Word: student
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Dates: during 2010-2019
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Named for the New York City Ballet’s prima ballerina, the prize is given each year to the student who has achieved excellence in the field of dance. This year that prize goes to Fuller, a senior from California with numerous Harvard dance performances under his belt and a job with a professional company, Ballet Austin, lined up for next year...
This appraisal might seem correct, but some readers might not take issue at Harvard’s individualistic approach. After all, it seems that the idea of community at a university is not appropriate in today’s spirit of modern equality. Each student, free to make of his time here what he wishes, can, as the College’s admissions video reminds its viewers, make academics “whatever you choose it to be.” The same could be said, then, of every other component of student life as well...
Harvard’s official outlook, to be fair, does mention “late-night talks and dinner-table debates” as an important element of undergraduate life. Presumably, the collegiality present in these informal interactions could drive education at the College. However, to raise student collegiality to the level of the lecture hall would come precariously close to making academics not “whatever we choose it to be” and instead a matter of a common search for understanding—one that can’t be left at the exit...
...this manner, collegiality and individuality exist in tension, for the truly sovereign student does not need the input of his fellow classmates. Harvard, as a result, will tolerate but remain uncomfortable with an approach that emphasizes interdepenence, since collaborative efforts have as their logical prerequisite a common understanding or goal. Prefrosh and students are alike in this respect in that however long students remain on campus, a community of learning never coalesces around a shared pursuit...
Answering the question of “what makes a student educated?” without reference to specific content is a good way to ensure that academics do not serve as the basis of community. The modern university seems uncomfortable with the language of common pursuits. Instead, as the Gen Ed report will remind us, education is about my ability to respond to the changing world as I, not the community, sees...