Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Apr 19, 2011 12:12:57 GMT -5
This is the University of Connecticut we're talking about - you don't need to read books to get a BA in Fingerpainting.
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Post by strummer8526 on Apr 19, 2011 12:28:37 GMT -5
Not at all. I'd say that nobody really should be criticizing Walker for this- black, white, latino, whatever. I would point out, however, that a person from Harlem might have a little more insight than yourself into this matter and consider it a major accomplishment that this kid used his God given talents to ensure a good future for himself and his family. Wow, without knowing me, where I came from, or anything else about me, that's quite a bit of insight you have. We know that your "location" is Salt Lake City, Utah and that you like Caddyshack. I think we can draw at least an inference or two.
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DFW HOYA
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Post by DFW HOYA on Apr 19, 2011 12:54:38 GMT -5
But, wow, having graduates who have not been forced to read a book from beginning to end? I mean, there are English lit requirements, right? I went to a big state-school on par with UCONN prior to transferring to Georgetown and I can assure you that it would not have been impossible to pass English 101 and 102 without reading at least one of the novels from beginning to end. How do you write a paper about a book you never read? And that is just one subject! I'm sure it can be done, and not just for athletes. While I was a business student (and therefore read other texts in other courses), the freshman English requirement was rather thin: a poetry class (taught by the great Roland Flint, who opened every class with one of his own poems, of which there were many), and a less memorable seminar from someone else on short stories, so there was no requirement to read any of the great books the English majors later delved into. As for graduating in three years, bear in mind he's probably been enrolled in summer each year to take advantage of summer league play, and coupled with independent study and online courses, it was probably doable to get out early.
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Post by nashvillehoyas on Apr 19, 2011 12:57:19 GMT -5
So what that kemba Walker did not graduate from Harvard, Howard, Morehouse, Fisk, or Yale, he did graduate from an outstanding university. I am curious if Maya Moore read books from cover to cover. This outstanding student/athlete only graduated from UConn....It is pitiful that so called well read educated people can act so dumb.
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Post by williambraskyiii on Apr 19, 2011 14:02:54 GMT -5
So, let's not excoriate this kid for making a statement about never having read a book from beginning to end. He comes from a much different walk of life than I imagine most of the people on here come from. One person was talking about the academic rigors their 10 year old nephew has to go through. I'd wager that your nephew doesn't go to school in the inner city in Harlem like Walker did and that his school system is probably quite a bit better. There's no reason for people on here to berate this kid for not previously having read a book from cover to cover. It just shows your true colors. If you're going to single me out, at least read my entire post. I have nothing against Kemba. I fact, I began my post by congratulating him. I was questioning the system, not the person. We're gonna put the system on trial!!!
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ksf42001
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Post by ksf42001 on Apr 19, 2011 14:22:47 GMT -5
So what that kemba Walker did not graduate from Harvard, Howard, Morehouse, Fisk, or Yale, he did graduate from an outstanding university. I am curious if Maya Moore read books from cover to cover. This outstanding student/athlete only graduated from UConn....It is pitiful that so called well read educated people can act so dumb. I think, for most of us, that is the point (the bolded part). We are astonished that a so-called outstanding university has graduates who can navigate its curriculum without ever having to read a book from cover to cover for a class. I am not sure how discussing that astonishment makes us dumb... I'm sorry, but you can make it through any university without reading a book cover-to-cover. I graduated from gtown just fine without doing it. I read books from front to back for pleasure, but never for a class, and I did it without searching for "easy A" classes either.
