Vol. 1 No. 17
I'm teaching an Honors Seminar in Alice and Wonderland this semester and it always amazes me how much the journey of that little girl echoes the experience of Honors, at least metaphorically. I was also recently reminded about how the word Honors is received sometimes.
Last week I
was in a meeting with a member of administration who is also a faculty member
and she said something that I think rings true for a lot of people. In short, she said that the word Honors
scares her. That’s one of the things
that I’ve been trying to battle since I took on the mantle of Director. In the high schools, Honors gets attached to
things like the National Honors Society and even at the college level we talk about
graduating ‘with Honors.’ All of that
leads, of course, to confusion. Carrying
on the defining of things that I started last week, I thought I would do the
same thing with the word 'Honors'.
According to the National Collegiate Honors Council, which is a national
organization that is centered on Honors, it’s really not about the “smart
kids”:
Honors education is characterized by in-class and
extracurricular activities that are measurably broader, deeper, or more complex
than comparable learning experiences typically found at institutions of higher
education. Honors experiences include a distinctive learner-directed
environment and philosophy, provide opportunities that are appropriately
tailored to fit the institution's culture and mission, and frequently occur
within a close community of students and faculty.
As you can
see, it’s all about HOW classes are taught and the impact of that methodology
rather than the relative intelligence of the individual students. It’s about making connections (there’s that
word again) with the content and with the people who are with you on your
learning journey.
Now, it
goes without saying that more academically minded students tend to
gravitate towards Honors, but it’s also appealing to students because of what is
taught and how it is taught. I’ve
encountered so many Honors students who realized that it was something that they had
within themselves rather than something they had to bring with them. Sometimes, it's not about who the student is, but who the student CAN be.
Take the
student who fell into ENG 101 Honors with me last semester and came up at the
end of the first class to ask if I thought he should stay. He had only signed up because the time fit
his schedule and he didn’t realize it was Honors. I told him absolutely – the support and
camaraderie he would experience would help him succeed. He ended semester by writing a note in his
attendance folder that said, “Thank you – I went from summer school to a
34-page portfolio.” That made me feel
pretty special as an instructor, but it really says more about how powerful the Honors
experience can be – and that has as much (or more!) to do with the students and what is
built together as it does with what the instructor alone brings.
Or consider the student who signed up for ENG 230 because
she wanted to read The Lord of the Rings
and is now pursuing Honors recognition.
I recently asked her if she would have believed it had someone told her
two years ago that she would be a student of Honors Studies in college and she
replied with “No way. I probably would’ve
cried thinking they were mocking me.”
Some seek out Honors.
Some find it by mistake. Some
visit, but then head away again not to return.
Some are changed forever by the experiences they have in their Honors
courses. College really is about finding
where you fit and then making the most of the time you have there. Honors is no different in that regard. I hope each of you find what you are looking
for and for those who find it in Honors, we are glad to have you here.
“Who in the world am I? Ah, that's the great puzzle.” –
Alice from Lewis Carroll’s Alice in
Wonderland
“This above all: to thine own self be true” – Polonius,
in William Shakespeare’s Hamlet
