|
President Carol T. Christ is holding small-group
conversations with students, faculty and staff about positioning Smith most successfully
for the future. Here's a summary of one of the discussions.
President Christ welcomed the group and provided an overview of the need for, and
process of, strategic planning. She outlined several major issues facing the college,
including curricular changes, the definition of essential capacities for our students,
the size of the college, and the quality of residential life.
Following that positioning information, there was an extended discussion of the results
of efforts, largely successful, to recruit a more diverse student body. With the increased
cultural and economic diversity has come a wider range of academic preparedness. Some
students, overwhelmed by the choices among courses and the relative lack of structure
(compared to high school), struggle to feel successful in their studies. Much of the
support the college offers to these students remains the same as it was 20 years ago,
but the mix of students and the range of their needs have changed significantly. In
considering necessary skills in writing, speaking, and quantitative reasoning, the
college needs to ask if we are making progress quickly enough to give students the
opportunity to succeed at Smith.
President Christ observed that alumnae often refer to a wonderful sense of self-confidence
they gained at Smith, and if we are not now able to provide experiences that generate
confidence and competence then we are not offering current students the opportunities
that alumnae had. She quoted statistics on the shrinking pool of individuals who can
afford to pay tuition charged by the so-called elite colleges. When so many colleges
share the same applicant pool, how can we extend opportunities to others? She also
affirmed that alumnae repeatedly emphasize the need to write and speak well, as well
as handle quantitative reasoning and research activities.
A participant noted that if the faculty say they are frustrated with the need to
improve skills, perhaps we need to examine the ways we are working with students.
Another participant provided an overview of needs, asserting that the best solution
involves one-to-one mentoring and considerable work in reading effectively, being
able to extract the most important data from readings. He noted that there are large
educational and cultural gaps in reading ability that, if not addressed by seventh
grade, can affect a student’s reading abilities for the rest of her life; if
she cannot read well, neither can she write effectively. He noted that he had recently
spent an hour and a half talking with a student about writing only to realize that
she couldn’t see the main points in the readings and therefore was unable to
do the writing. He also believes that there has been some decrease in the amount of
contact between faculty and students recently. Though the contact is still available,
there may be a greater burden on students to seek it out. A need was expressed for
extended direct mentoring contact with students whose background may not have equipped
them to flourish in Smith’s open curriculum.
President Christ raised the point that we speak about being a world college, but
that we sound vague as to what that actually entails. What will it mean to Smith to
develop better cultural knowledge, including the many forms of diversity in our own
society?
She referred to the recent furor over the cartoons that insulted Muslims and recounted
an alumna’s comment about how strikingly that incident pointed to the need for
greater awareness of global issues and perceptions, adding that we need to assure
that our education abroad programs are doing the job of raising global awareness.
She also recommended reading Derek Bok’s recent book, Our
Underachieving Colleges, in which Bok posits that liberal arts education is not paying enough attention to
the ways students learn and what they need to know in today’s world. Career
preparation is a legitimate desire to know the necessary skills to move into the workplace
successfully, a topic that resonates with Smith alumnae.
President Christ noted that it seems harder for younger alumnae to locate themselves
in the workforce and that they seek more opportunities to learn about life choices.
Trustees have also talked about how to discuss the hard issues that affect the college,
such as things that affect our retention rates. One such issue is social life.
A participant asked what was meant by “social life.” How do students
describe what they feel is lacking? The president replied that it wasn’t just
one thing, but that they wanted more opportunities to meet and socialize with men.
She said that these issues should urge us to dig deeper into how to balance house
life with the life of the community as a whole. How do we find new ways to engage
with larger communities?
A participant suggested that the Five College offerings might be better utilized,
and that working with area organizations such as the Food Bank and Habitat for Humanity
brings students from many colleges together, accomplishing good work as well as social
goals.
Another participant noted that, although students say they want more social life,
they are so heavily booked from morning to night that they don't take advantage of
what already exists. He often offers students extra credit to attend an event and
write a report. Students, he said, often don’t see the value of getting out,
and that affects their perceptions about social life.
President Christ commented on some students’ inability to make choices about
a reasonable set of activities. She cited as an example a student who was taking six
courses, rowing crew, and serving on SGA and wondering why she felt stressed.
There was a discussion of the culture of intensity at
Smith, the perception that, if you are not perpetually busy, you’re not a real
Smith student. In the Class of 2009, there are many first-generation college students
(19 percent), and they are often struggling to find a pace. Often, they are not being
taught to think critically before they come here, and their writing and thinking skills
are inadequate. They perceive their education as being about hard work and succeeding,
with little room for activities that are done for pleasure. They need to experience
forms of writing that will actually use in life, such as journalism. The ability to
write is a huge advantage in any profession and in gaining promotions in careers,
and students need to develop these skills.