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ScreamingHoya
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Post by ScreamingHoya on Apr 19, 2011 14:23:00 GMT -5
So what that kemba Walker did not graduate from Harvard, Howard, Morehouse, Fisk, or Yale, he did graduate from an outstanding university. I am curious if Maya Moore read books from cover to cover. This outstanding student/athlete only graduated from UConn....It is pitiful that so called well read educated people can act so dumb. I think, for most of us, that is the point (the bolded part). We are astonished that a so-called outstanding university has graduates who can navigate its curriculum without ever having to read a book from cover to cover for a class. I am not sure how discussing that astonishment makes us dumb... If it were just the discussion of the need for colleges to require more from their students, then I'd be with you, but a lot of the people here are going after the player himself for something that really has no basis on their lives. It's like going after a gay couple and saying that their getting married is somehow going to affect the relationship you and your wife have. If you think it's astonishing that someone can graduate from college never having read a book cover to cover, then you're really out of touch with the educational system these days. And I'm not even talking about big state schools- I guarantee you that a large percentage of people could graduate from Georgetown in 4 years never having read a book- you skim, you do research on the internet, or you just do a good old fashioned BS job on your papers. You might not have the best GPA, and it's a big waste of a lot of money, but you'd still graduate. Also- tashoya- my bad, upon further review, you definitely were not calling out Kemba. I was skimming and didn't read the thread from cover to cover. Someone must have helped me type my posts.
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rosslynhoya
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Post by rosslynhoya on Apr 19, 2011 15:32:18 GMT -5
I understand your points and perhaps I am out of touch with higher education (although I just graduated 6 years ago). I guess I would have had a hard time passing some of my classes if I had not read books cover to cover. Seriously? For the record, "passing" does NOT mean "get an A in." I had very few classes at Georgetown that required knowledge of any of the readings beyond what was covered in the lecture to nab a B. With few exceptions, GU profs were extraordinarily loathe to fail a student outright for many reasons, but mostly that it caused more trouble than it was worth. Better to give a C or D and send the kid on to be someone else's problem, as long as he put forward some minimal effort. That principle only applied to lower-level courses though. Numerous upper-division seminars in the humanities and social sciences seemed to give everyone an A just for showing up. Hence, a 3.0 at GU puts you in the bottom 10% of most if not all graduating classes.
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ScreamingHoya
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Post by ScreamingHoya on Apr 19, 2011 15:48:20 GMT -5
If it were just the discussion of the need for colleges to require more from their students, then I'd be with you, but a lot of the people here are going after the player himself for something that really has no basis on their lives. It's like going after a gay couple and saying that their getting married is somehow going to affect the relationship you and your wife have.. I simply can't let this go, though. I am having a hard time figuring out what the above comment and the one earlier about birthers have to do with this discussion. Horrible analogies if you ask me. My point is that I don't understand people getting uppity about a kid who has no connection to their lives graduating from college in three years and making a statement that he had just finished his first cover-to-cover book. What difference does it make to you? How does this affect you? Find something better to complain about; possibly something that has even a microscopic bearing on you life.
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hoyabinx
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Post by hoyabinx on Apr 19, 2011 15:48:33 GMT -5
I understand your points and perhaps I am out of touch with higher education (although I just graduated 6 years ago). I guess I would have had a hard time passing some of my classes if I had not read books cover to cover. Seriously? For the record, "passing" does NOT mean "get an A in." I had very few classes at Georgetown that required knowledge of any of the readings beyond what was covered in the lecture to nab a B. With few exceptions, GU profs were extraordinarily loathe to fail a student outright for many reasons, but mostly that it caused more trouble than it was worth. Better to give a C or D and send the kid on to be someone else's problem, as long as he put forward some minimal effort. That principle only applied to lower-level courses though. Numerous upper-division seminars in the humanities and social sciences seemed to give everyone an A just for showing up. Hence, a 3.0 at GU puts you in the bottom 10% of most if not all graduating classes. Maybe you are right. I seem to remember being horrified at the possibility of making a 'C'. I was lucky enough to avoid that; maybe making a 'C' was harder (or is it easier?) than I thought.
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hoyarooter
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Post by hoyarooter on Apr 19, 2011 19:06:30 GMT -5
As a long ago graduate I'm curious about something. Aren't Cliff Notes still around? I had to read numerous novels in English Lit freshman year and I only resorted to Cliff Notes once - for Light in August - and they got me through. Can't a student who is intent on not reading anything still get by by resorting to a super-truncated summary of the story (and please, I'm not implying that Kemba did anything like this - I'm just curious)?
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DanMcQ
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Post by DanMcQ on Apr 19, 2011 19:23:48 GMT -5
a poetry class (taught by the great Roland Flint, who opened every class with one of his own poems, of which there were many) One of my favorite professors ever (and I was a Biology major), and a life ended way prematurely.
