Opinion |Dont wasteour timeApathy all too common in theclassroomRACHEL KINGOPINION EDITORHave you ever gotten to class, only to find itmore than half empty with two minutes until gotime? T Even after the first quarter of class, peoplestill manage to straggle in, without so much as theeffort to close the door quietly. Sometimes. you getthose classes with the silent majority "the studentsthat sit behind their desks through the entire period,refusing to open their mouths because they haven'tbothered to do their homework. What happened tobeing in college because you wanted to learn? Whywaste the time of everyone who wants to get some-thing out of it?First of all, Tm sure some of you will need somekind of clarification as to what I mean by an apa-thetic student. T These students are not having a badday...unless they Tre counting having to be in class atall. We all have days where we Td like to be somewhereelse, professors included, I Tm sure. And there are dayswhen you can Tt avoid being late, and that Ts fine, too.It Ts called life. T .However, these kids act like they Td rather haveto see the dentist for a root canal than be forced tolisten to an hour (not even! 50 measly minutes...anhour fifteen, tops...I do pity the three-hour warriors,though...three hours is always too much). Why is itso hard for you all to be timely and to at least feigninterest for the people who bust their butts to makesure you take away the information you need to besuccessful?Some of you may say, Well, that argument Tsflawed. I'll never need Algebra I again...nor basicBiology. And I don Tt care what Shakespeare said. I canspeak English just fine and I saw 10 Things I HateAbout You. My bases are covered. T But are they?At least a dozen times during the semester, I Tllleave a class and overhear a student remarking onhow pointless the class is, or how they aren Tt learninganything, or how dumb the professor is. Well, I havetwo ideas for you on how to improve your less-than-desirable situation: drop the class or (if you have tohave it), make sure you state your concerns on thoseannoying little bubble sheets we get at the end of everysemester asking us to rate the class and the professor.Those little sheets that so many of us like to bubblein straight nines in a one-through-ten lineup on areone way to remedy future students T same grievances.Bottom line here: do your part, get out, or shut up.Some students seem to be forgetting the basictenant of student-professor relationship.It Ts called respect.I cannot express the frustration I feel when Iam sitting in class, ready to roll, and the professorasks a basic reading comprehension question fromlast night Ts homework...and no one answers becauseeither they didn Tt do their homework or can Tt bebothered. In far too many of my classes, people arefreezing up and hiding behind their bank-breakingtextbooks. You paid all that money for them; whydon Tt you use them?And yes, I do answer the professor when a ques-tion is posed to the class and no one else will speakup. I Tm a bit of an overachiever, it Ts true, but I don Tt goout of my way every night to make sure I have wittythings to say, or go any farther than anyone goeswho Ts conscious of his or her academic success. It Ts onething to be shy, and quite another to just not care. I Tdventure to say that most professors aren't asking youto perform brain surgery, so what Ts the problem?How would you feel if you tried for over half anhour to start a meaningful discussion just to have itdie on you because two of the 23 (out of 30 "the otherfive are asleep, and one is actively snoring) studentsin your class won't have anything to do with you?And you can forget about calling students like thatout on something basic like consistently coming toclass unprepared. They roll your eyes at you. Theywhisper base insults to each other behind their palmsopenly. They let their phones ring in class and actlike it Ts no big deal. In some of the larger lecture ses-sions, you may even find someone on his or her cell,discussing the previous night Ts drunken excursionswith someone else in another classroom. This kindof overt, disparaging, and yes "crappy "disrespectis far too prevalent for my tastes.It Ts not that these people aren't intelligent; I thinkmost of them are. Their interests just don Tt lie in thedaily classroom grind. I also recognize that for manyof us, especially when it comes to the general educa-tion requirements of an ECU degree, these classesare just stepping stones to the next exciting thingwe'll do in life.I ask everyone to take a second look at yourclassroom conduct. Is it respectful? Would it killyou to silence your phone before it goes off? Couldyou manage to stay awake for the class period? If youcan Tt, why don Tt you leave? Can you imagine how youmake your professors feel? And, seriously, professors,it Ts your responsibility to not to tolerate that kind ofthing. You've paid your dues; you deserve to have anactive, alert, prepared classroom environment that Tsengaging and inspiring. No, it won't be that way everyday; because this is not a perfect world, but I thinkthere Ts plenty of room for improvement.So please, I love you for reading our Pirate Rants,but put the newspaper down. Youre in-class, forgoodness T sake.This writer can be reached atopinion@theeastcarolinian.com.