Editor,
“Is there any questions?” to me is the clearest example of the ignorance that plagues the UNM campus. It is most commonly asked after student presentations, yet is incorrect: It is, “Are there any questions?” The fact that so many UNM students fail to understand and correctly use basic subject-verb agreement leads me to wonder not only how they received a high school diploma but also how they managed to be accepted into an institution of higher learning.
The aforementioned example is just one of the many instances that I witness on a daily basis that have led me to conclude that even in my upper-level courses, I am surrounded by idiots. This lack of intelligence, sadly, is not even limited to the student population – it affects professors as well. For example, my business law professor once suggested that France was more politically unstable than the United States because it had undergone the French Revolution (I guess he forgot about the American Revolution), and then went on to lament poor Marie Antoinette, who had been “decapitated at the young age of 19” (she was actually 37).
While to some extent, our intelligence is judged by the way we look – you look rather dense when you wear flip-flops when it’s snowing, a hood over a baseball cap indoors or Crocs – appearance is not an appropriate indicator of intellect. We are rather judged by the way we express ourselves, in writing and especially in speech. In a state that is unfortunately poorer and less educated, we often tend to have a pretty blatant disregard for the fundamentals of the English language, but UNM, as one of the leading intellectual institutions of the state should not reflect that. I am not implying that UNM is teeming with stupid people. I’ve met some of the brightest and most interesting people I know on campus, but chances are if you take a random freshman and ask him or her to name a few countries in Africa you’re going to get a blank stare in return.
Pessimists may claim that it is too late to change the ways of the masses, but I disagree. While admittedly we as college students are generally formed in our ways, our habits can eventually change the way we speak and increase our intelligence as a whole. The simplest advice I would give would be to read more books. Reading something other than required reading for courses (which most of us skim through anyway) can be very fulfilling. Really! Reading increases your vocabulary, your knowledge and gives the brain some basic exercise. So please, for your own good and the good of society: Turn off Jersey Shore and pick a book off the shelf. Working out is important, but sometimes people forget to work out the most important muscle they possess: the brain. And yes, I know it’s technically an organ.
Victor Murthy
UNM student
