The opening line to the Dean's Message for a top ten professional school: "The University of [Location] is a perfect place -- but it may not be for you."
Mantras
- I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.
I feel my fate in what I cannot fear.
I learn by going where I have to go.
--Theodore Roethke - Freedom is what you do with what's been done to you.
-- Jean-Paul Sartre - I'm Nobody! Who are you?
Are you—Nobody—Too?
Then there's a pair of us!
Don't tell! they'd advertise—you know!
How dreary—to be—Somebody!
How public—like a Frog—
To tell one's name—the livelong June—
To an admiring Bog!
--Emily Dickinson
Be Nice to Others
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Wednesday, September 19, 2007
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I 100% know the program you are talking about. They SUCK, btw. Suck!!!! Stupid, arrogant assholes. (I have some strong emotions about this.)
Posted by: Margo | Wednesday, September 19, 2007 at 10:19 AM
Yeah, you know, that was the image I had of this place already, but I thought, Well, [location] is a cool city, maybe I could live there - and then I read that opening line, and I said, FORGET it!
Posted by: New Kid on the Hallway | Wednesday, September 19, 2007 at 10:23 AM
SHEESH. I mean, yes, it is doubtless a true statement inasmuch as no school is the perfect school for everyone... but otoh, no school is perfect, full stop. How asinine.
Posted by: Dr. Moonbeam | Wednesday, September 19, 2007 at 11:00 AM
A perfect place? A perfect place? Talk about a thoughtless and inaccurate use of parallels in that phrasing! That statement goes beyond boosterism to an eerie "drank the Kool-Aid" attitude.
Posted by: Ancarett | Wednesday, September 19, 2007 at 11:05 AM
The Few. The Proud. The Marines.
Posted by: Stephen Karlson | Wednesday, September 19, 2007 at 12:47 PM
Eep.
Posted by: Seeking Solace | Wednesday, September 19, 2007 at 02:14 PM
I know someone getting her PhD at the evil University of [Location], and that's pretty much their attitude about everything. The substantial percentage of students who leave the program after 6 or 8 or 10 years - well, I guess that's just an indication they weren't perfect. (I do have to admit the training is great. But it's an obnoxious institution, and other, less obnoxious institutions whose training is also great.)
Posted by: af | Thursday, September 20, 2007 at 07:49 AM
But isn't this a good attitude to have in some ways? I teach at a CC, with open enrollment. It is far from "perfect". We have none of the snobbery that this place, has (wherever it may be). I have already had 5% of my total number of students for the semester WITHDRAW, due to various issues (money, family, work, health). Students are lured in with easy student loans and promises of greatness, but college is just not for everyone.
Posted by: cc prof | Thursday, September 20, 2007 at 12:11 PM
No, you're right, cc prof - not everyone is ready for college/professional school when they think they are or society says they should be. I read the statement, though, not as, "we may not be the place for you" or "we may not be perfect for you," but as "we're perfect, and you may not be." Probably not what they meant, but that's what leaped off the page at me! (I mean, if they're perfect, shouldn't they be perfect for everyone, or else they're somehow flawed?)
Plus, anyplace willing to state that they're perfect annoys me. ;-)
Posted by: New Kid on the Hallway | Thursday, September 20, 2007 at 03:22 PM
What a crazy comment to make. I would love to read the rest of the dean's comments.
Posted by: joanna | Friday, September 21, 2007 at 04:39 AM