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opinion
Tuesday October 11, 2016 The Baylor Lariat
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EDITORIAL
Lifetime fitness classes take too much time
If you look on the Major Academic Planner (MAP) for a B.A. in journalism, it lists of four required courses under the category of lifetime fitness. According to Baylor University’s department of Health, Human Performance and Recreation, “The purpose of the Division of Lifetime Fitness for non-major students is to provide health education, physical fitness education, and recreation education activities that will provide mental, physical, social, and leisure time preparation for lifetime fitness for all students.” However, while lifetime fitness is meant to be an outlet for students to de-stress and take some time to focus on being healthy, for most of us it just adds unnecessary stress to an already hectic schedule. First, it takes up several schedule blocks that students may need to complete their major in a reasonable amount of time. Four classes of lifetime fitness spread out over eight semesters may seem fairly reasonable, but let’s look at the math. The average bachelor of arts major must take a minimum of 124 credit hours, which adds up to roughly 40 general education and major specific classes, not counting the lifetime fitness courses. While this may seem like a reasonable number, many students also carry a minor, or are in an advanced or intensive track for their major. Adding extra classes into our schedule, ones that are not immediately connected to our
degree plan, seems like an added burden. If lifetime fitnesses were purely based off of class attendance and participation, perhaps it would not be so intrusive to students’ schedules. However, many lifetime fitnesses are not focused on mental, physical or social relaxation for students because the classes themselves have required assignments, lectures and even tests. For a pre-med student who is already spending hours studying for biology, organic chemistry
student is a double major, many times they are still required to take the courses, even though they are taking just as many classes (if not more) than BIC students. Allowing for alternative courses that align with the majors to replace lifetime fitness credits would be a viable alternative for students on a time crunch. Not only that, but many students are involved in club sports or athletics, and they are still required to take lifetime fitnesses. Students on the Baylor Crew team wake up at 5 a.m. and practice for two hours. This doesn’t include the time they spend competing, which can last for up to two days. Students who are staying this active shouldn’t be required to take extra classes just to fulfill a requirement. Baylor is full of active, involved and committed students. Requiring them to take lifetime fitnesses purely because it is supposed to encourage healthy lifestyles seems like a good idea, but it can end up doing more Joshua Kim | Cartoonist harm than good for students who are trying to graduate with difficult and time-intensive degrees. Offering and anatomy, taking valuable time to study for alternative credit hours to students who need a relaxation test seems utterly ridiculous. These superfluous tests not only waste students’ time, the time for their majors, or accepting club but they can also impact students’ transcripts sports as fulfillment of the standard, would negatively if they do not do well. If Baylor allow students to de-stress and actually enjoy wants to keep lifetime fitnesses as a part of their their activities. For students that find lifetime fitnesses useful, basic course load, at least take out required continue to encourage their participation, but examinations. For some programs such as BIC, students get don’t deny others the ability to make our four credits for lifetime fitness courses. However, if a years as productive as possible.
COLUMN
COLUMN
Perfectionism isn’t all that
Trump tape isn’t surprising
KARYN SIMPSON Copy Desk Chief I’ve never been one to take the easy way out. Give me the black diamond slopes, the late-night shifts that bleed into early morning alarms and the questions with no simple answers. I thrive on challenges, high expectations and the pursuit of goals, and I’ve shaped my mind around a Latin word I stumbled across in high school and haven’t forgotten since: meliora — ever better. Like the adage that reads, “Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars,” I shoot for perfection in hopes of landing somewhere between the thresholds of “good” and “great.” No breaks are allowed in my pursuit. No backwards steps. No grace. And I know I’m not the only one. This goal of perfection is a carrot on a string before the noses of so many college students, enticing us to keep running, stumbling, clawing our way forward. With every minor success, we tell ourselves we are almost there, that we are nearing the finish line, that perfection is just a heartbeat, a step, a breath away. We see perfection as the route to the life we hope to one day have, and we equate contentment with settling for less than the best. We tell ourselves we’d be bored without this constant trek, and maybe that’s true, but I refuse to believe that life is nothing more than an insatiable discontentment with our present circumstances, our present selves. For so long, I have regarded perfectionism as both a lifestyle and a pathway. Only by aiming for perfection can I achieve my true goals, whatever they
may be (read: pathway), and I can’t very well trek towards perfection if I don’t at least attempt to perfect all aspects of my life (read: lifestyle). The problem with this view? Perfectionism isn’t a way of life, it’s a way of avoiding life. Perfectionism allows us to be singular in our mindsets, but it also isolates us in our minds. It gives us the willpower to push forward despite the setbacks, to face challenges head on and with fists raised, to continue placing one foot in front of the other towards our goals, but it simultaneously blinds us to our successes, allowing us to only see our failures and where we could possibly improve. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines perfectionism as “a disposition to regard anything short of perfection as unacceptable.” This disposition helps us hold ourselves accountable to our goals and aspirations but also keeps us from ever truly being good enough. In simpler terms: perfectionism is a lens through which we can see only how far we have to go and not how far we’ve come. It’s the coattails of a shadow, tempting us forward just to dance out of our grasp again and again. It’s smoke, visible only long enough to keep us chasing after it. Please don’t misunderstand me: I am not saying not to set goals. We are students, and accomplishing goals — both large and small — is how we progress through college and into adult life. So by all means, aim for the moon and land among the stars, but don’t allow the constant, looming desire to be ever better overshadow what matters most in the present. We deserve an inch of slack. We deserve a breath and the chance to admire how far we’ve come. We deserve grace. Perfection is a myth, and wasting our lives in its pursuit will only leave us exhausted long before the end. Karyn Simpson is a senior journalism and environmental studies major from Fair Oaks Ranch.
