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
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.
Or, maybe, "Send me $5000 or the chicken gets choked!"
If you are planning to do a degree in how masturbation effects stress levels, it might be totally appropriate.
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?
Why not? It's widely believed that working within limitations can spur creativity.
"For a long time I limited myself to one color – as a form of discipline." -- Pablo Picasso
Twitter can be like painting in one color. It really forces you to think about the words you are using to express yourself and make yourself understood.
Take a picture of yourself giving a bucket of KFC (tm) to people in a homeless shelter.
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."
Better yet, if most of the essays are unoriginal why not just pick the ones that are original as the winners and post the archive of all past winners so people know what you're looking for. Most high school students think the scholarship funds and colleges want the boiler plate, "this is why I deserve your attention" type essay. It's up to you to lay out the recommendations and ground rules if you really want something beyond that.
Six word stories have been very enlightening.
In support - learning to improvise, usually in jazz, is sometimes a difficult thing to kick-start. Playing the same pattern, adjusting pitch to match the chord changes, is a standard technique. Play the same thing over and over, pretty soon your brain just wants to do something different.
I've seen well-known people hit a mental block (it's obvious once you listen to piles of them playing the same tune differently). The easy way to get out of it is sit on a single note, or a simple rhythm, until you get inspired. People like to say it's a clever use of repetition to establish expectations and then break those expectations. It might be, sometimes.
Lots of new things in art have been a result of limitations which force you to think in new ways.
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.