racing odysseus
Jan. 28th, 2009 11:08 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
2eclipsecalling all johnnies!
have you heard of this book yet?
a college president(of another liberal arts school) enrolls at sjca as a freshman.
i'm about half-way through and i have mixed feelings about this book.
on one hand, i love it that sjc is getting the press from it. i love it that he sticks up for the program (albeit not as well as he might). i love reading about all the tutors i had when i was there and remembering life on the campus. that part is very good.
on the other hand, he isn't REALLY getting the freshman experience. it BOTHERS me that the only class he seems to be enrolled in is seminar. seminar may be where the bulk of the program is processed, but martin makes a point of how sjc teaches how ideas cross boundaries between disciplines - while it seems like he is avoiding that experience himself. it feels intolerable to me to claim to be pursuing the freshman experience, and then only take one class. that is NOT the freshman experience. even if you are also participating in crew and learning to sing.
additionally, while he admits to being and old guy (not really that old, imho) and makes fun of his lack of success "trying to be cool," his general naivete really bothers me. i have trouble relating to him and wind up feeling...scornful of him. this is very uncomfortable for me and also ties into my previous point about not really experiencing what he claims to be experiencing. if i didn't care deeply about the things he is talking about it probably wouldn't bother me so much.
i remain undecided about this book.
have you heard of this book yet?
a college president(of another liberal arts school) enrolls at sjca as a freshman.
i'm about half-way through and i have mixed feelings about this book.
on one hand, i love it that sjc is getting the press from it. i love it that he sticks up for the program (albeit not as well as he might). i love reading about all the tutors i had when i was there and remembering life on the campus. that part is very good.
on the other hand, he isn't REALLY getting the freshman experience. it BOTHERS me that the only class he seems to be enrolled in is seminar. seminar may be where the bulk of the program is processed, but martin makes a point of how sjc teaches how ideas cross boundaries between disciplines - while it seems like he is avoiding that experience himself. it feels intolerable to me to claim to be pursuing the freshman experience, and then only take one class. that is NOT the freshman experience. even if you are also participating in crew and learning to sing.
additionally, while he admits to being and old guy (not really that old, imho) and makes fun of his lack of success "trying to be cool," his general naivete really bothers me. i have trouble relating to him and wind up feeling...scornful of him. this is very uncomfortable for me and also ties into my previous point about not really experiencing what he claims to be experiencing. if i didn't care deeply about the things he is talking about it probably wouldn't bother me so much.
i remain undecided about this book.
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(no subject)
Date: 2009-01-28 07:35 pm (UTC)For real dude! You're supposed to enroll in four classes and then only go to one class. gah!
joking aside, he is kinda limited as to what sort of "freshman experience" he could have. Did he give up his responsibilities to his job to pursue this? Is he on sabbatical? Maybe if he called it something else that might be more tolerable... not so much "freshman experience" as ... something else...
(no subject)
Date: 2009-01-28 08:06 pm (UTC)and i completely get why he and his wife had to live off campus insteda of on....that's fine.
but i feel like he at least should have taken all the classes.