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Post by HoyaSinceBirth on Apr 19, 2011 19:55:20 GMT -5
I don't see why anyone has a problem with people making fun of Kemba Walker? This seems like a perfectly good reason to do so. Sheesh. This got way to serious. It's funny. Just let it go.
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hoopsmccan
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Post by hoopsmccan on Apr 19, 2011 20:05:28 GMT -5
As a long ago graduate I'm curious about something. Aren't Cliff Notes still around? I had to read numerous novels in English Lit freshman year and I only resorted to Cliff Notes once - for Light in August - and they got me through. Can't a student who is intent on not reading anything still get by by resorting to a super-truncated summary of the story (and please, I'm not implying that Kemba did anything like this - I'm just curious)? eNotes is the way to do it now (and cofounded by a Hoya no less). hm
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kchoya
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Post by kchoya on Apr 20, 2011 11:21:52 GMT -5
If it were just the discussion of the need for colleges to require more from their students, then I'd be with you, but a lot of the people here are going after the player himself for something that really has no basis on their lives. It's like going after a gay couple and saying that their getting married is somehow going to affect the relationship you and your wife have.. I simply can't let this go, though. I am having a hard time figuring out what the above comment and the one earlier about birthers have to do with this discussion. Horrible analogies if you ask me. My point is that I don't understand people getting uppity about a kid who has no connection to their lives graduating from college in three years and making a statement that he had just finished his first cover-to-cover book. What difference does it make to you? How does this affect you? Find something better to complain about; possibly something that has even a microscopic bearing on you life. Um pretty much everything we discuss on here has no bearing on my life. You do realize this is an internet message board, don't you? If it weren't for internet message boards, Kemba Walker probably would have had to read a whole book while in college. Do you think he's going to read Jerome Corsi's next book?
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Boz
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Post by Boz on Apr 20, 2011 12:45:09 GMT -5
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theexorcist
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Post by theexorcist on Apr 20, 2011 13:43:47 GMT -5
I don't see why anyone has a problem with people making fun of Kemba Walker? This seems like a perfectly good reason to do so. Sheesh. This got way to serious. It's funny. Just let it go. I get kind of defensive about it because: a) it sounds reminiscent to taunting of Patrick Ewing b) NCAA basketball in general and UConn men's basketball in particular have awful graduation rates. At a certain point, it's not funny anymore. If you play NCAA Division I men's basketball, there's a 50% chance you won't graduate. At UConn, two out of every three don't graduate. That's abysmal and not funny. c) It sounds like cheap schadenfreude. Kemba whupped our butts, and so there's a desire to bring him down.
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Post by HoyaSinceBirth on Apr 20, 2011 15:29:21 GMT -5
a) I can see that but I feel this is different in that was much more racial while this is because of a statement he made.
b) Ok but I see this as more point out our superiority. I don't think anyone is happy that basketball players don't graduate. It's more looking down at institutions like Uconn and Maryland. It's making fun of the schools not the players. Yes it's sad that kids aren't graduating, but it's still funny that Maryland at one point had a 0% graduation rate. Again too serious. This is a light hearted poking fun at Kemba.
c) Um so? You say that like it's a bad thing. What's wrong with a little schandfreude? But you're implying we wouldn't be making fun of the kid if he went to DePaul. It might not have been as big a deal, but it still would've been brought up and laughed about. We made fun of Nova players despite the fact that we've won almost all the games against them recently. It's a BE player. We're going to make fun of them.
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ScreamingHoya
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Post by ScreamingHoya on Apr 21, 2011 8:54:16 GMT -5
b) Ok but I see this as more point out our superiority. And there's the elitist attitude I'm talking about. I also think it's funny that you proclaim your superiority over a guy who says he just finished his first cover-to-cover book while exhibiting your own problems with the English language.
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TBird41
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Post by TBird41 on Apr 21, 2011 9:16:20 GMT -5
Something lost in the discussion of Kemba's reading choices is what he still has to do to get his degree:
"He'll finish course work over the next few weeks and will have some online courses and internship (probably conducted with the NBA team that drafts him) in order to officially graduate. He will walk in the commencement next month."
Online courses and an internship w/ the team that drafts him...
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