{Think it. Live it. }THURSDAY OCTOBER 25, 2007pace A5RANT OF THE DAYTo the dude who's collar | unpopped lastFriday at a party : You're welcome!POLITICIANS HAVE& PLAN TO COMBATCALL THEIR PLANBuT THEY ALLTHE SAME THING...Spat menteUNETEN eS VATToday Ts Rants have been pulled for your pleasure from issues dating back at least a yeardue to technical difficulties with the service that provides them. We hope to have freshthoughts back up as soon as possible. We Tre sorry for the inconvenience but at leastyou Tll get your bi-weekly fix! Please continue to send them in!The East Carolinian does not endorse statements made in Pirate Rants. Questionsregarding Rants can be directed to Rachel King, Opinion Page Editor, at opinion@theeastcarolinian.com. Log onto theeastcarolinian.com to submit a Rant of your own.There. Their. They're. There is adifference. Learn it, love it, live it.| hate when people respond to otherpeople Ts Rants; it Ts a waste of time toeven read it.Ever had a reason to smile so muchthat your face actually hurts? It Tsgreat, isn Tt it? :| miss Pop-Up Video...those were sofun to watch, and | learned so muchuseless information.| hate when teachers write directionson the syllabus and then they changethe instruction but never update thesyllabus. How am | supposed toremember every little detail when youchange your mind everyday?!The middle of class is not the time foryour Egg McMuffin.What's the deal with students havingto pay for bubble sheets? | don'tknow of any schools outside of NorthCarolina that have this policy.Assaults on campus have beenoccurring more frequently, isn Tt ittime for ECU to step up and protectthe students. | don Tt want to walk tomy car from a night class scaredthat something may happen to me!A pamphlet telling you to walk ingroups is not always going to saveyou. | admire the administration formaking us aware of the problem,but PLEASE do something morethan talk!How many licks does it take to get tothe center of a tootsie pop? Really?To the library supervisor " thanksfor reminding me to be quiet on thefirst floor of the library- by the TV,espresso machine, computers, andmultitudes of people chatting aroundme. | don Tt know what | would dowithout you!You're so vain; you probably think thisRant is about you. Don Tt you?So last week, my car was towed,which | would normally take blamefor, but this time it was towed fromRIGHT OUTSIDE MY HOUSE! Myhouse! Mine! | parked otoo close ? toMY driveway... $90 later, I Tm thinkingto myself- oWTF is wrong with thistown? ?Can someone please tell my why itis always so cold in the buildings oncampus? I Tve been here 4 years, andthey have never been able to get theroom temperature right. It Ts alwaystoo hot in the winter, and freezing inthe sue Something Ts not righthere!I'm in love with you, you idiot. Dumpthe girlfriend so we can go out todinner.Over the past week, | have seenmany girls and one guy wearing pinkshorts hit the handicap button onthe doors around campus instead ofopening it themselves. Why do theydo this? | personally thank God | havethe ability to open the door myself, butI guess you can Tt expect a guy in pinkshorts to open his own door.Stop discriminating against peoplethat aren't dorks and like to go out onFriday and Saturday.Did you see that bus driver who hitthe fence last week? | am not surehow | feel about 18 year olds who are._ fesponsible for a 25,000 Ib vehicle...To the person whose car was towedfor being otoo close to the driveway ?: |feel you, | gota ticket for parking in mydriveway the wrong way. Best partis, the ticket was $50, and it wouldbe $500 to appeal it. So | just flipoff the meter maid that rides aroundnear campus.I'm so lucky...everday | am always the10,000th or 100,000th or 1,000,000thperson to visit a website.