The entire process of education that we use in America is flawed and in many ways. One of the strongest forces that ruin the minds of potential learners is burn-out. It is a state of mind where structure and discipline wear on the soul of a young mind and suddenly they stop caring if they advance their academic careers or not. A huge contributor to this process is the pace at which we rush towards the professional pursuits that captain our vessels of destiny. Straight out of 12 years of education, during a time when our vital young bodies are thriving with hormones and energy, it is commonly expected that kids rush of for four to eight more years of structured education. It’s nuts.

Here is an idea; how about after high school, people take a decade or so to actually live life while they can. There is plenty of time for more school and professional playtime later. As it is today, one is supposed to wait until the adult diaper years to spend a year in Tibet, or hike the Appalachian trail. In our senior years of life our minds end up as a loose leaf memory storage devices with little stimu­lation. Why not spend those times academically? The better we get at medicine the higher the average age of death rises. In America we can expect to live an average of 80 plus years, yet retirement happens for most between the ages of 60 and 70. So you get a decade at the end of things to stockcar race while using a colostomy bag. What Joy. (Full story)

 Readers of Dan’s Opinion Page, I have an announcement to make: I have fallen in love. I didn’t mean to, certainly didn’t want to, but it’s true. I left the country and I fell hard and fast in love with the United States. No one is more shocked than I am, believe me. I’ve traveled abroad before, but mostly to developing countries full of poor, dirty people in bright colored clothing. People who were genuinely happy to see you, even if it was just because they hoped you would spend money at their shop. It was in places like those that I wanted to set up camp forever; but Great Britain, (or, rather, Pretty Good Britain) was a totally new experience for me. (Full story)

I don’t know if you had heard, but now, in the eyes of the Catholic Church, there are several new ways for one to get on the naughty list. In addition to the seven deadly ones best described by Dante in The Inferno and generally held as common knowledge by millions of people, we now have even more fun for a much more modern world. Just last week, Lust, Gluttony, Avarice (Greed), Sloth, Wrath (Anger), Envy, and Pride, opened up their family to seven more sins by order of the Vatican. (Full story)

Missouri Western Junior Jennifer Myers, who is a nursing major, did something historic, when she bowled in her Monday night mixed league in Atchison, Kan., she bowled a perfect game.

There has been many perfect games bowled in bowling, but the feat had never been achieved by a woman in the history of the town of Atchison. Myers fought through the nervousness when she went up there in the last frame to achieve this score. (Full story)

 I took PED 171 cave exploring with Dr. David Ashley this semester. My first impression of this class was that we were going to talk about caves and then go on a guided tour. The tour was guided alright, but not by a man in uniform working for the conservation department with lights and walking trails. Our tour consisted of crawling through mud and water, negotiating every step and there was some minor rock climbing involved. Don’t let this scare you away from the class because I will tell you it was the most exciting experience I have ever been through. This class will definitely teach you how to trust your colleagues and instructor more than any other college experience you will ever have. (Full story)

I don’t know of anyone on campus who could have guessed that becoming a university would have caused us not only great pride but also so many growing pains. We just began to enjoy the new title when some members of the administration and faculty began to look for the exit signs. Most of those that were looking found employment somewhere else, others are probably still looking. The fact is that the replacements are costing more. Some of the responsibility for the additional costs can be blamed on the market. (Full story)

21st century living has become one big game with all the players competing against each other for the big score. It is all about who is winning these days. Students at all levels have special­ized in test taking skills so they can achieve high marks for their transcripts, all the while they are dumping all that information in preparation for the next test. No learning is actually occurring, just data transfer and data dumping. We are building champion Americans that look good on paper but are as hollow of substance as the paper Mache trophies that kindergartners construct all across the countries’ public schools. (Full story)