Lehigh University - Epitome Yearbook (Bethlehem, PA)

Page 169 text:

THE SCIENCE OF AVOIDANCE In addition to many academic disciplines at Lehigh, there is one you ' ll never find listed in the catalogue — The Science of Avoidance Mastering avoidance is the key to earning a degree with only a fraction of the effort required of other students. There are several skills of avoidance. Among the major ones are: careful course selection; recycling; setting a schedule (and promptly throwing it out the window), and an unfailing dedication — to everything but work. When choosing courses, there are some guidelines. If greeting the sun is not your thing, register for 8 o ' clock classes only under the following conditions: 1. Tempo- rary insanity; 2. The class is scheduled to meet in Taylor Stadium — your absence won ' t be as conspicuous; 3. The course is entitled Basket Weaving for Non-Majors. Things get nastier when you discover that nearly every required course seems to meet either all at once or, worse yet, on Friday fr om 1 to 4. Those with an affection for pub nights should avoid Fridays altogether, or at least schedule nothing more rigorous than SR 41. Anticipation turns to nausea when freshmen learn that gut courses are not what they seem. Professors being the conscientious souls that they are, a gut is unlikely to remain one for long once the prof, catches on. Should you hear of a course with no exams, no papers and op- tional attendance and dash to sign up, it ' s a sure bet that you (and your 3900 classmates) will be facing three hour- lies, a final, four 20-page papers and assigned seats for attendance. Also, consider the source when choosing your guts. The English major who takes Rocks for Jocks as a gut science course should find plenty of lab material between his ears. True students of avoidance test the outer limits of the grading process by taking advantage of pass fail grading. You can discover that it ' s possible to attend four classes, have a friend turn in your papers and still pass the course. Skillfully used, pass fail can also keep you from joining the Squares Club (your cum becomes smaller when squared). Recycling is an important part of saving our natural environment. It can save your academic environment. One research paper can be used again and again with only minor modifications. The Significance of ' Deep Throat ' will get you through courses in English, Psy- chology, SR, Government, Biology, Marketing and Me- chanical Engineering. To cover more academic fields, you can always collect or trade with friends. Should you be tempted to set a schedule for studying, think of the time it will take you to write it down. You could be doing something more productive, such as reading Hustler. If you really want to avoid studying, there ' s always the main reading room at Linderman. The weeknight social scene centers around there, and it ' s centrally located: halfway between Smugglers ' and Manny ' s. There ' s always a distraction worthy of your time if you ' re serious about avoidance. Think about it: which is more important to your development as a total human being, the details of Napoleon ' s domestic policy or Saran Wrapping a toilet seat? Napoleon would understand. 165

Page 168 text:

THE ART OF LEARNING Attending college was once regarded as a rite de pas- sage confined to the intellectually elite, hungry to savor the coveted fruits of knowledge. Today, however, the thought of trundling off to the university seems to almost everyone a natural event in the educational cycle. To some, four years of college becomes an elaborate exercise in avoiding the pursuit of knowledge. To others higher education is a vo-tech training program, where their sheepskin qualifies them to mindlessly perpetuate the status quo. And somewhere in the morass of myopia are the students who are in some way in touch with a vague intuition that they are here to learn — to be enlightened and begin pondering a world fraught with social ills and promising possiblities. But even for those inquisitive minds who embrace each day with a fresh sense of won- der and who are willing to experiment, to take risks, and simply to think, they discover all too quickly the art of learning is an elusive one. Has it ever occurred to you that you read more words than you have time to digest? With the press of coinci- dent deadlines for five courses and the irresistible lure of the day ' s line of bullshit, most readers can plan to retain only the gist of a chapter. Nuance is often overlooked in the hustle to get through a book on time. It takes special effort by anyone scanning other than didatcic texts to sit for a minute and ponder why someone would have bothered to write and publish such pages (besides for royalties, of course). Course work may be regarded as an unending series of chores by students, with simultaneous deadlines necessitating the emphasis to be placed on simply get- ting the work done. Quality is too often sacrificed for quantity. Too often, professors merely require homework or quizzes to insure that the student has slogged through the prescribed muck on the syllabus. Why the student did the work seems to be secondary. Thinking is an ex- tracurricular activity at the university, an activity for the elusive, quiet spare hour which never seems to come, for it is constantly being usurped by never-ending scholas- tic responsiblities. When was the last time you broke the pattern with a meaningful conversation, laced with a profound thought or two. And beyond w hat it takes to get a C, B, A , pat on the head, how much time have you spent thinking about the words you read? Learning should not be considered an inevitable result of four years of college — we would be wise to think exactly the opposite, that unless on our guard we will become programmed rather than educated beings. It takes the energy to open our senses to the subtleties in our environment (the phenomena we read in texts and are unable to recognize in life). It takes the ability to care about getting more than simply the right answer to a test question. Sometimes being wrong is the surest route to learning. But in any event the art in learning is a direct result of committing ourselves to understanding; to question and start formulating answers for ourselves. 164

Page 170 text:

7 uKS ;i;; !r ; ;isi ; :i.;;:r.;...4.i!«! i|i!iS!: ' i.! i: t!5!! ' ' BpfflilP Ifii ■ir IsKlii? illl ' : ■.. Irs itiitaiiffl l !s@ip!3ip!Pi3lllliBiiSS;S :S : ORGANIZATIONS EVENTS J: : i.n,„ .«— illflii 1 :l- 1111 tttti I, II 111! iSliiBi iisl iHi ' ii;. 1