Student For A Day

12/01/11 — A Day in the Life of an SMC Student -- By SMC President Colleen Keith

 

 

It all started out with a huge dilemma: what to wear? As I stood in my closet full of grown-up clothes I wondered, "How did I get myself into this?" It was a suggestion from SMC's Dean of Students, Ron Laffitte. But did I really have to go along with it? As I surveyed the possibilities of what I could wear, and not finding much that I thought would make me fit in, I was starting to think it wasn't such a great idea. After all, while my jeans aren't exactly "mom jeans," I am painfully aware that they are woefully close. Finally, I settled on Levis, a white sweater, an SMC fleece, a scarf and sneakers. The scarf met with some negative feedback from my husband but I felt vindicated when I arrived at Psychology class at 8:00 a.m. and a girl two rows over was wearing one too!

 

I met up with Brittany Tadlock at 7:30 a.m. in the SMC cafeteria for breakfast. Brittany was the student who graciously allowed me to shadow her for a very full day of four classes: 8:00 General Psychology; 9:25 World Religions; 10:50 Astronomy and Physics; 12:10 Lunch; 1:40 The Life of Jesus. Done at 2:55 p.m. Whew. Was I ever glad when 2:55 p.m. arrived!

 

The day was no cakewalk, that's for sure. I took copious notes in my four classes and luckily didn't have to face any quizzes or tests that day. About half-way through my second class, World Religions with Dr. Kris Pratt, I got thinking about a book that came out in the past year: Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on College Campuses (Arum and Roksa, 2011, Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press). The authors of Academically Adrift surveyed over 2,000 undergraduates at two dozen universities and found that 45% of their respondents "demonstrated no significant gains in critical thinking, analytical reasoning, and written communications during the first two years of college." They claim that the reason is a lack of academic rigor. They also found that 32% of the respondents did not take any courses with 40 or more pages of reading per week. I guess they didn't include SMC students in their survey.

 

Just to prepare for these particular class sessions on this particular day, I had to read 77 pages for Psychology and 34 for Astronomy. Both classes met other times that week and had reading assigned for those class sessions too; well over 40 pages of reading that week and most weeks. Then, if an analysis of classroom discussion is any indication of critical thinking and analytical reasoning ability, based upon discussion in my Life of Jesus class I think it's safe to say there are significant gains in critical thinking and analytical reasoning being made among many SMC students. As the college president, I felt a sense of pride in my students as I watched them using higher order skills that will allow them to thrive in a knowledge economy. I witnessed many who sought rigor, found it and applied themselves.

 

What else did I learn as a result of my day as a student? Here are a few things, in no particular order:

 

·       I need to get an SMC hoodie. Apparently college hoodies are wardrobe staples for SMC students.

·       Never go to the cafeteria without your student ID. I don't have a student ID. Thankfully, the cafeteria manager took pity on me.

·       A good College Chaplain always keeps a supply of candy ready for students to stop in and take.

·       Students function well in lecture settings when the professor provides an outline for the lecture.

·       Today's 18 and 19 year olds don't know who Spartanburg-native (and SMC Alum) Lee Haney is! Note to self: note the year in which today's college freshman are born!

·       I should have bought those Uggs when I saw them. Uggs are very popular.

·       Faculty are masterful at finding an appropriate use for technology in learning. Internet assignments are NOT opportunities to play on the computer.

·       The "freshman 15" happens because we make bad choices. Trust me ... the pizza is amazing. Of course I learned in Psychology class a few behavioral modifications that work for losing weight (that I now have to use).

·       When students are talking about religion, they can become very engaged in discussion! Healthy debate leads to some amazing learning in classes.

·       There is a power in physical spaces where learning takes place: student behavior in classrooms seems to be impacted by this power. The joking around stops and students pay attention.

·       Dress in layers. Classroom temperatures can vary (and no, I was not having a hot flash ...)

·       SMC stands for more than Spartanburg Methodist College. It also stands for Small Magellanic Cloud, a dwarf galaxy that happens to be one of the Milky Way's (not the candy bar) nearest neighbors.

 

So, would I become a student for a day again? Sure I would! But next time I'm going to rest up for a few days in advance. It took me two days to recover from this experience!