Professors must get tougher

With Pitt’s mainstream liberal arts classes, it’s hard to create a schedule where you feel… With Pitt’s mainstream liberal arts classes, it’s hard to create a schedule where you feel that you’ve gotten your money’s worth. The main problem is there isn’t enough stimulating content in the selection of classes. Another problem is the Honors College does not offer enough counterparts to required departmental classes.

I dropped a class where the professor led his presentation by asking for the definitions of words such as “imagery.” A college instructor should assume a level of competency on the part of the students. Given the fact that most of us graduated high school, students should know what terms such as “metaphor” are. We are able to comprehend writers ranging from Faulkner to Shakespeare. We do not need, therefore, to be read aloud to or questioned about how some piece of narration made us “feel.” Other students have told me it’s also insulting to be asked to write book reports instead of critical essays and to fill out recitative worksheets instead of completing creative assignments.

I’ve been here three years, and I’ve taken two worthwhile courses. In these courses, I’ve been surrounded by people excited about the subject material with professors who demanded high levels of participation.

In contrast to this record, the school I transferred from consistently offered demanding courses. I transferred from a large public university – Indiana University at Bloomington – thinking I could save some money by living at home and attending the high-quality state-related university down the street. Instead of comparable classroom experience and general amount of learning, I found a journalism professor who didn’t have any grasp of the AP rules for numbers.

Some students I’ve interviewed expressed discontent with the Honors College, especially since it doesn’t consistently offer accelerated counterparts to introductory courses. Having an incomplete offering of Honors classes prevents the growth of an intellectual community.

If I had the option to regularly attend accelerated classes with like-minded peers, I would develop a better network of talented friends. In college, like in grade school, being “smart” guarantees that you are different, and therefore bad, in the opinions of classmates. I enjoyed being popular for my intelligence in my high-ranking high school and my first year of college, but when I transferred to Pitt, I felt totally alone. Smart kids sit on their hands in the back of a room, afraid to express their unconventional ideas, or they represent the only voice in a room of thirty too-cool-to-contribute duds.

The worst part of attending mainstream classes at Pitt is the surly silence of my fellow classmates. Instead of bringing new ideas and insightful questions to the class discussion, they sit with stoned expressions on their faces. That’s fine. They’re probably bored. Why, then, does the professor expect them to mobilize the class?

I’ve tried to take Honors classes, but the offerings are usually in areas that don’t contribute to my course requirements. The University of Michigan at Ann Arbor allows students in its Honors College to take almost any course in the honors venue. Penn State has a similar program: a full-service honors college. We should do the same. If we can’t, we should open up the graduate level courses across the board.

As much as I enjoy the flexibility of being able to take almost any course in the undergraduate program, I feel that Pitt would have a more competitive ranking if it had a more competitive program. The University would benefit with a more versatile offering, and the students would benefit too.

Kate Zangrilli has been a nerd since the summer of 1987. Please e-mail her with comments. She can be reached at kzangrilli@pittnews.com.