Haverford College - Record Yearbook (Haverford, PA)

Page 21 text:

A one hour class at Haverford cosls each studenl about three dollars. It ' s questionable whether most of the money is well spent. I, tor one, think not. If a student isn ' t motivated to work, and many undergrad- uates aren ' t, it ' s the job of the teacher, at a school this small, to attempt to attract that student ' s interest, to arouse him, and if necessary, to make him mad enough to produce. ' Too many dull classes are conducted at Haverford under the guise that the student is mature and inttUigenl enough to grasp the weakly pre- sented material. Dull classes have nothing to do with maturity or intelligence. But they have something to do with motivation. For although a student ' s involvement with a subject must come from within, his inler- est is generated, or exterminated in the classroom. This year William Smith opposed the abolition of grades. His reasons were sound. But Smith expects and gets more from the student than most professors and is, therefore, in a position to make an accurate assessment. He is the exception — and he is exceptional. Smith hardly knows the problem of academic lethargy among the students, for he is too interesting. His lack of sympathy for the whining Haverfordian is justified. For it ' s nearly impossible to leave a Smith class without being involved. Smith ' s own interest and personal vitality come across — sometimes rather forcefully — and they speak FIRST to the student, to each student since you can expect to be called on, and second to the work. It seems to me that this is the way the real teacher operates. Haverford needs the youthful vitality of those who know how to deal with undergraduates. If there were more classes like Smith ' s there might be less talking and more learning going on. But that ' s a lot to ask, that most teacher ' s be first-rate. Or is it? At any rate, the classes continue, dull and otherwise. And as the students catch on. Smith ' s courses be- come increasingly more crowded. Some leave class offended at having been reduced to unthinking clods; and some begin to think about literature for the first time. In either case, it ' s well worth the three bucks. Clay Stites 17