Class. It’s that thing that takes up your time between drinking and sleeping, we know. Whether it’s that intro class that you think is simply a waste of time or that last requirement of your major with that professor that you HATE, class gets a bad rap around most college campuses.
That’s why we were so excited to hear about a new offering – or a reprisal of an old offering – featuring a collaboration of professors which focuses on the 1960s. A turbulent time period rife for discussion and debate is precisely the kind of thing that keeps college campuses buzzing.
The most encouraging thing, though? It’s a class that was revived by the efforts of professors who care and student evaluations that really said something. It wasn’t the Academic Bulletin that said it had to be there, it was the people involved who saw a void and filled it. It took five years and some retooling to get back together (which stinks for the class of 2009), but come this fall, “The Sixties” are going to be hot once again at Miami.
Far too often, we students view class as an obstacle, an impediment to actual college enjoyment. What we forget is that for hundreds of millions around the world, the idea of an American secondary education is the loftiest of dreams. And it’s classes like this one which make it so.
So to students and professors of UM, here’s your homework. Think of a class that you’d like to see. Maybe it’s a collaborative effort, maybe it’s the resources of one professor who’s stuck teaching what they have to and not what they want to. Maybe it’s for a semester or maybe it’s just for one night. But the best learning, the lessons we remember for the rest of our lives, is done through a collaborative effort between teacher and student. And when “The Sixties” rolls around next fall, we’re all going to see the power that combination can hold.