8 CONTINUED NEWS
(ANNIVERSARY, page f)
has been integrated from the start and tell
me that you do not find a source of pride
for our school and it’s origins. One of the
magnificent procedures of St. Andrews, Dr.
Alexander claims, is our support for educa
tion without any kind of stereotypes or
boundaries—hosting speakers on every
thing from communism to the Klu Klux
Klan. Even our roots with Flora MacDonald
are historic; many claim that the school
was founded at the same time as Vassar,
which boasts being the first college dedi
cated primarily to the higher education of
women. Professor Decker remembers St.
Andrews as being distinctive from the start,
“I can remember coming to the college for
the first time in 1958...two or three things
impressed me at the time—there were 900
students already, more women than men. I
can also remember the faculty numbered
84 or 85 at that time. Most all had been
recruited to teach in the C&C
program...that was new stuff, no colleges
were like that back in 1958, ’59, and ’60.”
The incorporation of the “C&C” program,
an innovative interdisciplinary curriculum in
the liberal arts, stands for “Christianity and
Culture Program,” and has been a distinc
tive characteristic of St. Andrews ever
since.
So take a look around and consider
for once the history that has predated your
own existence here at St. Andrews. For
those of you who wish to know more about
our school Dr. Melton put together a won
derfully detailed account of the school’s
history and the process that gave us our
school. The pamphlet is available in the
library, along with other historic information!
on St. Andrews such as old pictures, year
books, and other documents. These
sources are a result of the “Semicentennial;
Sketches: St. Andrew’s through the Years”
program, which will host three more lec
tures in coming months.
(EDUCATION, page 3)
a clue: it’s not.
The texts our professors assign to
us, however, are. Recalling how many
freshmen reacted unfavorably (or not at
all) to Bathanti’s High Heart. Long insists
that “there’s a reason they want us to read
them. It’s inexcusable to not read a book
because you don’t like it. [Students] only
want to engage in things they like, period.”
Haney throws her hands onto the
counter, making the salmon jiggle slightly.
“And how do you know what you like if you
haven’t explored other options?”
Long further cites the example of
many students needing to be told what to
do, and how and when to do it, “instead of
looking at the syllabus for themselves, or
asking upperclassmen and TA.s for help.”
Instead of arriving to class unprepared
(say, without having read the assigned
text) or submitting a questionable paper,
many students choose multiple absences
from class and missing grades. It doesn’t
occur to them to actually prepare for class
by asking a few questions. That’s what
the TA.s and professors are there for.
That’s what we, upperclassmen, are here
for. Of course, there are some unconvinc
ing TA.s who themselves sleep through
class, and engender little inspiration.
In a classroom vapid with apathy,
it is up to the professor, in the end, to steer
the course. Unfortunately, “some profes
sors are having a tough time, struggling
over what to do with the kids,” says Haney.
Some, apparently, “wish they could be like
some of their peers and let [students] fail,
but feel an obligation to make sure [stu
dents] succeed.”
Speaking as a Senior at St.
Andrews surviving the same four years as
everyone else (all-nighters, social and per
sonal sacrifices, mental breakdowns, and
all) and still manage to academically suc
ceed, I sympathize with the many students
who are angry and embarrassed to be in
the same department and will graduate
with the same degree as certain other stu
dents who show remarkably less dedica
tion than the former.
Even more frustrating, however,
as Haney says, is this coddling of less pro
ductive and attentive students by our very
own professors. This only perpetuates (if
not worsens) the cycle of apathy and medi
ocrity. In so doing, we are matriculating
more students (who might otherwise have
transferred because it’s so ha-a-a-rd at St.
Andrews), but they are just as unremark
able after graduating. The same students
who think they are outsmarting the system
are, in fact, only getting royally...well, you
know.
“Going to university isn’t about
frittering away the next four years of your
life,” a passionate Johnson declares, “it’s
about figuring out what you intend to do
with the rest of your life. Unfortunately, I
don’t see everyone here taking the oppor
tunity to do that.” She would know; while
not enrolled in certain classes, which she
attends because (gasp) she wants to
learn, Johnson shows up more often than
some students on the attendance list.
And indeed, wasting away four expensive
years at a private institution—at St.
Andrews, that’s currently a chilling total of
$90,000—isn’t doing anybody any favors,
least of all your parents (since it’s less like
ly that students who bleed their own
money are the same ones who sleep
through classes).
Johnson states that “many stu
dents are wasting [money] by not going to
classes, failing classes, etc. Given the
recent financial crisis, it is economically
irresponsible to be treating one’s education
this way. And to treat one’s parents and
one’s self with such disrespect is,” she
adds, “entirely unacceptable.”
I’m inclined to agree. With the
economy being in the state that it is, I often
wonder whose house—Mom’s, Dad’s, or
Uncle Joe Six-Pack—in which some of our'
slacking students will find themselves a
few years down the road. Those of us
who actually deserve our diploma, on the
other hand, will likely get along somewhat
nicer.
“It's just so much easier to fall into
step [with the crowd] than to step aside
and think,” Haney says. “At least take
responsibility. No one wants to take
responsibility. It’s the book—the material
is boring. The professor is boring. The
class talks too much. It’s never your
fault.”
“I hate apathy,” Long adds, dip
ping a piece of sushi into a small dish of
soy sauce, “but it’s making me apathetic
toward apathetic people.”
Haney admits that “the athletic
department has done a good job recruiting
people, but the athletes, a lot of them,
don’t care. You could blame the athletes
[for classroom apathy] but then we would
n’t have a school. Partly, I think it’s the
fault of the academic side of campus.”
Admittedly, academics aren’t for everyone,
Johnson says. “And that is all right. It is
also fine to have doubts about whether or
not you should be here. But skipping class
es and neglecting homework is not the
way to decide if you will continue your edu
cation or try something else. Besides,
while you are here, you should be making
the most of the experience and opportuni
ty. And how can a person ever change
the world if he disregards his education?”