Sunday, September 27, 2009

Stop wasting time watching sports.

It's great if you play a sport, whether varsity, intramural, or pickup games. Relaxing for 3 hours a week watching sports on TV is OK. But more than that is wasting your valuable time. Do something. Get off the couch. Get a life. I know students who can tell me the complete starting lineups of teams and the players' stats, but can't tell me much of anything about their studies. Think about this: the reason pro sports are on the media is not to entertain you, but to get you to watch commercials and buy the products. Oh, there is one understandable reason for following pro sports: if you consistently win money betting on them. But I never met students who can truthfully say they have.

Thursday, September 3, 2009

Read any good magazines lately?

Read a magazine article once in a while. It will help you get better grades. How? Well, the more you read, the better your writing will become. There aren't many student papers that are enjoyable reading, and if yours is one the professor might just give you a better grade. But to be enjoyable, you have to know how to write clear, interesting prose. Unlike Web pages, most magazine articles are clear and interesting, because they are edited by professionals with that aim in mind. Also, if you read a magazine that is about your field of study, such as Business Week or Fortune if you're a business student, you'll discover that what your professors are talking about is "real world" stuff. Your school work will be more interesting if you read a magazine once in a while.