College students being taught wrong message

To the editor:

In a recent issue of The Indianapolis Star, reporter Andy Gammill had a lengthy article on the "Classroom Crisis at Indiana University. It doesn't have enough rooms to meet scheduling requests…"

The problem is not the lack of classroom space. The problem stems from the fact that students (and some professors) feel it is an imposition to schedule morning classes and Friday classes. After all, early morning classes tend to hamper late night social activities and Friday classes impact their weekend.

Parents are spending thousands of dollars for their children's educations and their children feel their classroom effort should be half-days at the most, Monday through Thursday.

This reminds me of a friend of mine who, years ago, was in the Army in Japan. His assignment was setting type for the Armed Services Newspaper. He told me his work period each day was from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. He said, "You know, that interrupts my whole day!"

I can recall, when I delivered a newspaper to my next door neighbor, very early one Sunday morning; my father was working in his garden. The neighbor, sitting on his porch drinking a bottle of beer, said to me, "You know, it makes me tired just watching your dad work!"

In the article, one college student said, "By coming to college you try to get past the high school thing.

And Friday, that kind of signifies it's the weekend."

If this is the mind-set we are generating on our college campuses, what will it be when they get out in the business world? No wonder industry is sending manufacturing operations and services to other countries.

Richard Taylor

Greencastle