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Charles Gray | Join the conversation

(02/16/10 9:33am)

For the past year, the Student Committee on Undergraduate Education has been writing its White Paper on Undergraduate Education, a document published every five years. This document articulates our most important and expansive ideas for improving education at Penn. Tonight marks a distinct transition for SCUE, as we present our White Paper at a symposium open to all students, administrators and faculty. With this conversation, we transition from writing down our ideas to a renewed effort to actually implementing them. The paper covers a variety of topics, including curriculum, problem-solving learning and online syllabi. But instead of focusing on the details now, I want to talk about how to approach the document. SCUE’s unique tradition and function prevents us from demanding immediate change. Our document does not contain aggressive words like “insist” or “shall.” We recognize that we don’t have all the answers. Instead, we describe problems that we’ve identified in our education at Penn and outline possible solutions. In addition, we recognize that any meaningful change will require collaboration between the key stakeholders at this University: students, faculty and administrators. We want to renew this conversation tonight at our symposium. SCUE has a vision about the attitude that all three stakeholders should have in these conversations. For students, we hope that this document does not produce cynicism, but rather a desire to improve Penn by taking initiative. Informed support by students for SCUE’s initiatives is key to our success. To produce change, we must take a grassroots approach — talking with faculty and administrators one by one to analyze problems and decide what the appropriate changes are. If we would like our commentary to be respected, we must expect to listen to the concerns and ideas of faculty and administrators as well. For faculty members, we hope that this document encourages you to meet with students, SCUE or other student groups to have serious discussions about educational policy. We’ve found that the greatest changes arise when a few passionate faculty members team with students towards a common goal. For administrators, we hope you view this document as a collaboration that is inspiring. It is not a referendum, but a call for thoughtful engagement. We recognize that the academic issues at this school are complex because there are so many different constituencies. For that reason, we acknowledge that there may be omissions of important opinions and arguments. But this document is a step in the right direction, because it begins the collaboration between all three stakeholders. When SCUE was created 45 years ago, students had little say over their education. The situation has markedly improved. SCUE has been a part of these improvements by playing a distinct role in projects like the creation of Preceptorials, undergraduate minors and the General Education requirements. The issues we face now — although different — are just as important. I’m not sure where Penn’s education will be in 2055. However, I do know that SCUE has made an attempt in 2010 to make it better with our White Paper. Confucius once said that “a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” In many ways, this document should be considered a reset of the conversation — a first step in our continuous thousand-mile journey to improve education at Penn. Where we go from here will depend on the attitudes and actions of all three stakeholders. With that in mind, we invite students to come to tonight’s symposium in Room 265 of Huntsman Hall, read the White Paper at scue.org/whitepaper2010.pdf and visit our web site at SCUE.org. Faculty and administrators will both be at tonight’s symposium as well. The only way we can move forward is for these three constituencies to have a real conversation, arriving at a consensus about the right course of action. If these stakeholders are able to come together for a formal conversation and then join together informally for dinner in the Huntsman Forum, it would truly be a symbolic and substantive night for the educational conversation at Penn. No matter what, the oldest existing branch of student government will be there for the journey. Charles Gray is a College and Wharton sophomore, chairman of SCUE, and a former DP columnist. His e-mail address is chagr@wharton.upenn.edu.

https://www.thedp.com/article/2010/02/charles_gray_join_the_conversation

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