How else can I put it? Simply put and simply realized, Wabash is prone to the dramatic side of life. Today there was a student who wore a Depauw Tigers shirt to class and, when asked about it, responded that he felt we've deteriorated to the level of our despised rivals. This in itself is a bit ridiculous, but the point remains that he is unhappy with what Wabash has become.
The backstory follows. There was a faculty dinner where a few members of the faculty - at some point during the course of the evening - went with a student back to his room and engaged in illegal activities. The group of men decided that smoking pot was an appropriate end to the evening. This act led to the members of faculty being asked to resign. I'm not quite sure if there was indeed a termination or if it was more of a "Quit or we'll fire you" scenario. In either case, the faculty members will be leaving the college at the conclusion of this year. So Wabash finds itself split over what is happening here on our campus. For the past few weeks this has been brought up in a few of my classes and mulled over.
I think it's time for me to solidify my thoughts on the matter. Again, the facts are: Faculty dinner --> student's room --> pot smoking --> faculty leaving the college. My understanding is that the dean asked the professor to resign and he did without a fight. The biggest complaint raised has been that the student faculty relationship has been ruined forever. I think that this assertion in itself is a problem. By saying that relationships have been ruined, you are asserting that the only relationship that existed was when students and faculty members gathered to engage in illegal activity. I would bet money that 99% of interactions that students have with faculty members is in the classroom and that this particular instance represents less than that remaining 1%. I, at least, know of many of my friends - myself included - have not engaged in illegal activities with professors. So how have relationships been damaged? Professors will no longer smoke pot with students? Well good riddance!
Another issue was raised in my English class this morning. Were I to go to a professor's house for dinner I would never be invited to the bedroom. Of course we would be in community in the living room and dining room, but by no means would I ever be invited to the immensely private space that is the bedroom. I think that it is worth pointing out that the faculty members would obviously not have been fired for visiting a student's room but they would be fired for smoking pot with a student wherever it may be. And that's where my position on the issue has made it's stand. Fact 1: pot is illegal. Fact 2: faculty members get fired for illegal activity, regardless of whether or not a student was present. This brings up my final point. My professor mentioned that he, as well as the other adults that facilitate my education, are expected to be role models on campus. Stance on the matter of marijuana legalization aside, the leaders of our campus are expected to act as role models and are clearly looked up to as role models and that means that they are expected to be upstanding citizens. I'm not judging the moral fiber of people who smoke pot or those that vilify it. I am judging whether or not those faculty members were modeling behavior that students should imitate. I'm sure we've all heard of the grandmother test: if you wouldn't do/say something you wouldn't want your grandmother to hear/ know about, then don't do it. Relating that to Wabash, a college that uses the behavior of students and faculty to advertise ourselves to potential students merits the "media test,"- if you don't want it to be advertised to incoming students, don't do it. I don't think that anyone can argue that they want incoming students to know about the pot smoking or, more generally, about illegal activity occurring on campus.
I think that it's easy to taint our views based on how we feel about legalization of marijuana but the facts as I see them point not to what the activity itself was but the activity's nature. Professors aren't being fired because of the drug use, they are being fired because they engaged in illegal activities. I would also argue that these professors could have even done this in the privacy of their own home with no repercussions and would bet they have and will. The reason that Wabash must distance themselves from these professors is that they crossed the line when they did it with students. Mark the firings up to an overreaction to someone corrupting the "innocence" of the youth or whatever you want but the fact remains that you can't engage in illegal activity expecting to get off scott free - especially not with your FREAKING STUDENTS! You're our professors, not our friends, no matter how much we want you to be.
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Monday, April 16, 2012
College English Classes Are Pointless
There are many things that wreak havoc on my daily studies, but none so much as what I'm actually doing. I was talking with a friend the other day and we started debating the real necessity of college. Let's be honest, other than writing a few papers and studying a few literary techniques I feel as if I've learned hardly anything practical. If I want to teach students one day how is conceptualizing semiotic analysis going to help me anywhere but the college level? Much more realistically I'll probably end up teaching kids simple grammar, even if I wind up at the community college level. So why aren't I taking any classes on grammar?! Why am I spending hours upon hours in pursuit of mastering gender analysis? The other day my English professor told me that if he, as head of the English department, receives an application or resume with a single error, he trashes it immediately. So, once again, I'm asking why we aren't spending the majority of our time on form and function?
Realistically, an assessment of my mastery of the English language is going to be based on my conventions, not on my ideas. That's the beauty of English though, right? I can say whatever I want and, so long as there's evidence in the text to support my claim, I'm technically correct. So why do college professors spend all this time teaching analysis? If I'm going to be marked down for comma usage on my papers then teach me comma usage, not analysis.