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PHOTO EDITOR Liesje Powers*
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ASSISTANT WEB EDITOR Rachel Leland
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CARTOONIST Joshua Kim*
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STAFF WRITERS Kalyn Story Megan Rule
COPY DESK CHIEF Karyn Simpson* ARTS & LIFE EDITOR Bradi Murphy SPORTS EDITOR Meghan Mitchell
SPORTS WRITERS Nathan Kell Jordan Smith BROADCAST MANAGING EDITOR Jacquelyn Kellar
BROADCAST REPORTER Morgan Kilgo Katie Mahaffey Christina Soto PHOTO/VIDEO Timothy Hong Jessica Hubble AD REPRESENTATIVES Luke Kissick Marcella Pellegrino Sam Walton Josh Whitney MARKETING REPRESENTATIVE Travis Fergason DELIVERY Jenny Troilo Wesley Shaffer
GAVIN PUGH Digital Managing Editor I wanted to be shocked to read Donald Trump’s lewd comments from 2005 when they were leaked on Friday. I wanted to be horrified to find that the Republican presidential nominee would speak about groping women and kissing them without their consent in such a coarse, degrading way. However, this is the type of behavior I’ve come to expect from Trump ever since he announced his campaign last summer, and I am certain I am not alone in this sentiment. His words prove his misogyny, like when he suggested in graphic detail that Megan Kelly was menstruating during the first GOP debate. His words also prove his unprofessionalism, like when he repeatedly interrupted Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in both presidential debates. His words prove he lacks a filter, like when he said he could “stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody” and still not lose voters. Trump has repeatedly referred to the leaked tape as “locker room banter.” This statement is accurate; I can only imagine those types of conversations being had in a locker room of teenage boys – clamoring to impress each other with their vulgarity. He said it was a conversation had in private, and that it doesn’t reflect upon his character. Yet aren’t those conversations held behind closed doors the ones where we truly reveal ourselves? He said Bill Clinton has said worse to him before. This is hardly a defense, as Clinton’s lewdness made him go down in infamy and proves that the population doesn’t condone such behavior.
“It is clear Trump’s lack of character is deeply rooted, and it is made clearer by the leaked tape.” Trump’s belittling and bullying stretches back as far as he has been in the public spotlight. He called former Miss Universe Alicia Machado “Miss Housekeeping” and “Miss Piggy” in the ’90s and has since defended his slurs. He mocked the appearance of Serge Kovaleski, a disabled reporter for the New York Times. He brushed off Sen. John McCain’s time as a prisoner of war, where he was tortured. It is clear Trump’s lack of character is deeply rooted, and it is made clearer by the leaked tape. What Trump said about how he treats women describes sexual assault. Despite Trump’s excuses, sexual assault and his degrading comments about women are nothing to joke about. Such words don’t belong in the locker room. Such words don’t belong on the golf course. And such words certainly don’t belong in the Oval Office. Judging from the electorate’s reaction to Trump’s previous behavior, those who have decided to vote for him probably won’t change their mind after reading about the leaked tape. But those who don’t intend to vote, I urge you to reconsider. You don’t have to vote for Clinton, as there are still third party candidates. You can also write in a name if you don’t like any of those options. Don’t think of it as throwing away your vote, but think of it as a statement that you don’t condone such mistreatment of women. It’s time to move away from a culture of violence and gender inequality – one that Baylor and universities across the nation are too familiar with. Gavin Pugh is a senior journalism major from Coppell.
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