The importance of education is implanted into every child’s brain growing up.
Do your homework, don’t miss school and strive to attend college some day to get a career that you want, people would say to me when I was a kid.
It is instilled in so many peoples heads at a young age that in order to be successful you need a good job and higher education is the best way to reach this goal.
Higher education is put on a pedestal to the point where once a student reaches college, the fear of failing seems like life or death.
On top of social pressure, college semesters cost thousands of dollars and it might seem like the end of the world if you do not succeed.
It’s not and San Jose State should not treat education that way.
In some cases, SJSU students themselves have treated grades more important than their own lives because of pressure put on by the school, their families and even their own anxiety of failing.
A grade or class should not ultimately affect a student’s health and or life.
Last year California had its deadliest wildfire in history causing destruction in areas where the fire was present and the rest of the state was covered in smoke, including San Jose.
According to The Mercury News, colleges all across the Bay Area were closing their campuses telling students and staff to stay home and out of the unhealthy air-quality.
All those except for SJSU.
SJSU did shut down campus operations on two days leading into the smoke filled weekend, but neglected to cancel a Saturday’s football game.
Ultimately, it re-opened campus again the following Monday when most colleges were still on lockdown.
According to The Mercury News, the University of Berkeley canceled the first Big Game against Stanford since 1963.
SJSU football moved back its game by two hours in order for the game to commence in marginally improved air-quality.
Recently, negligence for student’s health occurred again just a few weeks ago when bullets hit the Martin Luther King Jr. Library multiple times.
International business freshman Garret Bruner was studying in the library for a test the next day when a bullet came a foot from hitting him in the head.
The injury could have been fatal and although he was not injured physically, Bruner had said in an interview with the Spartan Daily that it was going to be a long time for him to feel relaxed again.
Despite almost losing his life on campus, Bruner had to wake up the next day and take an economics exam with his teacher and the university knowing well what occurred.
Although Bruner seemed understanding that he had to take the test, it is downright insensitive to not give a student a weekend of mental recovery following a traumatic event like this.
Even moments after the shots had been fired, students remained in the library to study and did not appear phased that gunshots had penetrated the building.
James Chow, speech language pathology graduate student, was present an hour after the shots had been fired and said he was concerned but he still needed to study whether there were previous gunshots or not.
Are academics so important that gunshots can’t prevent a student from studying?
Chow and every other student in the library are not at fault for staying in the library after something like this happened.
Higher education is important, but in no way should it show legitimate concerns for safety and lives.
