I decided to take the time out of my schedule to respond to a growing attitude within the student body. Every time I turn around, I hear another student or group of students complaining that the administration doesn't care about education anymore. I seriously wonder how many of these students really care about their own education.

You see, people, failure is easy. Most people really don't try very hard to succeed but rather look for excuses for their failure. It is easier to explain failure than to live with high expectations.

There are three types of people in this world: Number 1's, number 2's and number 3's. The number 3's are those who simply don't care about anything and wind up failing at everything due to an absence of effort. The number 2's flirt with success for a while but rarely achieve it. These folks probably comprise about 90 percent of the population. What keeps them from reaching success is the convenience of excuses. They always have a valid reason for their failure.

If these number 2's would put aside their smoke screen of excuses for a while, they would be shocked at how much they could accomplish.

The number 1's are fairly self-explanatory. These are the dean's list students who know that a little effort will reveal a wealth of educational opportunities here at Penn State. These are the students who have jobs lined up well before they graduate because they did not allow anyone to tell them that nobody was hiring. These are the people who don't let anyone tell them that they can't accomplish whatever it is they set out to do.

If some of these student groups would spend a little less time getting together and coming up with excuses, they may be shocked at what they find. Then again, if they were to realize the opportunities available to them, it might be that much harder to find excuses for their failure.