2008 Woodie Awards
Locke and the Bear: The practical education W&L needs
Peter Locke and Phil Broderick
Issue date: 4/3/07 Section: Distractions
One of the things Kappa Sig does every spring term is a Senior-Sophomore housing switch. It's on the level of a pants party for the seniors to switch with the sophomores and relive their years in the house for one magical week drinking heavily, having delicious fried food available for no less than 7 hours a day, and generally punishing the only fragile vehicle that God gave us into submission. Since this week's article will entirely be devoted to suggestions, allow us to start with one: why don't the Seniors move back into the dorms for the last few days leading up to graduation?
Freshmen are or should be gone by then, and we think it would be a hilarious few days for Seniors to cut loose and squeeze a last drop of fun out of W&L's rapidly declining star. Imagine if people began to revert to their behavior freshman year? Would McDougall, Colton, and Britt Staniar's lives, and the rest of Gilliam 2, be taken over by Halo again? Would Davis consistently reek of marijuana? Would Graham-Lees continue be too large to make generalizations about it? Would Charlie McCombs and Andrew Gulotta continue to make the most bizarre roommate combination ever? These are important questions that need answers.
On to le meat rouge.
W&L is a "liberal arts" school in one sense: the Colonnade exists. Beyond that, it is abundantly clear that this university pumps out square minded investment banker types on a prodigious and Peter North-ish scale. The C-School has taken over, and for a good reason. The Business and Accounting majors offer classes that will be useful in garnering jobs after they graduate. They learn about a bunch of crap we're not (though Phil should be) qualified to talk about, like money, and other things associated with making more of it.
Anyhoo, the reason it works at this school is that people A) ruthlessly obey the almighty dollar (see: The Big 4's popularity) and B) correctly see a direct correlation between what they are learning and potential employment. It's called practical education, and we aren't the first to think of it, if not accidentally stumble into it. In a completely different vein, and with nobler goals, the Tuskegee Institute under Booker T. Washington used Industrial Education to teach blacks practical skills that would help them seek employment and uplift the race. It's not a bad idea, especially considering that in an interview for any job outside of the academic industry, its going to be hard to work in your knowledge of the Victorian novel. Now W&L already does this for all the fledgling bankers, but why doesn't it have classes that teach practical college skills to its students?
Freshmen are or should be gone by then, and we think it would be a hilarious few days for Seniors to cut loose and squeeze a last drop of fun out of W&L's rapidly declining star. Imagine if people began to revert to their behavior freshman year? Would McDougall, Colton, and Britt Staniar's lives, and the rest of Gilliam 2, be taken over by Halo again? Would Davis consistently reek of marijuana? Would Graham-Lees continue be too large to make generalizations about it? Would Charlie McCombs and Andrew Gulotta continue to make the most bizarre roommate combination ever? These are important questions that need answers.
On to le meat rouge.
W&L is a "liberal arts" school in one sense: the Colonnade exists. Beyond that, it is abundantly clear that this university pumps out square minded investment banker types on a prodigious and Peter North-ish scale. The C-School has taken over, and for a good reason. The Business and Accounting majors offer classes that will be useful in garnering jobs after they graduate. They learn about a bunch of crap we're not (though Phil should be) qualified to talk about, like money, and other things associated with making more of it.
Anyhoo, the reason it works at this school is that people A) ruthlessly obey the almighty dollar (see: The Big 4's popularity) and B) correctly see a direct correlation between what they are learning and potential employment. It's called practical education, and we aren't the first to think of it, if not accidentally stumble into it. In a completely different vein, and with nobler goals, the Tuskegee Institute under Booker T. Washington used Industrial Education to teach blacks practical skills that would help them seek employment and uplift the race. It's not a bad idea, especially considering that in an interview for any job outside of the academic industry, its going to be hard to work in your knowledge of the Victorian novel. Now W&L already does this for all the fledgling bankers, but why doesn't it have classes that teach practical college skills to its students?
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