Thinking about the unusually high attrition of late

danny daniel

Helluva Engineer
Messages
2,476
You are so right. In my day (BSIE 1967) you could come out of high school with a 4.0 thinking GT was another challenge to notch on your gun, not realizing it would take an avg of 18.5 hours per quarter to graduate on time, require survival swimming, track at 1 PM in the summer, gymnastics for a grade with shin splints in all 4 appendages, and ROTC marching at 7 AM in uniform on Thursdays, not to mention afternoon labs and Saturday morning classes. By the 4th quarter you were hauling in D's (and glad to get them) and the Coop office was threatening to cut off your only source of finances.

At this point you are dejected, delusional, discouraged, embarrassed, humiliated, and beginning to doubt yourself and ready to quit. You do not want to face your family and friends with defeat so you are at a life changing crossroads. At this point it can go either way. Give up or make a mature decision and determination to go to work with real lifestyle changes to do what is necessary to succeed. Fortunately my family support system, upbringing, and prior athletic experiences helped me choose the mature decision, but believe me it could have gone the other way at that point easily.

I am sure GT is just as tough today. Therefore I can appreciate the challenges of the student athlete, as his challenges are greater than were mine. I suspect he may reach the same crossroad where his future could easily go either way. It is therefore important that we give our SAs all the support we can.
 

iopjacket

Ramblin' Wreck
Messages
723
You are so right. In my day (BSIE 1967) you could come out of high school with a 4.0 thinking GT was another challenge to notch on your gun, not realizing it would take an avg of 18.5 hours per quarter to graduate on time, require survival swimming, track at 1 PM in the summer, gymnastics for a grade with shin splints in all 4 appendages, and ROTC marching at 7 AM in uniform on Thursdays, not to mention afternoon labs and Saturday morning classes. By the 4th quarter you were hauling in D's (and glad to get them) and the Coop office was threatening to cut off your only source of finances.

At this point you are dejected, delusional, discouraged, embarrassed, humiliated, and beginning to doubt yourself and ready to quit. You do not want to face your family and friends with defeat so you are at a life changing crossroads. At this point it can go either way. Give up or make a mature decision and determination to go to work with real lifestyle changes to do what is necessary to succeed. Fortunately my family support system, upbringing, and prior athletic experiences helped me choose the mature decision, but believe me it could have gone the other way at that point easily.

I am sure GT is just as tough today. Therefore I can appreciate the challenges of the student athlete, as his challenges are greater than were mine. I suspect he may reach the same crossroad where his future could easily go either way. It is therefore important that we give our SAs all the support we can.

Good description. For the Vietnam War era students, the draft was also motivational. BCHE 74
 
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