I was lucky enough to be part of the Integrated Humanities Program at the University of Vermont. The premise was: 30 first year students, any major, want to learn the "great books," will also live together (we had 5 "suites" with 6 students each in one section of a dorm). It was, without a doubt, one of the best years of my life. 1st semester was the Iliad, the Odyssey, Greek tragedies, Peloponnesian War...other stuff as well I'm not recalling. 2nd semester, Dante, Hamlet, Anna Karenina, Frankenstein are the first things that come to mind. Anyway you get the idea. I have no idea the hours we read each week but I just remember I was reading and writing all day, every day. And then when you weren't reading/writing, you were sitting around with your classmates, since you lived together, talking about whatever you were reading. Lots of partying as well. This was in 2011. The program, as far as I know, doesn't exist anymore. Where will an 18 year old like I was be able to have this experience in today's world...
Five, I think I’m only a year younger than you, but even through my privileged and carefree college years (2014-2018) I was surprised by how little time there was to truly engage with the readings I was assigned. I had this idea that in college, I’d have free time to read Kant if I wanted to but I could barely make the time for excerpts of Kant assigned for class. I worked maybe 16-20 hours a week on campus, dropped to 8 hours a week by my senior year, but still was always a bit behind on assignments. I don’t have many regrets but I wish I took a year longer to finish school to really have that time to engage with the text and make more time to talk about it with people around me.
I’m just now starting to find the time to get back to those dense college texts to read through on my own.
without a doubt--one of the saddest things I've noticed on college campuses lately is how little chatter there seems to be between students on the quads, about courses or about anything! Or maybe my ears are just getting worse.
as a college student, i honestly think your experience is just limited. we may not talk on the quad, but we are conversing in cafes, in study rooms, and in the comfort of our tiny little dorms. the community is there!
As a college junior who's a stem major but loves the humanities, this essay really hit home for me. Most of my classmates in the humanities courses I've taken want to put in the bare minimum required to pass the class and this lowers the bar for everyone. Before taking the class, I'd consider myself as someone who'd go the extra mile, who'd really engage with texts assigned and dig deeper, but this doesn't end up happening at all. I regretfully admit that I also end up skimming and doing the least amount of work required to pass which honestly isn't a lot. It's especially tempting to do this without any qualms when I have four other stem classes tugging at my sleeve that I usually cannot half-ass my way through.
Also maybe it's caused by the feeling that putting in my 100% for a literature class isn't fully rewarded in the way I want it to (ofc except the intrinsic joy i derive from reading a dense, meaningful text) because the bar to get an A is so low. If its a discussion heavy class and my peers in it don't care enough, I feel very little incentive to say something interesting or insightful beyond what's required. You're also not allowed to hog the whole conversation and discourse only with your instructor in that case lol
I was lucky enough to be part of the Integrated Humanities Program at the University of Vermont. The premise was: 30 first year students, any major, want to learn the "great books," will also live together (we had 5 "suites" with 6 students each in one section of a dorm). It was, without a doubt, one of the best years of my life. 1st semester was the Iliad, the Odyssey, Greek tragedies, Peloponnesian War...other stuff as well I'm not recalling. 2nd semester, Dante, Hamlet, Anna Karenina, Frankenstein are the first things that come to mind. Anyway you get the idea. I have no idea the hours we read each week but I just remember I was reading and writing all day, every day. And then when you weren't reading/writing, you were sitting around with your classmates, since you lived together, talking about whatever you were reading. Lots of partying as well. This was in 2011. The program, as far as I know, doesn't exist anymore. Where will an 18 year old like I was be able to have this experience in today's world...
This sounds lovely, Derek, and oddly like the premise of The Secret History by Donna Tart :P
That honestly sounds like heaven
Five, I think I’m only a year younger than you, but even through my privileged and carefree college years (2014-2018) I was surprised by how little time there was to truly engage with the readings I was assigned. I had this idea that in college, I’d have free time to read Kant if I wanted to but I could barely make the time for excerpts of Kant assigned for class. I worked maybe 16-20 hours a week on campus, dropped to 8 hours a week by my senior year, but still was always a bit behind on assignments. I don’t have many regrets but I wish I took a year longer to finish school to really have that time to engage with the text and make more time to talk about it with people around me.
I’m just now starting to find the time to get back to those dense college texts to read through on my own.
Also: time to talk to people around you ❤️
without a doubt--one of the saddest things I've noticed on college campuses lately is how little chatter there seems to be between students on the quads, about courses or about anything! Or maybe my ears are just getting worse.
as a college student, i honestly think your experience is just limited. we may not talk on the quad, but we are conversing in cafes, in study rooms, and in the comfort of our tiny little dorms. the community is there!
Loved this.
As a college junior who's a stem major but loves the humanities, this essay really hit home for me. Most of my classmates in the humanities courses I've taken want to put in the bare minimum required to pass the class and this lowers the bar for everyone. Before taking the class, I'd consider myself as someone who'd go the extra mile, who'd really engage with texts assigned and dig deeper, but this doesn't end up happening at all. I regretfully admit that I also end up skimming and doing the least amount of work required to pass which honestly isn't a lot. It's especially tempting to do this without any qualms when I have four other stem classes tugging at my sleeve that I usually cannot half-ass my way through.
Also maybe it's caused by the feeling that putting in my 100% for a literature class isn't fully rewarded in the way I want it to (ofc except the intrinsic joy i derive from reading a dense, meaningful text) because the bar to get an A is so low. If its a discussion heavy class and my peers in it don't care enough, I feel very little incentive to say something interesting or insightful beyond what's required. You're also not allowed to hog the whole conversation and discourse only with your instructor in that case lol
Wow. Thank you for this.