Snow time for learning
Students shouldn’t have to risk life, limb to attend class
MARK ZMARZLY is a
senior English and speech
communications major
and a Daily Nebraskan
columnist.
The department of public works
told the people of Lincoln to stay at
home on Sunday.
Police, fire, and paramedic vehi
cles experienced difficulties getting
around and told people in need to be
patient.
Lincoln Public Schools
Superintendent Phil Schoo told par
ents to keep their children at home
and out of danger.
The University of Nebraska
Lincoln told its students and employ
ees to, in effect, “Get your ass to
class.”
In the name of higher education,
UNL had classes on Monday morn
ing despite possible hazards to its
students and faculty.
Une-word question: WHY7
One day could be very important
in a class. Monday could have been
your final review before the
midterm. It could have been a recita
tion day. It even could have been a
test day.
But most likely, it could have
been a postponed day.
Let me take you through the
events of my Monday that have led
up to this article/bitchfest.
7:00 a.m. -1 awake and turn on
the radio. I pray to hear that class has
been canceled.
7:04 a.m. - Radio guy announces
that hell is still hot, i.e., UNL will
have class.
7:10 a.m. - Watch Ford Bronco
get stuck in snow bank on my street.
Contemplate the reality of getting
my Honda out of its snow fort. Look
for bus pass.
7:45 a.m. - Head out front door
and begin six-block walk to bus stop.
7:47 a.m. - Car almost runs me
down as I walk down the street. Slip
on ice.
7:48 a.m. - Decide to run with
scissors toward the bus stop to add to
the danger of the situation.
7:59 a.m. - Bus approaches,
slides past, hits snow bank. I board.
8:00 a.m. - No longer wonder
how the Hell’s Angels get around in
the winter. Sit down next to Wolf,
Blade, Hacksaw, Jug Head, Fang and
Trevor.
8:02 a.m. - Learn the easiest way
to kill someone in a knife fight.
8:05 a.m. - See the easiest way to
kill someone in a knife fight demon
strated.
8:30 a.m. -1 arrive at class and
am greeted by nine of my fellow stu
dents. Nine students out of 25.
I’ll spare you readers the minute
by-minute account of the rest of my
day. My two other classes both had
11 students in attendance. Both of
those classes usually have around 24.
It didn’t shock me to see such a
horrible attendance in class; I
expected it. My morning obviously
wasn’t quite as dramatic as I made it
seem, but I went through quite an
ordeal to get to my classes, classes
that could have and should have been
canceled.
The argument against canceling
class is that the academic calendar is
set, and a day off translates into a day
without learning. A day off per
semester apparently has drastic con
sequences that will be felt for the rest
of the semester.
I have four English classes this
semester: British Lit, Women’s Lit,
Medieval Lit and Shakespeare II. I
would feel really bad if I missed a
day of talking about Dickens or
Chaucer but I’d manage to deal with
it. English classes can manage a day
off.
Jon’s Notes makes money off of
typing up lecture notes. Your lecture
professor could just as easily make
copies of his notes and pass them out
on Wednesday. Lecture classes can
manage a day off.
My sister teaches Math 106 and
will hate me for saying this, but here
it goes. A day off math is like a trip
to Disney World. Granted, math stu
dents would be behind and probably
wouldn’t be able to make up that
class, but they’d be smiling for
weeks.
Business, art, psychology, sociol
ogy, engineering and all other areas
of study can make up a day off. We
lost two days last semester because
of snow, and I don’t think any stu
dents in any class on campus felt
shortchanged. Teachers have the
challenge of making up for that day
but they manage to do it. At least
when classes are canceled, nobody
misses any important information.
The decision to have class on
Monday left some students at a dis
advantage. This disadvantage comes
at the hands of the weather. I men
tioned earlier the lack of students in
my classes and, talking to my fellow
students, it seems that most students
were missing a majority of then
classes. Those students who couldn’t
get to class or who had the common
sense to stay at home and not risk
injury have now missed out on a day
of learning.
You could argue that a day off
from class denies students the educa
tion they pay for. When students
send in their tuition they expect a
certain number of classes and a cer
tain amount of information to be
encountered. It could be seen as
admirable that the university didn’t
want to deprive us of what we paid
for.
If you missed class you could
argue that the university tried to
force you to endanger your health to
get the education that you paid for.
Why should you have to make up
work because you live out of town or
off campus? You shouldn’t.
Unless we have another freakish
snow storm this semester, KNOCK
ON WOOD, I personally won’t be
affected by what this university
chooses to do in the future with snow
emergencies.
But I would simply like to make
the university officials see that hav
ing class on a day like Monday only
denies learning to many of the uni
versity’s students.
