Castleton students unfazed by violent world

Two Castleton professors stood in front of a 6-foot map of the world in Leavenworth Hall.  They each took turns pointing to different countries on the map and were able to think of something bad going on currently in each of them.

There is Isis, a Middle East Islamic group beheading and burning captives, there’s the terrorist attack at a French satirical magazine and Ebola in Africa.

But with all these events happening currently, are Castleton students concerned?

Surprisingly, no. They’re worries are different.

“I’m worried we’re going to run out of resources,” said Alex Brownell when asked what she thought was the most pressing current issue. “Oh, and pollution.”  

A lot of students were thinking along the same lines.

Sophomore Mason Brown says she is concerned about deforestation and Mariah Eilers worries about all the damage we’re doing to the ozone layer by polluting the air.

“We’ve really screwed ourselves here,” Eilers said.

Tanner Dana agrees.

“I’m pretty worried about the carbon footprint we are leaving behind,” Dana said.

Senior Bennett McPhetres’ biggest concern is people’s dependency on technology.

“Kids don’t even know how to use a dictionary or read a map anymore … it’s sad,” McPhetres said.

The seemingly never-ending fighting in the world did get mentioned by one student, however.

“World peace … and the lack of it,” Smith Donelon said when asked what he was most worried about.

But communication professor Robert Wuagneux thinks he might know why more students aren’t concerned about the world at war.

“I think it’s because everything that’s happening right now has to do with violence,” he said.

Waugneux thinks that kids are sick of hearing about violence because that’s all they hear about.

“Students are becoming desensitized, ” he said. “I think the kids just blank these news stories out of their heads.”

Fellow communication professor Michael Talbott thinks these students are smart.

“They are more worried about long term issues like global warming because it will directly affect them,” Talbott said.    

He also pointed out that students might not be paying attention to the more current news about violence overseas because they aren’t sitting around watching CNN with their free time.

“It’s harder to reach students with stories like these because they don’t directly affect them,” he said.

 

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