University Culture

The sub-cultures of Eau Claire, what are they? Who do they involve? How do they affect community as a whole? These may be things you have never thought about before, but can be important to understand and get a better understanding of your community and what all is involved with it.

I had the chance to go do some “field research” with some fellow classmates and find a little more information about the different sub-cultures that may affect, and be involved with Eau Claire. At random we interviewed five different people about where they’d prefer to study and what their study habits are? There were a variety of different answers. I few of them said “I would prefer to study in the library”, but if those were unavailable they said they would next prefer either their dorm rooms or the study lounges. Another person mentioned “I study anywhere I am able to, because I have kids it is hard for me to find a special place so I study where and when I can!” When asked about what their study habits are a few replied they enjoyed having some type of background noise, like music or T.V. Others said they like it quiet, else they can’t concentrate. Most people I found, like to study days in advance of their tests and make note cards which help them study. So as you can tell there is such a diverse way of how people study for things and how they like the environment around them to be, when they are studying.

We also had the chance to interview a couple of international exchange students about their country’s educational system compared to the new (UWEC) educational system? One student who was from Taiwan said that probably the biggest different with the educational systems is the way that the professors teach. “The professors here use additional sources to help the students out, in my home country we don’t get power points or notes, we get the material from the books and take our own notes.” He also mentioned that in his country’s educational system they don’t get quizzes, it is mostly based on tests. It is also a lot cheaper compared to his home country and he feels like he gets a better education from America System. Another student who was from Brazil had much of the same answers as the other student. She said “In Brazil we rarely get assignments and our grades are based on tests, also we only take classes involved with our major. We take a couple humanities classes, but that is it.” She also stated that she really likes it here in Eau Claire.

Another activity we had to look into was what does an “XF” stand for or mean? To find this out, we looked under the UWEC website and typed in XF. What came up was an XF is an unofficial F. This usually stands for someone that has skipped class or is missing stuff. It looks bad on your transcript and usually brings your GPA down. So I wouldn’t ever recommend getting one of these because it would be hard to make up for it in the future.

What do you think some differences are in student behaviors back in 1970’s or 80’s or even the 90’s compared with today’s students? We had the chance to find some of that information out. We interviewed a couple older professors who have been teaching for awhile and got their points of view on the matter. Most of what the professors said was the same and gave a great realization in the difference of the student’s behaviors back then and till now. Both professor agreed that back when they started which was early 1980’s even late 1970’s said that back then students believed in working harder and partying less than they do now. They believe this because back then a majority of the people couldn’t afford to attend college or they could get good jobs without having to go to college so they took that route. The people that did attend college worked hard to get their degree because they knew they were paying for it and needed to get it done. They also wanted to state that they don’t think that student’s now don’t work hard, they do, but there is more partying today and also they don’t believe they work as hard because most of the kids get college paid for by parents or some other and don’t care like the students did back then. They also think that education isn’t as looked on as seriously as it once was.

Have you ever noticed the sculptures around campus, there a variety of them and they all have their own meaning in their own way and it is the person who is looking at it job to interpret its meaning in their own way of how they feel it is. There is always one sculpture that always stood out to me, which is the one on lower campus that when you are walking towards Hibbard, I notice all the time. It is a sculpture of 3 people all touching hands or feet and connected kind of in a ball like structure. I think the meaning of this structure is the sense of unity and also determination. I get unity from the structure because all three people are working together to hold each other up in that formation. They are relying on one another to be able to keep it up. I also get determination from this piece because they are doing a complex thing, and you have to have determination to be able to finish something like that. So I think the message that it is trying to get out is that you need to work hard, and work together so that you can achieve the impossible.

The UWEC College has gone without a school mascot for a long time. Finally a year or two ago a student eventually came up with one. It is called the Blugold of course and it is a depiction of a mystical bird. We were asked what we thought a blugold was? Some ideas that my group came up with is that a bluegold is a dragon because a dragon represents strength and power. Otherwise, we came up with an golden eagle because the eagle has pride and power and never gives up. In my eyes, I believe a blugold should have power, strength, pride, determination, and excellence. The animal I think that does this or represents this would have to be the eagle. An eagle flies around with such precision and strength. When you see it flying you can tell the power of it because it is so big and it has the power to fly. You can also see the pride in it because it just soars over everything like it has power over everything. It also shows excellence and determination because it never gives up on its prey and it fights for its young. I think all those make and stand for a good mascot and would be a good representation of what a blugold is and does.

From having to do this exercise I have found that UWEC campus culture helps people work hard and strive to do the best they can. For students I think that the students are very competitive and want to be the best at what they do. They want to be good at sports, be good in school, and be good at everything. Which give UWEC students a lot of determination and strive to be the best. Which I think is why the students of UWEC really strive for excellence in their education and in their life. I think the professors also do the same; they really want to help the students out with their education they will go out of their way to help you and make sure that you understand what is needed. For the most part me and my group agreed on what we thought made up the UWEC culture. If we did have differences we were able to see what those differences were and accept why they thought otherwise.