| don Tt give a crap what othey ? do inyour little country town that no one Tsheard of - we're in Greenville now.When | go to bed with a girl, theyalways insist on sleeping against thewall. Why is that?Why do we need all of thesenumbered and reserved parkingspaces for campus administrators?These parking spaces are oftennoticeably empty. | agree that thechancellor should have a reservedspace, but everyone else should parkon the basis of oGet to work first, parkcloser to where you work. ? Set theexample for others to follow.Could someone please tell my co-worker that just because | look atyour boyfriend (who is married andcheating on his wife with her) that |DON'T want him? Thanks.If you like Pina Colodas, and gettingcaught in the rain. If you're not intoyoga, if you have half-a-brain. If youlike making love at midnight, in thedunes of the cape. I Tm the lady you Tvelooked for, write to me and escape.Dear roommate, I Tve kept quiet allyear long but you need to hear this;I'm begging you, less cologne moreshowers. 3 showers per week are notenough, and it is too hot for you notto shower on a daily basis!| hate when passengers see the busabout to pull away from the stop, butthey still walk slow talking on theircell phone. That is why | leave themstanding thereI Tm in love with a librarian. She staresat me so much that | can Tt help butlook back at her. | can Tt help | use themedia where she is near.To all you frat boys, the 1970s called,they want their shorts back!| love that our neighbors have a partyevery night but Tuesday.| hate it when my girlfriend uses that voice T, you know the one. It makesme totally melt and | have to dowhatever she says, it sucks.To the anorexic chick at thegym... STOP RUNNING! GOEAT A CHEESEBURGER ORSOMETHING!To the dude whose collar | unpoppedlast Friday, at a party ... You TreWelcome!To my roommate who makes smartcomments all the time. You are nobetter than me or anyone else. Getover yourself and realize that one dayyour ass is going to get slapped. Seeyou for dinner tonight.I'm addicted to LOST and Ebay!Yes you do have the same rightsas cars, but obey all the traffic rulesto then. Meaning you can just gostraight through a red light if no carsare coming. Oh yeah and also youwill look real cute doing your armssignals as well if you expect us driversto respect you.The debate: Macs vs. PCsWhich computer is better?LISA ENSMINGEROPINION WRITERMacs or PCs? What do you prefer? Most of youwould say PC because it is what you are used to andthe easiest navigation, but you may find yourselfmissing out on the new and improved Mac com-puter. Most of you may remember when Macs usedto be oghetto ? back in the day when they had everycolor of the rainbow desktop and PC was the oit ?computer, but Macs have made a huge comebackwith their high style and improved technology.When it came time to buying a computerfor my college career, I had no clue what to buybecause I had no knowledge on computers. TheMac store was always packed when I passed it inthe mall, leaving me wondering how good thesecomputers actually were. I ended up purchasing aMac and J fell in love with it because it made lifeso much easier (well that Ts a little exaggeration),but the computer was a well-worth-it purchase.There are many reasons to like a Mac betterthan a PC, because, simply, the computer justworks well. Even software such as MicrosoftOffice is compatible with your. Mac that wasfound on your old PC. Not only can you find yournecessary applications, you have lots of oamazingstuff ? such as iPhoto, iTunes, and iMovie. Theseapplications allow you to create, modify, or editphotos and movies, along with a library of musicand iTunes store to purchase additional music,DVDs, and more. Not only does the Mac provideamazing software and applications, the laptop anddesktop is no computer you would be ashamedof with its high style and flair. Mac laptops are ©more on the classy and cute side, with a colorchoice of black or white, rather than the bulky,boring, PC laptop. The slim style makes it easy tocarry around with you to class and provide lessof a hassle. If you are not looking for a laptop, thedesktops are even more convenient with one bigscreen and no ugly tower. Also with extremelycrisp and clear color and graphics, you cannot gowrong with purchasing a Mac that fits your style.Now I am no computer expert or anything,but I Tve always had bad experiences with PCs.My computers back in the day crashed oneafter another because viruses would continuallyattack it, even if I did have Norton Anti-Virussoftware, that I constantly updated and paid forregularly. My PC would always be extremely slowand freeze, leaving me to restart the computer,and even losing that paper I just spent three hoursworking on. Another downfall of the PC is thatother companies constantly rebuild software andupdate operating systems, providing continuouschange and confusion to the users. Who wants acomputer continuously crashing, changing, andfailing to perform properly? [Editor Ts note: Machas a reputation for building upon its previousOS where, say, Windows, for instance, reinventsitself, as is the case with Vista, its most recentOS, which met with a considerable amount ofcontroversy due to bugs T in the system andkinks that needed to be worked out after release]From my personal experience, Mac has thebetter performance and reliability out of thetwo choices. If you are looking for a laugh anda funny but true: comparison, check out thecommercial ads of Mac vs. PC at apple.com.Sources of the article include www.apple.comThis writer can be contacted atopinion@theeastcarolinian.comLet thement. 