The Story
BRB -- In Class
 | During the school year I reserve a special away message for each of my classes. Sometimes the message is very unimaginative and ungrammatical (“brb modern dancing at dance!”) and sometimes it’s a joke only I think is funny (“out with Phil. American Phil.”). Often, |
Truthfully, there is no way to come up with one away message that would work for all classes. That’s because what I’m doing in class is complicated and hardly explainable in a few simple words. “Learning,” “growth” and “college” just don’t seem to fit the experience very well.
The first thing that struck me during my first class at the College was how smart the other kids were. It might seem to have been a situational moment of self-congratulation, but the feeling returned every semester in every classroom.
As is evident especially during finals, the Tribe is a huge mass of dorks. We love going to class and feel no shame in studying like monsters and eating up office hours.
In many ways, the spirit of a liberal arts education is embodied at William and Mary by the General Education Requirements.
I’m one of those kids who love the GERs. I think it’s fantastic that we are required to have a basic understanding of math, science, social science, world cultures and history, literature, performing arts and philosophical thought.
The GERs are to be embraced. How often can one purposefully study in multiple fields simultaneously?
The requirements also help narrow the list of possible majors. I got my major from taking a philosophy intro for GER 7. The professor was just too cool and I was just too swept up in that philosophical smorgasbord to let it just be a GER.
Likewise, the Virginia farming community lost a valuable member when my freshman roommate decided against a future in agriculture after enrolling in a required literature class. I probably teased her more as a declared English major than as an aspiring farmer.
Seven or fewer GERs hardly qualify us as modern-day renaissance men. Some students complain about the requirements as they are, but overall it seems like they are worthwhile. A few more requirements might not be a bad idea, though it would cost time and money, and likely prompt angry debate.
Sometimes science is hard to stomach if you’re a humanities kid. I should know. I still need to take a physical science and lab this fall. I’m signed up for geology (“rocks for jocks”?) and I’m afraid it might be like pulling teeth.
A friend of mine put it well when she said, “I like the GERs. But I didn’t like taking them.”
The College has 35 arts and sciences departments. All freshmen enter into the arts and sciences and only about ten percent later choose to leave to enter the business administration or education programs.
For the class of 2007, the most popular primary arts and sciences major was English, with 128 degrees, followed by government. History, biology and psychology also had high numbers of graduates. The “least popular” primary major that year was German, with only four degrees awarded.
There were 191 undergraduate business degrees awarded from the Mason School in 2007.
At Master’s and doctorate levels, science is a big deal. In 2007, 88 Master’s degrees were awarded, 16 of which went to computer science students. Out of the 29 doctorate degrees, nine went to students in the physics department.
Maybe we should open all these great classes to the general public, like Yale University has done with the Open Yale courses project. Yale has put all materials online for ten classes, including syllabi and videos of every lecture. They expect to add 30 more courses to the site in the next few years.
Other schools have joined the movement and gotten involved in the Open Courseware Consortium and the Open Education Resource Commons , both funded by private non-profit grants.
Perhaps the “alma mater of a nation” can become even more public and accessible. It definitely deserves to be.
Academic success is all about grades. And grades are about performance and relationships with professors. Nonetheless, it’s likely that if you put in the time and energy, you will graduate with more than good grades, a fancy diploma and a few professor-friends. This is what is so hard to capture; there’s more to higher education than what’s on paper.
I don’t think I’ll simply leave school with more knowledge or books than I brought. Rather, I’ll leave as a different person than I was when I came. The classes I’ve taken have deeply changed the way I think about the world.
It’s difficult to describe the entire experience succinctly - the professors, classmates, readings, assignments, discussions, study groups, note cards, projects, procrastination, classrooms, worldviews, questions, witty comebacks, exams, intimidation and confidence.
One simple away message is hardly descriptive. It’s absurd.
Jonna Knappenberger is co-Editor in Chief of The DSJ and an opinions contributor. Her views do not necessarily reflect those of the entire staff.
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