The Undergraduate Chair

ARE you sure the magazine will thinkthis is okay? . . . We'll just explainthat it's a learning experience incollaborative writing ... Is the recorderon?...Let's start...

I sometimes get the feeling from conversations with other students and from hearing their typical majors economics, engineering, biology that undergraduates today are less interested in a liberal education than they are in vocational traning. Dartmouth in part seems to be keeping pace with this trend by adding new majors like computer science. If you need more evidence, just look at the enrollments in what people think of as preprofessional majors.

Like so many other students, I had beenpremed, prebusiness, prelaw, andprearchitecture before I decided to concentrate on the present. I see a real differencebetween perceiving education as a means toan end and perceiving it as a process of intellectualgrowth. There are so many goodcourses, for example, in art history, whichwill last a lifetime. And there are the skillsof reading and writing to master.

I know two students who in the past two years have only written one short research paper apiece. They freely admit that they're scared to death of having to write a paper that requires any creative thought or analysis. If their attitudes represent a trend, I think it's fair to say that many students tend not to take courses outside their majors except "guts" to fulfill their distributive requirements. And the trend is perpetuated by professors who don't require students to write.

I've taken courses in which we didn'thave to write full sentences on the finalexam, and I know this occurred in oneComp. Lit. final. It seems absurd thatprofessors don't expect students to writecomplete thoughts. I think it's the students'fault, though, if they don't explore areasbeyond their majors. President Kemenysaid in his speech during our FreshmanParents' Weekend one of the bestspeeches I have heard at Dartmouth that he thought we should plan for the timewe will spend outside of our jobs as well asthe time we will spend inside of them.

As a former premed You were one,too? I had this grand design for every term: one premed course, one course for my major, and one gut to ensure that I could get a top grade in all three. But I abandoned that scheme because I felt I was sacrificing an opportunity to learn that I would never have again. I began to pick courses according to how much the course and the professor had to offer that would have more lasting meaning in my life than knowing the precise value of Avogadro's number. I know that sounds unrealistic, but I really did make that change.

I've always looked for courses thatwould be useful and meaningful, and I'vemost enjoyed the seminars. They're a goodway to get to know other students andprofessors. Have you found yourprofessors approachable?

I find them approachable, but I also find them without time to spare, or at least giving the impression that they have no time to spare. I think the scramble for tenure among the junior faculty members compounds the problem. But I'd also say that there are notable exceptions.

I find professors most inspiring whenthey also try to learn from students, and Ithink students and professors could learnmuch more from each other, if they'd onlytake the time. But we all face amazing timepressures here.

I think most of the pressures related to time are self-imposed. There's a kind of hysteria to make use of every minute. I make time to run, to go to classes, to eat, but I hardly ever seem to spend any time in open-ended conversation.

Sometimes I feel so programmed that Istart programming my emotions, turningthem on and off. I'm learning to setpriorities, to strive for quality, not quantity. If something is important to me, Imake time for it.

I find the most worthwhile time is the time I spend with others going for long walks . . . ...Speaking of which, I'll never forgetthe day you took me on a five-hour 15-milehike through Norwich. But you weresaying... ... Or time spent going for long runs with other people when we put aside all the demands of our programmed activities.

It's easy to forget that the people aroundus are sometimes the best resources. Theclassroom isn't the only place to learn; inthe classroom it's easy to become passiverecipients of knowledge and take noteswithout questioning.

I think it's more serious than just the problem of those of us with a direct line between our ears and our pens. I think most people expect to be led through a course by the professor; they take little responsibility for their own education, and they're content to drift along semiconsciously.

Do you mean that students should starttaking more initiatives, like when I substituted my own paper topic for theprofessor's?

No, I meant to say that most students don't try to draw any connections between what they learn in one course and what they learn in another, or between their academic lives and their personal lives. They don't take the time and effort to synthesize the knowledge they've acquired.

I think you're right; our academic andpersonal lives shouldn't be divorced. Weforget to relax I'm probably the first toforget.

Students do lots of things aside from academics athletics, activities, partying but we seem to do everything compulsively. Very few students can slow their pace without feeling anxious.

You must mean me. I realize how muchI miss the kinds of activities that can beboth relaxing and self-expressive, such ascrafts or writing poetry. The last time Ispent an extended period of time in selfreflection was on my solo for OutwardBound last year, when I spent three days inthe woods alone.

I think Outward Bound compelled me to look at every part of my day as a learning opportunity. I grew away from the tendency to compartmentalize my experiences, and I began to see each experience as part of an all-encompassing effort to learn.

One of the main things I realized is thatsomething can be learned from every situationthat learning is a process. We face acontinuous test of abilities we shouldalways be learning and progressing.

Well, how do you think it went?... Okay, but you talked too much....