Newspapers / Meredith College Student Newspaper / Feb. 15, 2012, edition 1 / Page 8
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Whines & Gripes collected by Danielle Smith I don’t need to see 10,000 pic tures of you with your onyx. You and your boyfriend are in a slump; we get it, move on. Screw sisterhood! Lil, back off my man! Love, your Big. Since when did a “crosswalk” become “speed up so you don’t have to stop for the people wait ing on the side of the road”? Why do I have to study to be a housewife? Even though we attend a wom en’s college, you still need to wear shorts to class. I don’t need to see your butt cheeks hanging out. I feel like if you have a PHD there shouldn’t be more than fifteen grammar mistakes in your syllabi. I didn’t even attend the event, but I just had to get the t-shirt. I don’t need to hear what’s going on in your bedroom at night. Thanks. Just because you’re bitter and jaded doesn’t mean vve all need to hate Valentine’s Day. Damn... that last Whines and Gripes was about me. It’s called the living room, not the smush room. I almpst cried falling asleep to the music video tribute to Wliit- ney Houston. RIP Whitney. Stop seeking validation of your existence by how many likes you receive on your Facebook status. This is so cute, but it is not monogrammed. Is it just me, or do pearls look shitty on State sorority girls? How many Meredith “MCG” twitter accounts does it take to talk about our problems? Welcome to College Kristen Gallagher, Staff Writer I recently came across a link to an opinion piece written by a Meredith student for the John William Pope Center website. I had hoped to read a piece that was well-composed and in telligently written, but instead I ‘found what essentially boils down to an im mature blog post. I first want to make it clear that I am not personally attacking this student, but rather I am attempting to define what it means to be a college student - and a Meredith student at that - and how one should frame opinions con cerning larger institutions. I welcome comments to this response; in fact, a dialogue on these ideas would be much appreciated (and needed) on this cam pus. Though I applaud this student for seeking out extra-curricular experienc es, especially in a field of her interest, I must address several flaws in the way she presented her thoughts. (Perhaps you should go read her piece, which can be found under Commentaries, Real Education - this will make more sense if you do.) The student details her path to attending Meredith by comparing the college to another more “prominent and prestigious univer sity.” Her perhaps more open-minded friend “dragged” her to the Meredith table at her high school College Day, and the author “took pity” on the Admissions representative. Let’s stop here for a moment. It is the hallmark of a woman with class and intelligence to think before she writes and to consider the implications of her words. Did this student consider that her language may cause readers to think of our college as some backward, lowly girl’s school? How might prospective students react to Meredith after reading just this paragraph? Lesson Number One: Con sider the impact of your words. She goes on to note that her inten tions of never cpming to a women’s college were changed after she inter acted with several students on campus. However, here she slips up again: “The part that really caught my attention was that.. . most of the girls just go to class in just t-shirts or pajamas.” This statement implies that the major ity of Meredith students do not care about looking the part of intelligent, on-point, put-together students. This false generalization of Meredith stu dents is little more than an uninformed observation of some of her classmates. Many students work hard to maintain a reputation of academic seriousness, intellectual curiosity, and profession alism, and these qualities factor into the way they dress. This generaliza tion says to those unaffiliated with Meredith College that our students are on the whole lazy, pajama-clad “girls” who do not take an interest in dress as it relates to perception. Lesson Number Two: Don’t general ize about your peers; some of us do, indeed, dress well. The author goes on to attack her so-called “liberal professors.” She states that she heard from “several college friends that most of the pro fessors were liberal” and she expect ed to have her “conservative views challenged.” Major stopping point again: her comments represent a fundamental misunderstanding of academic freedom and the nature of college. The comments also point toward an unhealthy close-minded- ness that is not one of the hallmarks of the women Meredith hopes to attract and produce. It is important to note that coming into an educa tional situation (like college) is best done with a willingness to learn and — who would have guessed — have your views challenged. College is not intended to coddle students. It is not to reinforce whatever views you had as a high school kid. Com ing to college with the notion that (generalized again) most profes sors are liberal means that you are entering with a defensive at titude, which makes you less likely to clearly hear (and understand) what is said. This leads to semantic misunderstandings. In her article, she accuses her “pro-choice” eth ics professor of excluding her from speaking her opinion on abortion. “College is not intended to coddle students. It is not to reinforce what ever views you had as a high school kid. Academic freedom is a defining at tribute of the American higher edu cational system. Note these excerpts from the Statement of Academic Freedom and Tenure of the American Association of University Professors: “Academic freedom in its teaching aspect is fundamental for the protec tion of the rights of the teacher in teaching and of the student to free dom in learning” and “Teachers are entitled to freedom in the classroom in discussing their subject, but they should be careful not to introduce into their teaching controversial matter which has no relation to their subject.” Meredith College’s own Faculty Handbook notes, “The aca demic setting is distinct in the work place, and the College will maintain and encourage academic freedom.” The professor in question is just as entitled to his opinion as the student is, and that is a protected freedom. Whether or not her professor stated his opinion, he would not have told her not to speak. He might have told her that the particular issue of abor tion was one they would not argue in class because of whatever ethical framework they were studying. This student obviously took offense and “turned a semantic issue into a moral one” as a professor has commented. Here is where students must realize that some issues cannot be argued in class for various reasons. Those students who are not open to under standing the framework of discussion will find the classroom an inhospi table climate. What students should realize is that they are entitled to their opinions, but they do not have the right to turn a moral disagree ment into an infringement of a professor’s own academic freedom by turning an uncomfortable situation into an attack on her own opinions. If this professor is guilty of an3dhing, it is of inducing the student to think. Lesson Number Three: Meredith Col lege seeks to challenge and inspire its students. That means that stu dents will be pushed and prodded by their professors (who are entitled to academic freedom). This is college; welcome to it. I want to close by emphasizing that college is intended to be a learning experience. It is supposed to be a place where students can learn to play in the world of collegial discus sion by being challenged and in turn challenging ideas and people and by being open to new interpretations and frameworks. I hope to see stu dent writing in the future that re flects this sensibility and proves that Meredith students are competent and thoughtful students.
Meredith College Student Newspaper
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Feb. 15, 2012, edition 1
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