It’s a tall world
Short people face discrimination in love, jobs, shopping
ANTHONY COLMAN is a sopho
more general studies major and a
Daily Nebraskan columnist.
I sometimes think I’d like to be tall.
Really tall.
I want to know what it feels like to
stand 6 feet, 2 inches, powerful and proud,
lording over everyone else, and looking
down on the rest of the world. I want to
know what it feels like to physically domi
nate people.
I get sick of being short. I don’t even
think I’m that short. Five feet, 5lA inches
isn’t all that short, is it? I wouldn’t even
care about my height at all, except that I
live in a world of tall people.
Everything’s built for them. Most tables
and counters are too high for me. Not a lot
-just enough to be perpetually inconve
nient. I can never reach the things I want
on the top shelves. I often have to beg
some tall person to reach stuff for me.
Oh, the indignity of it. There are rides
in amusement parks I will never be allowed
to ride on because of the height restric
tions.
One of the worst inconveniences about
being short is the urinals that were presum
ably installed by some very tall plumber,
halfway up the wall. Ever had to stand on
tiptoe to relieve yourself? Believe me, it’s
awkward to say the least.
There is such a thing as size-ism in this
country. Short people are discriminated
against in countless subtle ways. According
to the ELEVATORS® brand shoe company,
there are measurable social and business
disadvantages to being short.
Studies have shown that job recruiters,
choosing between men of comparable
backgrounds and skills, select the taller
man 72 percent of the time. They’ve deter
mined that every extra inch of height
brings a person an additional $600 per year
in salary.
According to these same studies,
women find taller men “significantly more
attractive.” The ELEVATORS® brand shoe
company points out that 18 of the last 22
U.S. presidential elections have been won
by the taller candidate. The ELEVATORS®
brand shoe company certainly wouldn’t
deceive us on these points.
Facts and figures aside, the discrimina
tion against short people is apparent. Ever
notice that Fortune 500 executives and
CEOs are always really tall men? There’s a
glass ceiling for height as well as gender -
sort of like being picked last for a team in
gym class. The discrimination never ends.
Shopping for clothes is when the disad
vantages of being small become most
apparent. If you’re short, it’s really hard to
find clothes that even fit. And it’s getting
harder, too.
For some reason, fewer and fewer stores
even carry items in small sizes anymore.
The scale starts at medium and goes up
from there. When I’ve asked store man
agers why they don’t stock small sizes,
they’ve told me that a lot of the manufac
turers don’t even make the small stuff any
more, so I’m often stuck with medium.
But there’s a trend for clothes to be bag
gier now, so the size mediums that were
passable before are now just ridiculously
oversized. I swear I’ve purchased the very
last pair of 28/30 jeans left in this city, if
not the whole world.
Tall men and fat men have special
stores just for them. Smaller women have
the petite sections. What the hell am I sup
posed to do? Start shopping in the chil
dren’s section? If current trends continue, I
may soon be reduced to wearing Osh Kosh
B’Gosh and Garanimals. At least coordi
nating colors would be easy.
Tall people are so condescending -
always looking down on the rest of us.
They’re snide. The world is built for them,
and they know it. They’re more sought
after. They’re naturally better at sports.
They’re likely to get the good jobs. They
have all the advantages.
Tall people are pushy, too. I get shoved
to the pack of crowded elevators and gener
ally get pushed and crowded on the dance
floor. Tall people frequently block my view
at movies, and the bigger guys are always
blocking my mirror space at the gym.
Being small wouldn’t be at all bad if it
weren’t for all the bias toward height.
Being smaller even can have its advan
tages. Furniture is really roomy, for one
thing. And... well, I guess that’s about the
only real advantage.
I often find myself trying to make up
for my lack of physical stature in other
ways. I cruise around in a huge-ass car.
When I liiakettrt, I mak^really big art. „
What I lack hi size, I make up for inpres-.
ence and ambition. There might be some
thing to that whole Napoleon complex
notion.
As an aspiring architect, I’m going
to build a world that is much
friendlier for short people. Frank
Lloyd Wright, America’s great
architect, was notoriously sensi
tive about his height. He always
claimed to be 5 feet, 10 inches
tall, though he was in reality
much closer to 5 feet, 7
inches.
Many of Wright’s
buildings and residences
are distinguished by
unusually low ceilings.
So low, in fact, that very
tall people cannot stand
fully upright. They have
to hunch over just to
walk through a room.
Some historians like
to assert that by
building such low
ceilings, Wright
was taking out
his hostility
on tall peo
ple.
I can def
initely
relate - I’d
r: strio tst^nsfiwu’ ,
