No matter what class, at some point a student poses the question: When will I ever be able to use this? If you’re putting in 15 hours of work a week, you’re going to want to know what the result will be.
When the school brings experts and foot soldiers of the world to our campus, only good things can come from listening to their experiences and lectures regarding the world outside of Fairfield.
Last week, human trafficking was the topic of discussion in the Oak Room. Multiple members of the University community gathered and saw a number of experts talking about their experiences.
Students in the audience ranged from international studies majors to peace and justice minors, all of whom were excited about the issues covered. The students felt they could follow in the footsteps of those presenting.
The world is not what you read about in a politics or international studies book; it is much more complex. Firsthand experience is not the only way to go, but it is, without a doubt, the best.
Among the things that the University does right is the Open VISIONS Forum, which has brought two speakers in the past two weeks with a combined four Pulitzers between them.
In the first forum, historian and author David McCullough shared the importance of history as part of the University core. He gave examples of how great leaders studied history and how they incorporated these lessons into their daily lives. McCullough made me realize that the core wasn’t created to piss off students, but rather to give them a sense of what is going on around them.
Nicholas Kristof, who delivered the second Open VISIONS Forum lecture, gave a primary account of a trip to the Darfur region of Sudan. Kristof presented gruesome pictures of the genocide that is taking place in the region.
It is one thing for professors to talk about how genocide is affecting the region, but it is quite another to see a firsthand account of it.
University President Fr. Jeffrey von Arx said: “Whenever you hear a firsthand account from someone who has been there, it reaches you. It is incredible to see the way he presents an issue that the public is tired of hearing about.”
And he is right. The strongest way to develop intellectual development is to provide a personal account of what actually goes on outside of J.Crew skirts and $2 Tuesdays at the Grape.
One of the main problems with several on-campus events is that a majority of the students are either required to attend or receive extra credit. The professors have said that they don’t want to force students to go to them, but they feel that students would be missing out on learning outside of the classroom. But how can you become excited about something that you are required to go to?
If your intellectual event for the week was a lecture on the Lagrangian method, then what gained knowledge will you be able to use in your life?
You have to know how to use this information and, perhaps more importantly, you have to know how to contribute to the school community. Those who ran the blood drive knew how.
The Red Cross blood drive was one of the great community builders on campus. On an actual level, the drive was meant to help send blood to those in need. But on a symbolic level, it meant so much more.
It served as a means for community members to come together, take off their North Face jackets and have some red blood cells pumped out of their bodies. We put too much effort into painting this place “Stag red.” You want to build school spirit, go to the blood drive and pull the red out of the students, literally.
Probably the most permanent on-campus application of class lessons is the service-learning courses.
Students have spoken to Russian immigrants as they studied Russian history. Feminist classes have learned about body image and self-esteem issues and then created mentor groups to help young women with those issues. Next semester, photojournalism students will use the narrative picture-taking skills that they learn to photograph immigrants in Bridgeport.
Students must use academics, otherwise they forget what they learned. Why bother learning something if it’s possible to forget it? Since the students of today are the future of tomorrow, the lessons we learn are the basis of change for the next generation. Our knowledge is our responsibility to the world.
Kristof said, “You have to understand the world to know how to change it.”
The University is doing its part. Now, it is time for the students to do theirs.
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