(March 20, 2002) — Students today are overworked and tired. We will try anything to get good grades, and frankly I think this has to change. We cheat, we drink gallons of coffee a day, and some of us even take pills just to stay awake. This can’t be good for us. “Then don’t do that stuff,” say the teachers. “Don’t drink coffee,” they say. “Cheating is wrong,” they tell us. Well, have they ever thought that they are at least partly responsible for our self-destructive actions? Has it ever occurred to them that if they didn’t give us the full hour and a half of homework a day our lives would be much better? I don’t think so. Teachers complain that they spend countless hours correcting homework and tests every week. Well, whose fault is that? It sure isn’t the students’ fault. They barely have time to sleep, let alone have time to devise such intricate plans of ruining their teachers’ lives. Cheating is, according to certain people, a big problem at Clark. Alas, I don’t think cheating is a problem. Cheating is just one more desperate attempt by the student population to keep grades up. If there were no grades, or at least if work was given in reasonable quantities, this cheating “problem” would not exist. Dear teachers, I know you’re tired of all the extra work, and you know we’re tired of all the extra work. So why not give less of it to your students and improve the quality of life for everyone?