’ clothing are sitting out in the open. 

People also tend to empty others’ clean clothing on the floor. This is appalling because those clean clothes are becoming dirty from the floor, and because boys’ and girls’ clothing are laying out in the open on the ground for everyone to see and step on. 

In certain buildings, Suites Hall for example, some of the machines are broken. Two of the dryers in Suites do not work, so students waste 50 minutes of their lives waiting for their clothes that actually are not even dry. 

PC needs to work on improving the laundry rooms by encouraging people to take care of their own clothing as well as others’ clothing, and by ensuring that all machines function properly. 

—Emily Ball ’22