Who can pass up free food? I can.
Moreno Valley College often has barbeques for various events, they give away free food and yet I can't be bothered to attend. Despite the fact that the food is completely free and I am at the time hungry, I pass anyway. If I am like this, I'm sure that at least a hundred other students are the same way. In order to combat this problem, MVC should introduce an Arbitrary Point System (APS) to boost school spirit.
The system would work like this: students would be issued point cards and they would gain points for doing things that show off their school spirit, like going to the school events, participating in activities, or by reading the school's online publication. Also, points could possibly be rewarded for doing things that just help the school out in any fashion, like volunteering, using alternative transportation methods in the first three weeks when traffic is highly congested, or (again) reading the school's online publication.
The point card could be as simple as a cardboard card and a custom stamp or as technology hip as a plastic card with a magnetic strip and a hand held card reader. They could even have the points linked to the student's Student Identification Cards. Organizers could have a handheld card scanner and swipe ones card when they arrive and swipe the card after the event is over to get full points.
The Points could be entirely meaningless and still have a morale boosting affect. It would be interlay ego based; all we would get out of it is bragging rights. Everyone knows that whoever has the most points wins and the APS will capitalize on the feeling of getting the most points in an argument, or just getting a butt load of points. It'd become a self esteem thing, having a lot of points would make you feel important. It'd be something that'd feel like an accomplishment, even if it meant nothing. People would strive to be the best MVC student to either get ahead of the point pack or prevent themselves from being left in the points dust of their fellow classmates. Having lots of points will make the student feel good and in the race to get more points the students will make MVC a more spirited place.
The APS could work solely on our ego but it could also work with prizes. The "prizes" wouldn't even have to be good ones. Sure if there was a large monetary prize I'd probably go all out with the APS, but even small prizes would get me involved. Something as minor as a day of free parking could get students showing their faces at these events. I definitly would start attending events if at the end of the semester I could trade in my points for a free something with MVC's logo plastered on it, like a mug or a tee-shirt; something small, but better than nothing. Most importantly something I can walk away with that is more tangible than my memories.
And then on top of this there could be an Arbitrary Title System. Gain enough points and you are awarded a title, so many points and you earn the title like "Point Master" or "Super MVC Student". These Titles would be meaningless and you wouldn't get anything for having them, but it'd still be something you'd want to have. To be "Ultra MVC Student" when all your classmates are still "Super MVC Students" would be a major boost to one's self esteem and something one would want to aim for.
This may seem crazy but video games give us a wonderful look into our own lives and the motivations behind what we do, or in this case what we do not do. There was a topic that came up last year about grinding in video games. Grinding is when you do a small task, such as defeating a weak monster, over and over again for long periods of time to accumulate points (experience points), money, and or drops (items that defeated monsters drop which can be traded, sold, or used to craft equipment). Some argued that grinding was completely useless, that it was a cheap way to extend the life of the game and others argued that grinding would not be in our games today if it were truly a bad thing; it's there so we must get some satisfaction out of it. I have to agree with the latter argument, which is where this diversion leads back into my plan for an APS. With grinding one is doing a menial task in exchange for small rewards that will eventually build up over time. That way you get something in the long run even if there is no immediate reward. This is close what would be in place with our APS, MVC's events will not be trivial, but the points we get from them will become a reason to attend the events. We may not be attending the events solely for the pleaser we get out of the event but we are there contributing to the spirit of MVC. We get points, the college gets attendance at their events up, it's a win/win situation.
I don't know if a system like this would work. But, if I were getting points for believing in it, I would.