3Allow fans to duke it out oALEX LAROCCAOPINION WRITERFor those us who managed to get tickets tothe game this past Saturday, it is needless to saywe were mighty upset. As we all know, on paper,ECU should have had that game, but unfortunatelyreality played a better show for State fans. I willadmit I was just plain pissed come oNo Quarter, ?but contrary State Fans were very pleased. Earlierin the game my friends and I were screaming andvery amped for a Pirate victory. After first quar-ter I needed some Dippin T Dots and so I went toquench this hunger. While walking back up to rowXX, I saw two guys getting led away by police. Iknew what must have happened but since they weredressed as frats, I couldn Tt tell who they were foror against. This was true until I saw two friendsof mine getting led by the Police.As it turns out, while I was gone, the two Statefans began talking a lot of garbage to some Pirategirls seated behind us. A friend of mine had enoughand so the bickering began. A cop came and tookaway the two state fans and later my two friends,one of which wasn Tt really involved. After takingthem away, they were kicked out of the game. Now,those who went to get these tickets know how hardit was to get them. I personally waited four hoursfor them and so did one of my friends who gotkicked out AND there wasn Tt even a fight!When I went to the UNC-ECU game, adrunken UNC fan was going up and down theaisles bothering everyone with his loud mouth--until a much bigger ECU fan got into his face andpunched it. This in turn led to the police takingboth of them away. We didn Tt see them agaily but Iwould bet the UNC fan would have shut up the restof the game if the cops hadn't shown up.So what, I say. If you are going to run yourmouth at a football game, a hockey game, baseballgame, etc. then you better be ready to either shut upor fight because this is the sporting world we livein. mean America is almost a little girl in compari-son to what some soccer hooligans do in Europe orSouth America. In Moscow they stationed 6,000cops to prevent a riot when Britain came to playand in Argentina two fans were killed, one shotand the other stabbed. In retrospect who cares iftwo State Fans got knocked in a little. I doubt itwould have led to the entire stadium erupting intorioting chaos.I am not pleading for no police or some kind ofsports fighting arena I am just simply saying thisZero Tolerance rule seems to go a little far. If thereisn Tt even a fight, why kick someone out of a game?If there is a fight then break it up, but are arrestsand possible criminal charges always necessary? Idon Tt think so. I say live and let be, but to the guy ©who punches my team Ts enemy fan, oh well.This writer can be contacted atopinion@theeastcarolinian.comBre. Ferre 4Cade fw ge - © aoeedia Serve 52 aad o| apologize for my crude demeanor, but I Tm notused to conversing with a woman offline. ?Sarah CampbellEditor in Chief.Kimberly Bellamy Rachel KingNews Editor Opinion EditorGreg Katski Ronnie WoodwardSports Editor Asst. Sports EditorArianne SwanekHead Copy EditorElise PhillipsFeatures EditorLizz WellsPhoto EditorMatthew ParkerMultimedia Web EditorStephanie SmithProduction ManagerNewsroom 252.328.9238hax 2O2.376.9143Advertising 202.320.9245Serving ECU since 1925, the East Carolinian prints9,000 copies every Tuesday and Thursday during theregular academic year and 5,000 on Wednesdaysduring the summer. oOur View ? is the opinion ofthe editorial board and is written by editorial boardmembers. The East Carolinian welcomes letters to theeditor which are limited to 250 words (which may beedited for decency or brevity). We reserve the right toedit or reject letters and all letters must be signed andinclude a telephone number. Letters may be sent viae-mail to editor @theeastcarolinian.com or to the EastCarolinian, SelfHelp Building, Greenville, N.C. 27858-4353. Call 252-328-9238 for more information. Onecopyof the East Carolinian is free, each additional copy is $1.