Jordan Jensen's
E-portfolio
Cultural Analysis
The Zombie Outbreak for College Students
The amount of college debt the United States is facing today is one trillion dollars. As each year goes by, it seems students are taking out more student loans where they eventually put themselves into great amount of debt. One of the reason why college students get into
debt is the lack of knowledge or preparedness for college. Students or their parents don’t take the time to look at the resources they have in order to be debt free. Max Brooks, the author of a fiction novel called, “World War Z” (WWZ) expresses views about a global outbreak of zombies. Although, the book discusses of an infection that spreads around the world (spoiler alert) but eventually found a form
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to defeat the zombies, different subsections of the book can also be tied to issues we humans face. Those issues can be of any topic of interest such as: economic, nostalgia, media, and many others. We as readers can find connections from WWZ to current circumstances.
Bethlehem, Palestine
Saladin Kader, a college professor of urban planning at Khalil Gibran University starts his story back when he was a high school student working at Starbucks. One day at work, he viewed a new broadcast of the Israeli ambassador enacting a policy of “voluntary quarantine.” The Ambassador mentions that there was an infection called, “the African rabies” this infection would bring people back to “life” and will turn into a “bloodthirsty monsters.” Saladin doesn’t believe of the so called, “African rabies” and asylum that the Israeli government will give to the Palestine. At the time, Palestine and Israel did not have a good relationship. That same day, his father witnessed the “first major African rabies outbreak” during work hours at the Amiri Hospital. Saladin’s father witness convinced himself that him and his family needed to leave soon. Saladin couldn’t believe that his father was suggesting to leave to Israel. The two trying to convince one another why they should go or not turns into a big argument. His father was furious at Saladin and struck fear into his eyes, which basically forces Saladin to go. They eventually get to Israel but an outbreak occurs and almost got killed.That was Saladin first witness of the zombie outbreak for himself and wished he listened to his father earlier and the whole world as well.
Today ,we can connect college students with Saladins’ cituation. The Center for Higher Education Policy Analysis, University of Southern California mentions the following statement: At the schools, college counselors held small group FAFSA sessions, but less than 10% of seniors or their families attended the workshops; students and families who attended found the sessions useful. (Luna and Tierney) With this analysis we can learn, only few students are taking advantage of opportunities or workshops held at schools.
Troy Montana, USA
Mary Jo Miller story begins by describing how Mary and her family continue their daily life routines as the zombie outbreak is occurring. Although, there has been many reports from the news stations, radio, and other sources of the outbreak; she views the issue as another concern piled onto other worries she already has. Mary even has a discussion of the outbreak with a co-worker Mrs. Ruiz; and learned about how Mrs. Ruiz bought a cabin in Alaska to get away from the infection. Mary thought the manner that she was taking of being overreacting. Then, one night as they were home there were multiple signs that the outbreak was getting closer to them. A few of the zombies broke through the glass door and almost killed Mary’s husband and one of her children. Although, they had survived the disaster they could have avoid it in the first place.
Before college or while in college the students seek for guidance or “sings” about financial aid. Our first choice to obtain information is our counselors. In a Journal of Higher Eduactaion called: "Parents and the process of gaining access to student financial aid." mentions the following:
Among persons concerned with financial aid, there is general agreement that counselors lack
the time and background needed to develop enough understanding of financial aid programs
to play an effective role in information distribution and counseling. (Olson, and Rosenfeld)
It is interesting to find out how our counselors are not trained to help us with the information needed about finances. On another research done by a community college journal says: Financial aid counselors are a primary source of information that many students rely upon to understand financial aid and how to pay for college. However, little is known about financial aid counselors at America's community colleges and their interactions with the students. (McKinney and Roberts)
Tel Aviv, Israel
Jurgen Warmbrunn works/worked for the Israeli intelligence service. He first hears about the outbreak from his friends and customers over in Taiwan. The new decryption program was able to decode some e-mails from PRC. Before he shared the decode message to a co-worker, he decided to view the context from the message. The context mentions about a “new viral outbreak” where individuals will die and then the will come back and turn into “homicidal berserker.” Jurgen thought that this information was buzzard and did not believe in any of it. Although, he felt that this was something that he could not drop. During his daughter’s reception, he spoke to his son-in-law’s professor and discovered that the professor as well has heard about the homicidal berserkers. He then continues his research and discovers that the infection has been spreading around the world. Jurgen visits an old friend of his who had worked for the government and learned that he as well was working on learning about the new plague. They both put together the information they have discovered and put it in an report. Although, none took the time to read their report which could have change the outcome of how to deal with the infection.
We undestand that taking time to do some research we can avoid problems like how to deal with the infection. Same with taking time to evaluate what options students have to help them with finances. In a study called: "Financial aid as a perceived barrier to college for Latino students." we can learn about: ...neither youth nor parent respondents felt knowledgeable about college financial aid, but parents were even less likely to feel knowledgeable. A large number of youth respondents indicated that they were either somewhat unfamiliar (18 percent) or not at all familiar (20 percent) with college financial aid. The sources of financial aid of which they did indicate awareness were scholarships (22 percent), grants (20 percent), and loans (11 percent), but thirty-eight percent were unable to name any sources of college financial aid. An even larger number of parent respondents (54 percent) indicated that they were either somewhat or not at all familiar with college financial aid, and 51 percent could not name a single source of college financial aid. Also troubling was the finding that more than one-half of both youth and parent respondents indicated either that a person had to be a U.S. citizen to be eligible for financial aid or that they did not know whether citizenship was a requirement. (Zarate, Fabienke)
Therefore, those that do take the time in using the resources they have to learn about staying debt free will have a much sucessful rate and not much students. For those that don't act quick, you might hit rock bottom and end like this:
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Sources
"California schools will teach students how to torment parents about Obamacare." The Daily Caller. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Apr. 2017.
La Rosa, De, Mari Luna, and William G. Tierney. "Breaking through the Barriers to College: Empowering Low-Income Communities, Schools, and Families for College Opportunity and Student Financial Aid." Center for Higher Education Policy Analysis, University of Southern California (2006).
McKinney, Lyle, and Toya Roberts. "The role of community college financial aid counselors in helping students understand and utilize financial aid." Community College Journal of Research and Practice 36.10 (2012): 761-774.
Olson, Lorayn, and Rachel A. Rosenfeld. "Parents and the process of gaining access to student financial aid." The Journal of Higher Education 55.4 (1984): 455-480.
Pallazola, Jennifer. "It’s FAFSA time, and there are changes." AIC Yellow Jacket. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Apr. 2017.
"The Intelligence of Zombies." Geek Anthem. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Apr. 2017.
Zarate, Maria Estela, and David Fabienke. "Financial aid as a perceived barrier to college for Latino students." American Academic 3 (2007): 129-140.