On the topic of the overburdened student, another participant commented that Smith
creates this issue. That is, we seek talented, ambitious students. Our challenge is
then to tone down the overachieving tendencies that are unhealthy. We perpetuate
the mystique of the activity-filled Smith experience. We need to teach them how to
enjoy life at Smith by having alumnae who speak about life holistically.
President Christ alluded to an alumnae’s reent gift that will fund “Narratives
of Success,” a program about setting life goals. The college has been thinking
of this as a program for seniors, but perhaps we need to start involving students
earlier in their college life.
The discussion of intensity continued with a comment about the lack of visible fun
on campus and whether that lifestyle is part of the culture of youth who have been
heavily scheduled as children and always plugged into technology. Students seem to
be delaying making life decisions until a bit later than the completion of college.
Should Smith be looking at youth culture in order to apply that understanding to the
lives of our students?
President Christ noted that it’s not just the students who feel stressed; the
faculty and staff also share a sense of being propelled.
Another member of the group affirmed the frustration with the pace of life among
women executives who come to Smith’s executive education programs. One of the
goals of the programs is to provide some time slots for reflection, which seems to
be a luxury. Smith also needs to look at what it really means to be a world college,
since our students will live and work all over the globe. They are entering a workforce
that is already global, and they have to know how their education can help them in
these settings.
Another participant noted that some of the best opportunities to focus on work skills,
as opposed to academics, is within their exposure to staff and campus work. The staff
can provide useful perspectives on work.
Another person observed that, with the increasing diversity of the student body,
we are welcoming students who have not had heavily structured lives as children. If
we consider that many of our students have less experience in scheduling themselves,
we might better address the difficulties of being cast into an arena where there are
no requirements and a vast array of choices. If we expected that problem, we might
have seen it sooner, before students began to feel overwhelmed.
President Christ concurred that moving from high school, with its fairly structured
expectations, to the open curriculum at Smith could be difficult. The problem seems
to be to find ways to help students decide what is enough, rather than too much, for
them to manage.
One member of the group said that the only way to teach that is to model the appropriate
behavior. Another person suggested that clear guidance on what is expected in each
class would help. Still another person noted that giving extra credit for events wasn’t
the norm, and that Rally Day was an example of students not coming to hear speakers
brought to campus for them. What are the incentives to make a change and take advantage
of opportunities beyond the classroom?
There was a discussion of alternatives to previously accepted norms for speaking
and writing. If we are a world college, then we should recognize the variations in
English as it is spoken in different parts of the world. Some students are ashamed
of their English because it doesn't sound the way Americans speak. We might also consider
substituting hands-on projects for senior theses as a way to get students to explore
new areas. An example was made of a Wellesley College program in which a project team
switches between going out to do field research and writing up the findings.
The group then explored better uses of student work-study opportunities. While some
offices consider student workers to be an extra set of hands, others treat them as
regular employees, including a review of their work and discussions of skills comparable
to what they will encounter in their jobs. There was general agreement that it would
be useful to students if all offices had clear guidelines about how to structure a
more meaningful work experience for students that would actually be an asset to them
when they leave Smith. The group also applauded the opportunities for students to
interact directly with working alumnae who return to campus.
A participant returned to the idea of students who are flustered by Smith because
they don’t know what direction they want to pursue. Once they choose a major,
there is more structure, but until then, they may struggle. Another person noted the
amount of mentoring she must do with students who work at reunions. A good part of
her time is spent teaching students manners, how to make people feel welcome, how
to have a polite discussion of problems, how to respectfully disagree. She feels these
are things that they should know in order to succeed anywhere, but we cannot assume
that they will receive any instruction or advice in these areas as a matter of course.
President Christ noted that in a previous group discussion, one of the first issues
to emerge was the way staff are treated and the need to learn to be more sensitive
to the needs of others.
Several people noted personal efforts to smile and greet students and fellow employees
on campus, if only to counteract the uncivil habit of passing people and ignoring
their existence. The perception of Smith as a less friendly campus may stem from people
ignoring the presence of another person a few inches away.
The discussion returned to the lack of structure, this time in co-curricular activities.
Campus Center staff noted that students see structure as an imposition, yet they are
upset if activities don't turn out well when they are left to their own devices. We
also ask them to do real work in our offices, but there is very little structure in
which to learn how to do that work.
Another member of the group commented that, as a society, we see a disconnect between
work and play. We recruit a certain profile of student and then expect the student
to change after arriving here. This led to a question about whether there is a more
intense atmosphere at women’s colleges and whether there is a specific way to
teach people to lighten up in an all-woman environment. One member noted his creation
of a “grammar party” in which working as a team created better success
than competing. Another person pointed to the positive effects of the engineering
student teams, whose ability to work closely with one another was noticed by everyone
at the team’s NASA research project trip.
Noting that the allotted time was near
its end, President Christ thanked the group and noted that information gathered in
this and other campus conversations would be combined with similar input from alumnae
to inform the strategic planning process.
|
