Slashdot Mirror
Forget an Essay; Earn a Scholarship With a Tweet
PolygamousRanchKid writes with this quote from a CNN article:
"The Kentucky Fried Chicken Foundation is asking eligible high school seniors to tweet a photo that illustrates their commitment to education and enriching their communities. The KFC Colonel's Scholars winner, announced December 15, will receive up to $5,000 per year to pursue a bachelor's degree at a public university in his or her home state. ... Other organizations, perhaps weary of wading through applicants' lengthy essays, also are offering eager students ways to turn a 140-character message into money for college. ... Why a tweet? Jodi Schafer, the University of Iowa's director of MBA admissions and financial aid, told USA Today that application essays were 'becoming unoriginal.' She said 'we're hoping that incorporating social media in the process will help bring back some of that creativity.'"
20 grand outlay - at most - in return for many times that in free publicity. KFC wins this round.
If Slashdot were chemistry it would look like this:Cadaverine
they were just looking for someone to kiss their asses in a tweet. This isn't about pithy expression, they just wanted something that works as relatively cheap advertising.
Move along, now...
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Some dolled up preppy trust fund kid will win with a picture of her and some children in a small town in Africa.
How many pictures will the get of chickens being choked?
Application essays were becoming "unoriginal," and yet they expect *more* originality in 140 characters or less?
For those complaining that this is just a way to get cheap advertisement... Who cares?
Would you rather a company get their advertisement by helping kids go to college or by paying some huge advertisement firm?
Does their motives really matter in this case? I'd much rather the get their advertisement by helping people than paying for ads.
Kentucky Fried Chicken Foundation is asking eligible high school seniors to tweet a photo that illustrates their commitment to education
Twitter post.
Photo.
Choose one.
A link to a photo perhaps? If so -- Well, will I get demerits for linking to a blog post with photos, an essay, and comments from the community extolling my dedication to education? Won't the "tweet" be significantly less than 140 characters due to the linked image?
We're seriously not talking a a 10x14 pixel image... I hope.
Did you just post the URL of a random XKCD?
"Lame" - Galaxar
... our education system is failing, I'd say this is it.
Check your premises.
Wow...you guys are a bunch of ungreatful asshats. Who cares why they're doing it, the fact is that they're letting somebody go to school on their dime. What's so evil about that?
http://xkcdsucks.blogspot.com/2011/02/comics-864-and-865-naked-women-floating.html
Take a picture of yourself giving a bucket of KFC (tm) to people in a homeless shelter.
Because it takes way less effort to make and to judge! Win-win all around.
It doesn't mean much now, it's built for the future.
This one's been around for a while, but it never gets old.
http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/blbyol3.htm
When I was looking for scholarships about 6 years ago, KFC required something like a half dozen short essays on various idiotic topics. Now you send them a picture. Times have changed...
Isn't something FUCKED UP here? Here's a suggestion -- if you want students to be original in their essays, then don't reward them based on how many catch phrases about "diversity", "community service", and all that bullshit. Reward essays that 1) tell you something good about the student, and 2) tell you SOMETHING about the student other than their ability to understand and replicate what ridiculous pseudopolitical buzzword gibberish you happen to be enamored with due to some passing fad.
God damn this is ridiculous...
weinersmith
One wins a prize by submitting a "slogan" on a postcard. Enter as often as you wish> I think these contests occurred mid-century. I recall these postcard contests faded when personal printers could churn them out by the tens of thousands.
I think that's the idea you sort through the "unoriginal" essays until you find the talent, the person that would benefit the most by an education.
Sounds like the attention spans are dropping across the board for every age group now.
"If any question why we died, Tell them because our fathers lied."
They tweet a photo, and the photo is judged. not the Tweet.
This isn't much different than tweeting a link to an essay. Just because 'twitter' is mentioned somewhere in the story, doesn't mean the twitter is the most important part of the story.
The evolution of mathematics education 1980's A farmer sells a bag of potatoes for $10. His production costs are $8 and his profit is $2. Underline the word "potatoes" and discuss with your classmates.
Now turn to the next problem. If you have three Pepsis and drink one, how much more refreshed are you? You, the redhead in the Chicago school system?
Pepsi?
Partial credit!
what if chickens had lips and a 12" tongue? would they smell of cattle or of joy?
pay no attention to the damage our rotten food is doing to the youth.
to many people are going to college tech jobs needs apprenticeships not theory loaded class room
Wrong again.
I'm originally self taught, and made pretty good money as a C coder before I figured out I should really go back to school, and get the math, theory and general engineering skills I realized I was missing.
It was one of the best choices I made during my life.
There's a lot more to technical jobs than pressing buttons, knowing things by rote and knowing the incantations to make the magic systems work.
Another advantage of going to school is that one learns to spell, use good grammar and other writing and communication skills.
Check your premises.
I personally don't see the problem with judging a photo instead of an essay. Especially since it isn't something that students will have already done 100 of, so it will likely inspire more creativity and originality. A really good photo can say just as much as a good essay, and is arguably harder to put together. Plus it is easier to judge and easier to show off when you announce the winner.
That said, the "tweet" angle isn't really relevant or helpful, but I think it is just a way to get more eyeballs and try to appeal to younger folks. It seems to be working, at any rate.
If you are planning to do a degree in how masturbation effects stress levels, it might be totally appropriate.
2effect
verb \i-fekt, e-, -, -\
transitive verb
1: to cause to come into being
I think you'll find that correlation to be negative instead of positive, try re-wording your hypothesis...
Lazlo: I heard you were studying for Hathaway's test so I dug through the computer and found every question Hathaway's ever asked on every final he's ever given.
Chris: I didn't get you anything! Are those they?
Lazlo: No, these are entries for the Frito-Lay sweepstakes, no purchase necessary, enter as often as you like, so I am. This batch makes 1,650,000. I figure I should win 32.4% of the prizes, including the car.
Chris: Kinda takes the fun out of it, doesn't it?
Lazlo: Yes, well, I've come to realize that I have certain materialistic needs, and they made up the rules...
It doesn't mean much now, it's built for the future.
You should have spent your last paycheck on an internet connection instead of rent, then maybe we'd help you out with a college education. Have fun continuing to be poor and wolfing down our food because vegetables are more expensive than cola.
Regards,
KFC
We flock to watch Snookie, but refuse to take the time to teach our kids how to spell.
Like we really need that. C is for Snookie, that's good enough for me.
I wonder what picture the goatse guy is going to "tweet"...
My guess is that he will purse a degree in Astronomy, studying...well...you get the idea.
F_CK KFC take their poisonous "food", their sub-poverty line "careers", their ugly restaurants and their $5000.
$5000 won't buy an education, and kids shouldn't have to sell-out to these creeps in order to get one anyway.
Their product is comprehensively evil, from its inhumane production to its unhealthy effects on its victims, er, consumers. Thus, promoting it is also evil.
I'm taking a pic of a chicken riding a cow.
Vote monkeys into Congress. They are cheaper and more trustworthy.
I think they were getting more and more duplicate essays copied, at least in part, from web sites.
When the essay is limited to 140 characters, identifying the unoriginal essays is by inspection -- there are only so many possible variations. Longer ones have to be actually read to confirm their unoriginality.
use the essay portion of a scholarship to support STEM efforts by accepting literature reviews of scholarly articles for essays.
to get its bachelor degree!
The standard trolling xkcd is this:
goatse.cx