COLUMN: Treated like royalty?

From Tom Nessinger's, "Inseparable My Nose and Thumb," 'Fall '96 From Tom Nessinger's, "Inseparable My Nose and Thumb," 'Fall '96Annenberg School for CommunicationFrom Tom Nessinger's, "Inseparable My Nose and Thumb," 'Fall '96Annenberg School for Communicationgraduate students have it good, but not that good. From Tom Nessinger's, "Inseparable My Nose and Thumb," 'Fall '96Annenberg School for Communicationgraduate students have it good, but not that good."[Annenberg] Grad students are treated like kings and queens," complains another major preferring anonymity (34th Street, 2/1/96).From Tom Nessinger's, "Inseparable My Nose and Thumb," 'Fall '96Annenberg School for Communicationgraduate students have it good, but not that good."[Annenberg] Grad students are treated like kings and queens," complains another major preferring anonymity (34th Street, 2/1/96).My blue blood boiled as I read the anonymous complaint in that morning's DP. I still seethed as I left my palatial suburban estate and climbed into one of the Annenberg School's fleet of stretch limousines (kings and queens indeed; some of my classmates who live in Center City actually have to share a car on their way to school!). "Proles," I thought as I sipped my cup of Blue Mountain coffee in the back seat. "Per'aps," simpered Gilles, "M'sieu weel feel bettare ahfter some petit dejeuner. Zee chef 'as prepared some of 'is speciale eggs Florentine; zey are trZs magnifique!" "Fine, fine. Bring them up to the office." Gilles bowed and scraped toward the Graduate Dining Room, while I made my way to the office. Still annoyed, I sat at the desk and toyed with the buttons on the Red Phone, the hotline to Ambassador Annenberg himself. Perhaps he could help. He has government connections; the CIA had proved useful in the past for dealing with such little problems. Yeeesss -- perhaps our anonymous friend could have an "accident"... I relaxed as I amused myself with such thoughts? AND THEN I WOKE UP! Okay, sorry about the detour into Literary Cliche Theatre, but I mean really! "Kings and Queens?" I'd be happy just to be the Jack of Clubs once in awhile (mostly I'm the Joker). Well, if nothing else, the recent 34th Street article about the undergraduate communication major at Penn generated truckloads of yuks over here at Annenberg. By the standards of grad-student-dom, we've got it pretty good over here -- but if anyone really thinks we spend our days lounging around here eating peeled grapes, think again. As I read it, the chief gripes among undergraduate communication majors fall into four main categories: the major is not practical enough, they can't get into the classes, can't talk to faculty and undergrads are second-class citizens. Not to belittle undergrads or their concerns, but my response is to quote the immortal Henry Cabot Henhouse III: "You knew the job was dangerous when you took it, Fred." Like it or not, Annenberg's ability to teach undergraduate classes is a scarce resource in high demand; therefore, it's hard to get into the major and the classes. This is pretty common at a lot of universities. It's too bad that everyone who wants to can't get into the comm major, but then it's too bad that everyone who wants to get into Penn can't get in, either. When Penn is selective, it's great; when the communication major is selective, it sucks. As for problems seeing professors, again, I can sympathize, but wonder just what comm majors expected. As some of those interviewed pointed out, this is primarily a research university, and Annenberg is no exception. If a professor has 100 people in her class, and if 20 of them want a half-hour a week, that's 10 hours of office time -- a quarter of a normal work week. Moreover, from everything I've been able to glean, advising and faculty access are campus-wide concerns, not just Annenberg problems. If students wanted to form close personal relationships with their teachers, they should've gone to Carleton or DePauw. But Penn's strength is that its faculty are nationally renowned scholars -- which means they do research, which means their time for students is limited. Even when we "kings and queens" get to see them, it's usually in conjunction with their research. Which brings me to another point. If we graduate students are treated differently at Annenberg -- and we are -- it's because our role is very different than that of undergraduates. Our job is not only to learn, but to produce: by helping professors with research projects and by writing and presenting papers on our own. The job of undergraduates, on the other hand, is mainly to learn -- not just their major subject, but also ways and modes of thinking -- to learn how to learn, in essence. The undergraduate, for the most part, is not expected to be a productive member of academic society. This may be why Walter Annenberg chose to make his school primarily a graduate institution, and while undergraduates may disagree with his choice, it's not their money. (What's next? An expose of why Bernard F. Gimbel should have built a physics lab instead of a gymnasium?) Basically, the undergraduate communication major is what it is, and has been for some time. It's unfortunate that it isn't more than it is, but as pointed out in 34th Street, you could have always gone to Syracuse for a broadcast journalism degree if you really wanted a "practical" education in communication. If you were after a Penn degree, and thought you could change the communication major to suit you, well, that's noble in a strange way but a tad quixotic -- not to say unrealistic. So we're not royalty, but we grad students have it pretty good. Don't feel sorry for us. And we'll do the same for you.