A Flavor of Education

While not the family blogger, I’ve had a goal to guest post for quite some time. Starting a new job and working at least 12 hours a day might not seem like the ideal time to realize such a goal. But, that’s how life works: oddly. Being in a new place is exciting, scary, and interesting. While there are many funky oddities that characterize a small town (of which I’m sure I only know few at this time), this post concerns the essence of a small liberal arts college. There are many things that characterize such an institution, but I’d like to leave you with ten mind morsels. Each is a way to complete the following sentence starter: You know you’re at a small liberal arts college when…

10) Your first student shows up to the first meeting of your first course 40 minutes early.
9) Students actually read what you assign them (at least 80%).
8) At a free cookout you overhear a group of nearby students arguing about the specifics of a World War II event.
7) When a slightly disgruntled student comes to discuss their recent test grade with you, they are marginally interested in their specific grade and much more interested in your philosophy of grading and its relationship to true learning.
6) Students are accustomed to addressing their professors by their first names.
5) The buildings match.
4) Students participate in reading groups outside of their normal classes.
3) People you’ve never met know who you are (this does overlap with “You know you’re in a small town when…”)
2) In the governance structure of the college, there is actually a “Committee on Committees.”
1) In the men’s bathroom there is magnetic poetry on the urinal wall. Apparently it’s been there for years. Not only is it there, but it changes, almost daily. Here are a few recent samples:

“Can an obedient skeleton make phone calls?”
“Know, see change and remember.”
“An obedient skeleton can make you ache.”
“Climb on and howl.”
“Publish manuscript.”