Why the rules and regulations?

This archived article was written by: James Justice

The gun sounds and the Olympic sprinters start. In less than 10.5 seconds all the sprinters will finish the race. The time between first and second place will be in the hundredths of a second. But, why is how fast the sprinters run important? It shows standards and requirements that have to be met to be first, second, third, etc. There are many standards in our lives, let’s look at the different standards and requirements that we might run into on a daily biases.
The first, in my mind, are sporting requirements and standards. Team owners don’t pay professional athletes millions of dollars because of their “pretty” faces, (most of them aren’t that pretty). But, they pay them the big bucks for two reasons: one, their ability to play their particular sport, two, their entertainment value.
Lance Armstrong, arguably one of the greatest athletes that has ever lived, has an annual income of just over 65 million (according to money.cnn.com.) He makes all his money off endorsements. He has these endorsement because of the two requirements listed above. He’s the greatest cyclist that has ever ridden and since beating cancer, he has great entertainment value (American loves an “underdog” that wins.)
The second are career standards and requirements. Underwater welding, also know as Hyperbaric welding has some of the most strict standards that can be placed on a welder. To do this work you have to be qualified and certified in welding in general, than you have to be qualified and certified to weld lying on your back, upside down and backwards; yeah, crazy.
Without these certifications and qualifications, ships would sink, oil rigs would fall and underwater oil pipe lines would burst.
The third and most important are academic standards and requirements. To get into Harvard Law, one of the most prestigious law schools in America, you need to have an LSAT score, the test for acceptance to law school, above 172 and an overall GPA of above 3.72.

This by no means is “guaranteed acceptance” but it will give you a good shot.
The GRE is the test for admissions to graduate school. To get into graduate school at the University of Utah you need to have a 3.0 GPA, an “acceptable” GRE test score, letters of recommendation and a bachelors degree in an acceptable field.
At USU Eastern, the nursing program has high standards and requirements for acceptance and progression through the program. Students have to maintain a high GPA along with a “B-“ or better in all required courses, a “C+” will not do it.
To get an academic scholarship at USU Eastern, you have to meet the following standards: 3.0 overall GPA for incoming freshmen and 3.6 overall GPA for returning sophomores.
I know that I’ve only listed a few standards and requirements for consideration, the question needs to be asked, “why do we have standards and requirements at all?” It’s an interesting question. Some of the reasons are: to show how serious you are, safety and your maturity level.
Case in point, no one wants a doctor or nurse that didn’t pass basic English. We want doctors and nurses to be the best in the world. We hold them to a higher standard and expect them to do the same for themselves. We expect them to study the hardest and know the most.
So if you know you want to do something, get to know the standards and requirements by heart and work hard for your goals. If you fail, take that failure, change what needs to be changed and study harder. Please parents, don’t write to the USU Eastern paper (The Eagle) and complain when your child can’t pass a class or get .01 percent below a “B-” that needed for the program. Your child should have exceeded that “B-” that was needed, but they failed to even meet that low standard, so all they have to do now is grow up and work harder next time.