Tangents & Tirades

by The Cowl Editor on November 21, 2019


Tangents


Be Present During the Dash to Class

Walking to classes at Providence College is comprised of a set of unspoken rules. AirPods in, hoods up, and heads down. But if you take a moment to pause the music and listen to your surroundings, you’ll notice that it’s surprisingly quiet. 

The lack of social interaction when we walk to class is somewhat concerning. It seems too quiet to say hello to your friends passing by, but also rude if you walk by in silence.

Some promote the idea of listening to music in between classes as a way to destress and focus on something else for the five to ten minutes that you have alone to yourself during school hours. Others use it as a means of avoiding social interaction if they are walking alone or don’t wish to look up from their phones. 

We may all be a little guilty of taking the easy way out and putting earbuds in, but maybe try and be aware of your surroundings and all your peers passing by next time you walk to class.

If completed, one would notice all the little things that make campus so special. It could be the way sunlight shines through the leaves of the tress, or maybe, if you’re lucky, you’ll see the occasional dog and dog walker. 

While it’s totally understandable to want time to destress while walking to class, use social interaction as a way to try and achieve that, rather than avoiding it all together.

—Katie Belbusti ’22

Photo courtesy of Pixabay.

 

Choosing a Major: Quality Over Quantity

College has become overwhelmingly “degree-centric.” All too often undergraduate students perceive course selection as merely checking boxes off a list of major and minor requirements in order to achieve the maximum number of degrees.  

Irrefutably, the fostering of competencies across numerous disciplines proves intellectually and empathetically enriching whenever a student can harness a genuine interest in their major or minor course material. However, as our contemporary society has grown increasingly achievement-oriented, students experience a sense of social obligation, rather than an intrinsic motivation to acquire excessive academic degrees. Overall, this phenomenon has devalued the educational opportunity of earning an undergraduate degree.  

Given the rigor of the core curriculum, many Providence College students in particular who pursue additional degrees with their major, begin to perceive each semester’s course load as merely another set of obstacles standing between themselves and their undergraduate diploma.  

To that end, it proves critical that we revive educational morale within the PC community by encouraging each other, both institutionally and on an individual basis as students, to exclusively attain majors and minors of both importance and interest to us.  

Such curricular selectivity will provide us with the versatility within our schedule to pursue academic curiosities through electives courses and invest the preponderance of our energies in developing a passion for our majors—thus reinforcing the invaluable enrichment opportunity that is the undergraduate experience. 

—Alyssa Cohen ’21

 

Photo courtesy of Free SVG.org.