GUEST COLUMNIST: Closer advising of College students

Amanda Karsten, Guest Columnist Amanda Karsten, Guest Columnist We the students of the College of Arts and Sciences, in order to form a more perfect union, demand an identity separate from the oppressive pre-professional influence of our three sibling undergraduate schools. We are students in a liberal arts school, and we vow to commit to our identities as such. We deserve a place beyond the shadow of three excellent pre-professional schools. We are victims of Penn's awkward structure as a university, caught in limbo between our vague, undirected sense of pre-professionalism, on the one hand, and our liberal arts identity on the other. Our collective displacement is not the fault of the administration, but it is the administration's responsibility to respond to our widespread dissatisfaction. As freshmen, college students should take a class that introduces them to the history and definition of liberal arts education. In this class, students would define their reasons for participating in the liberal arts curriculum and would further define their expectations of college in general and Penn in particular. Also, those participating in this course would be guided towards resources -- people and organizations both within Penn and in greater Philadelphia -- that were appropriate to their intellectual interests. For example, someone interested in film and politics might connect with a Communications professor researching political documentaries. By working with this professor, the student might meet someone who worked at a public television station in Center City, and could work with the station to produce a documentary about the history of the Mayor's office in Philadelphia. Without the class I'm proposing -- which is the focus of my independent study this semester -- the responsibility to make such connections becomes the student's alone. The average college student will not pursue his or her academic curiosity to its fullest potential without some guidance, at least initially, from the school. The class I proposed above may be the solution. Alternative solutions might be a publication in which upperclassmen and faculty gave advice to underclassmen; or, Penn could provide a more effective system of faculty and peer advising. I had a total of about 20 minutes with my faculty advisor freshman year. He was very kind, but we had nothing apparent in common, and all he really did was sign my pre-registration form. My peer advisor was kind as well, but her role felt more administrative than academic. Rather than introduce me to Penn's resources, she introduced me to Penn's rules and bureaucracy, making sure I understood how the general requirement worked, for example. Such logistical support is certainly helpful, but not sufficient. I suppose if I had been more aggressive, both of my advisors could have offered me more substantial assistance. I consider myself assertive, but as a freshman, I was overwhelmed, and the responsibility for effective advising should not have been mine. Our advisors need to take the initiative, not the other way around. It's like a hostess at a initiative, not the other way around. It's like a hostess at a party -- you don't leave your guests stranded in a room full of strangers and forget to tell them where the bathroom is. Everyone always says, "Penn's a great place for people who know what they want." Well hoorah for them--they're the lucky ones, here. I didn't know what I wanted freshman year, and I hardly know now. Maybe I'll never be able to articulate my goals in the context of pre-designed categories. As a freshman, I didn't want to know about Sector VI, blah blah blah. I wanted to know how to best navigate Penn in order to discover connections between subjects that turned me on. And I was left stranded. In the end, College students should define their own educations. But we need a little help at first. I know far too many College students who have been completely unsatisfied by their academic and intellectual experiences here at Penn. Too many people drift through their time here, overwhelmed by the pressure to be pre-professionally oriented. What a difference it would make if the administration acknowledged a liberal arts education was about the journey, not the destination. destination. Please: help us journey well.