(A&T's) Foreign language department axed

[DOOMS]

A number of my professors in the English department asked me to tutor folks or told folks they should come to me for tutoring. The problem was two-fold: First, I had to work, so my time was rarely free to tutor. Second, I didn't have the demeanor to tutor the average person (still don't).

That being typed, the students at A&T are often an underutilized resource.

As far as the quality of the students we admit, I'm a little torn. On the one hand, I'm against letting kids into college that aren't ready. We've historically let people into A&T that had no business in anybody's college, and they rarely make it past freshman status. On the other hand, how far are we getting away from our mission when we refuse to let in marginal students who are descendants of slaves?

For years I've railed against admitting marginal students because we haven't had the wherewithal to properly support them. I think former Chancellor Battle implemented a program whereby marginal students went to GTCC for two years and upon successful completion of that program they were automatically admitted to Ayantee (correct me where I'm wrong somebody). I feel that's a great idea.

As far as the foreign language department goes, methinks you don't go to an agricultural/engineering/business oriented school to major in French. I understand the desire to be all things to all people, but I also understand that specialization is what will allow A&T to remain a seperate institution independent from UNCG.

Yes, that same line of thinking could someday spell the end of my own major of English as a degree-granting program at A&T. But to me the survival of the school is far more important. The lack of the ability to supply the degree does not mean that the school can no longer provide the classes. Besides, most of the technical sciences require a strong liberal arts background.

It will be interesting to see if we are able to stay ahead of the times, lag behind, or are thrown around by them.

[Freeze]

Apr 14, 2011 13:32:58 GMT -5 DOOMS said:

As far as the quality of the students we admit, I'm a little torn. On the one hand, I'm against letting kids into college that aren't ready. We've historically let people into A&T that had no business in anybody's college, and they rarely make it past freshman status. On the other hand, how far are we getting away from our mission when we refuse to let in marginal students who are descendants of slaves?

And therein lies the great dilemma that is crippling our institutions. It's not a popular conversation to have but the solution is going to take a much broader approach than simply saying get these kids more tutoring or bring in better students.

It's cultural. There is a general dumbing down of America going on and as Malcolm once said, when White America has a cold, Black America has pneumonia. We have continued to deemphasize education in our communities as a pathway to success and consequently we are producing wave after wave of students who have no motivation to succeed, study, or learn in class. This is far different from past generations whereas Black colleges recruited students who started a step behind because of limited resources at segregated schools but the culture emphasized education as the primary pathway to success. Not rapping, not athletics, not getting your hustle on, but getting a sound education, working hard, and making something of yourself so we as a people could get ahead. That message has definitely changed and is almost nonexistent in most of our neighborhoods.

I love what I do, and I'm not saying this to falsely promote my skills, but my students love me (for the most part). Despite the fact that quite a few of them fail my course, I earn their respect because I will look them in the eye and be completely honest with them about where their skill set is, what they need to do to step it up, and how their failure to step up their game will have a negative impact on the future of the race. But FAR too many of these kids come to college lacking BASIC skills. Reading comprehension, study skills, and the inability to focus are the major problems. I'm so glad I attended college prior to the advent of smart phones, twitter, facebook and texting. It's an addiction to these kids and most of them would much rather be updating their status, sending a tweet or sending a text (every five minutes) rather than discussing important historical issues, solving differential equations, or reading and discussing Toni Morrison. Couple that with a culture that promotes drivel in most forms of popular culture and it spells academic doom for many of them and social, political, and economic doom for the future of Black folks.

I've been asked to serve on our First Year Advisory Board and I can't wait until we meet for the first time next week. I will advocate for a broad, bold, and courageous response to the dilemmas confronting our students that will speak to the systemic issues rather that passively waiting for students to reach campus and then we begin rehabilitation. We need to reach out to our schools, churches and community centers and address the culture, address our parents, and address our children. Without this approach and discussion, I think things will continue to get worse at all of our HBCU's.

[aggiebred09]

Apr 14, 2011 20:07:50 GMT -5 Freeze said:

We need to reach out to our schools, churches and community centers and address the culture, address our parents, and address our children. Without this approach and discussion, I think things will continue to get worse at all of our HBCU's.

With that comment alone I am glad to have you on that board. The answer is in the community. Our mission has always been to reach out to those that haven't had a fair shake. Not to reach out to the lazy & unmotivated.

There is a need to educate our students and A&T can serve in doing that, but there is a thin line between potential and desire that we struggle with on a regular when admitting students. Good luck to you and that committee.