A Different Quiz

POP QUIZ! Do you recognize any of these names? Berringer? Gershwin? Odenga?

If you knew that Brook Berringer played after Tommy Frasier for the 1994 Championship season, you are a prestigious Huskers fan. If you knew that George Gershwin wrote Rhapsody in Blue, you must have a fine musical collection. And if you knew that Raila Odenga is the prime minister of Kenya, you might be a very educated person in global politics.

For those of you not familiar with any of the names, I’m sure you are very knowledgeable of the people in a significant field of study.

A consideration of economics can show where we choose to develop our skills in some subject matters instead of others. With limited amounts of time and effort, it is only right that an individual invests his or her passions into something valuable to them that bring them joy. Here an opportunity cost is presented with subject less appealing, and it helps explain why Michel Dell valued computers over college, UFC fighters value the circuit over working at McDonalds, and the football fan values Husker history over Kenyan politics. It is what we value that creates our beneficial differences.

The word university receives its name because people become united in diversity. The amount of various skills and talents that abound in the college setting is a precious commodity not found in many other institutions. Since disciplined individuals have developed these skills, it would be erroneous to accept individuals onto the campus based on immutable characteristics rather than achievement of academic standards.

Take, for instance, the realm of sports.

On Thanksgiving, I proposed to let Colorado start with 10 points at the beginning of the game, just because they are from a different geographic location. Likewise, let’s imagine having some sprinters start 20 meters ahead in the 100 meter dash because their parents are in a low-income bracket.

Showing preferential treatment in competitive sports might be considered mad to most people. Fortunately, the Athletic Department correctly values the skills and the productivity of the athlete, rather than the athlete’s ethnicity or income.

Realizing that the Athletic Department is responsible for marketing the school and generating massive amounts of income, the quality of the athletes is of paramount priority. Because the student athletes meet the highest athletic standards know to NCAA sports, Nebraska has the most Academic All-Stars in history. One may also notice the 17 former Huskers competed in Beijing in August and 3 football players were accepted in the 2008 NFL Draft. The prestigious fans can check the answers below for the draftees.


Excellence is valued with athletes, but is academic excellence valued in other parts of the college?

It may seem that UNL values a certain gender more than another when the university accepts $9.3 million from the National Science Foundation. The grant goes to promoting women in science, technology, math, and engineering fields. One might think that the demand for people in these jobs would be naturally met by those who are interested and value these areas, but the college insists that the gender of the workers is worth $9,300,000 for accomplishing these science-related tasks.

When a group is promoted in a field, it is to the detriment of the alternative groups. By valuing the qualities of individuals that are permanent, the qualities that can show real worth are disregarded. The real benefits of the people united in diversity arrive from people’s interests, not in the amount of melanin in their skin. This means that anyone should be free to pursuit Husker football, classical music, politics, science, technology, math, or any subject they enjoy. As these different subjects become more valued by individuals who fundamentally desire to master them, only then can they excel and foster a great learning environment. A place where people are accepted immutable characteristics cannot be expected to thrive in a competitive world.

I don’t know what will become of these thoughts. Like most ideas, I hope that they should be considered and given a fair judgment before being rightly discarded or put into one’s paradigm.

By Francis Mader
Francis Mader is a student on the UNL campus

Sources : 5th round- Zack Bowman, Chicago; 5th round-Carl Nicks, New Orleans, 6th round-Bo Ruud, New England