Of course you find yourself making the argument that a college student should know how to use a comma by the time he's reached that level of scholarship. I agree wholeheartedly. You're right, but to assume that very point is to make the assertion that public education in the United States is at a higher level than it is. To expect a college student to know how to write like a college student is ultimately an unrealistic expectation because, by assuming that level of writing in a student you assume they've learned how to do it elsewhere. For the college freshman that means that high school successfully educated students on comma usage. A fair hope, but not a realistic one. Think about the way high school classes are structured.
The primary goal of a high school English class is to improve reading levels of students to something above the sixth grade average. The AP (Advanced Placement) classes then focus on strength of writing. Aha! So the students should learn comma usage in AP classes, you say. Wrong. The AP classes are, in theory, classes taught at the college level and they often are. The issue lies in the AP test and the way that our system has forced educators to teach to the test. The AP testing rubric states that it will grade writers based on the merit of their thoughts and ideas in accordance with their reading of the test. The least amount of points lost on an AP exam, if I'm not mistaken, is in minor spelling and grammatical errors. This system encourages creative individuals to write their hearts out in the time allotted and to not worry too much about grammar. And write I did! The highest grade achievable on an AP exam is a 5, I received a 4 on my exam. This was enough to get my stringent college to accept it as a credit replacement for a lower level English course.
But wait, where in that process of earning COLLEGE CREDIT did this kid ever focus on grammar? Simple answer - I never did. Not once since my time in elementary and middle school did I ever focus on grammar, punctuation, or even spelling in my classes. The entirety of my knowledge comes from before I ever turned 14 and the books I have read. This poses a significant problem at the college level when, reading different authors with different styles, I use commas as if they were Hansel and Gretel's breadcrumbs. Admittedly I've gotten better, but even in my English 340 class I was marked down to an 80 on a paper solely for poor comma usage.
So what's the point here? I guess it's just upsetting to hear a professor tell you that he'll reject a job application with a grammatical error when he's part of a system that doesn't teach grammar. To be fair, that applicant should have proof read. Conclusion: proof read when you have millions of dollars riding your application!
Disclaimer: Written spur of the moment and not proof read. There are not millions to be made by this post.
Realistically, an assessment of my mastery of the English language is going to be based on my conventions, not on my ideas. That's the beauty of English though, right? I can say whatever I want and, so long as there's evidence in the text to support my claim, I'm technically correct. So why do college professors spend all this time teaching analysis? If I'm going to be marked down for comma usage on my papers then teach me comma usage, not analysis.
Of course you find yourself making the argument that a college student should know how to use a comma by the time he's reached that level of scholarship. I agree wholeheartedly. You're right, but to assume that very point is to make the assertion that public education in the United States is at a higher level than it is. To expect a college student to know how to write like a college student is ultimately an unrealistic expectation because, by assuming that level of writing in a student you assume they've learned how to do it elsewhere. For the college freshman that means that high school successfully educated students on comma usage. A fair hope, but not a realistic one. Think about the way high school classes are structured.
The primary goal of a high school English class is to improve reading levels of students to something above the sixth grade average. The AP (Advanced Placement) classes then focus on strength of writing. Aha! So the students should learn comma usage in AP classes, you say. Wrong. The AP classes are, in theory, classes taught at the college level and they often are. The issue lies in the AP test and the way that our system has forced educators to teach to the test. The AP testing rubric states that it will grade writers based on the merit of their thoughts and ideas in accordance with their reading of the test. The least amount of points lost on an AP exam, if I'm not mistaken, is in minor spelling and grammatical errors. This system encourages creative individuals to write their hearts out in the time allotted and to not worry too much about grammar. And write I did! The highest grade achievable on an AP exam is a 5, I received a 4 on my exam. This was enough to get my stringent college to accept it as a credit replacement for a lower level English course.
But wait, where in that process of earning COLLEGE CREDIT did this kid ever focus on grammar? Simple answer - I never did. Not once since my time in elementary and middle school did I ever focus on grammar, punctuation, or even spelling in my classes. The entirety of my knowledge comes from before I ever turned 14 and the books I have read. This poses a significant problem at the college level when, reading different authors with different styles, I use commas as if they were Hansel and Gretel's breadcrumbs. Admittedly I've gotten better, but even in my English 340 class I was marked down to an 80 on a paper solely for poor comma usage.
So what's the point here? I guess it's just upsetting to hear a professor tell you that he'll reject a job application with a grammatical error when he's part of a system that doesn't teach grammar. To be fair, that applicant should have proof read. Conclusion: proof read when you have millions of dollars riding your application!
Disclaimer: Written spur of the moment and not proof read. There are not millions to be made by this post.
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