ULV not small potatoes
Campus Times
October 24, 1997
Attitude -- it has a great deal to do with how people think and act.
Attitude controls people's expectations. In sports, if a team does not expect
to win or does not care about the game, it is likely that it will lose.
The same thing goes with an education.
Due to the fact that the University of La Verne is a small school, students
often get stuck "thinking small." The mindset of many students
at this school is that small school equals a small education and should
equal a small education.
This is not so. ULV is not an Ivy League school. Then again, ULV also
does not have the budget and financial backing that many Ivy League schools
do. ULV is not a bad school because it is small. That is the uniqueness
of it. Students are not numbers to the professors as they are at the University
of California schools or other well-known public schools. This in many ways
adds to a better education because it is on a more personal level and most
professors will take time to help students out. Most importantly, professors
can help students find jobs for after graduation.
ULV has a lot of great opportunities and experiences to explore. Yet
it is the attitude of the students that is bringing the whole school down
in many ways.
For instance, the question that is often asked when a professor with
a remarkable background comes to teach at ULV, is "Why are they teaching
at La Verne?" An experienced professor teaching at ULV should not be
a surprise but, rather, an expectation.
The same question is asked of many students who are from out of state
or far away from La Verne, "Why did you choose to come here?"
These type of questions make it seem like the University of La Verne
is someplace where you end up, rather than choose to go. It would be the
hope of the Campus Times that students are going here because they want
to. It is too much money and time to be wasting to go here because they
feel compelled to or for any other similar reason.
It is amazing to think of the vast resources ULV does have for being
such a small school. Our debate team is recognized as one of the best in
the country, the top theater director in Croatia, Georgij Paro, directs
productions at our school, and our men's volleyball team is Division I in
the NCAA.
The great education you can get at ULV shows in the graduates of the
school. ULV has produced some very respectable alumni. One alumni, Dan Quiggle,
worked closely with Nancy Reagan on the "Just Say No to Drugs"
campaign of the 1980s. Quiggle also worked with former vice president Dan
Quayle and Rep. David Dreier. There are other people working for well known
television and radio stations, the Pentagon and as politicians, as well.
The alumni are also very dedicated to the school. There are people who
come year after year to Homecoming and other ULV events.
The fact is, students are paying $15,500 a year to attend ULV, and more
if they live on campus. Don't they want their education and experience to
equal this amount?
The thing students need to realize is that their experience at ULV will
be what they make of it. For ULV to be better than it already is, expectations
and attitudes need to be improved.
