"So what did the reading have to say?"
We've all had that moment when a professor or TA asks this basic question and everyone in the room falls uncomfortably silent. Finally, one person who actually did the reading comes forward and regurgitates something informative. At which point everyone who didn't prepare for class nods in agreement, and occasionally, if we're lucky, some precocious ass who didn't read will throw in an additional comment, perhaps referencing a discussion that unfolded in another course or some tangential personal anecdote about his or her youth.
Somehow, we have come to accept this kind of discourse as standard and unavoidable.
We shouldn't.
Now, before I go any further I'll 'fess up: I've been both guys. I've been the dude who carries the class on his back and I've been the tangent man. I'm a student like anyone else and there have been inevitable moments in my career at Brown when I just didn't have time to prepare for something.
But as my time has progressed here, I've come to wonder why no one holds me accountable during those instances when I'm unprepared. Why don't my professors kick me? Why won't my peers become actively annoyed?
The obvious answer is that we're not in grade school anymore. We should be self-motivated and if we don't want to make the most of our education, it's our own fault.
I'll accept that line of argument when it comes to turning in assignments late. In that sort of situation, I'm not really affecting my peers through my own irresponsibility. But when I don't read before a discussion section, I'm not just screwing myself. I'm screwing you. And when you're not ready, you're not just shooting yourself in the foot - you're shooting me as well.
Admittedly, Brown isn't the only school that has this sort of problem. I'd venture to say that most do. At Harvard, neglecting reading is so institutionalized that many professors will actually assign a different student each week to write a summary for everyone else in the class. But just because other schools may be worse doesn't mean we should allow a situation to persist when we know it is bad and could easily be made better - if we only had the guts to hold each other to a higher standard.
Brown doesn't technically have an honor code like some other schools, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't value integrity in learning. When we come here, we enter into an unspoken agreement that we will do our part in this educational process. When we don't follow through, we are violating a promise that we've made to each other, a form of dishonesty that we should not accept from our friends.
Quality education is when a team of people works together to expand each other's lives and minds. As a team, we should make allowances for each other and be understanding, but we should also hold each other accountable when we err. When a section dies because no one has read, everybody loses. When we continue with a farce of a conversation because no one dares state the obvious, we are failing each other as much as or more than we are failing ourselves.
And professors, you are our teammates too. Please, don't let us continue to get away with BS'ing you. Put a fire under our asses. Give us pop-quizzes. If we're going to be juvenile about our education, treat us accordingly in an effort to make us shape up.
I recently had a friend tell me that she dropped a class because it relied on the Socratic method and she didn't like hearing what her fellow students had to say. That dismissal was in part because she's a snob, but it was also in part because so many people whom she hears speak in class have not appropriately done the legwork to do so.
That conversation broke my heart a little. Here we are, sharing space with fascinating, clever people, getting annoyed while listening to one another because we are unprepared to speak.
I think it's a travesty. Please don't let me get away with it ever again.
Joel Silberman '05 expects to get a lot of flak for this.
