Susan Dynarski discussed the idea that financial aid is broken for students and there is an easy fix to make the FAFSA easier and better for students. Working within admissions I most likely know a little more about the FAFSA than the average college student, I did not agree with that what all Susan had said in her talk; however, I do agree that there has to be a simpler process to complete the FAFSA. Susan talked about how she believes everyone deserves an education, and I do not agree with that statement. I believe that no one deserves anything, but rather people earn it. Stating that everyone deserves a college education implies that the college degree is not as prestigious as it should be. If everyone were able to obtain the degree, then it would diminish in quality. However, I do agree that there are many individuals who are not able to attend college who should be attending, and this lack of attendance may be due to their lack of financial aid. Nearly two millions individuals do not complete the FAFSA who would qualify for financial aid. Making the process slightly simpler could open the door to college to students who cannot currently financially manage the price.
Paul Mahern was the next speaker to talk. He started his talk by stating that it was about celebrity obsession and cognitions. This topic got me excited for what all he would be saying; however, I quickly lost interest because I got lost within his talk. He went off onto a tangent about a meditation practice that he learned in New Mexico. It was a meditation that put emphasis on sound vibrations, I think. He lost me even quicker than before when he started to talk about Wahe Guru, which means Wow God. At this point, I was hoping that he would relate it back to celebrities and cognitions so that all the holes that where in his talk would be filled, and right when he was about to fill those holes, he ended the talk. I thought to myself, “Wahe Guru! That was a terrible talk”. His presentation, framing, and wordy was all wrong because he did not add appeal to his audience effectively.
The next speaker was a video from a past TedTalk by Arianna Huffington about success and sleep. I find this topic exciting because in my health psychology course, we just talked about the importance of sleep within all individuals. Arianna’s talk was directed to female, and she stressed the importance of sleep especially for Type A women. Arianna said that high IQ does not mean the individual will be a good leader, and this is something that I really from the talk she had. Within my chapter when it comes to leadership and elections, the members often use GPA and academics as a scapegoat as to why an individual would be or would not be a good leader. Leading does not revolve around intelligence but rather, in my opinion, the ability to communicate thoroughly, motivate, and be opened to other’s ideas, values, and opinions.