2008 Woodie Awards
Untapped Potential
Is the Calhoun Honors College as honorable as it can be?
By: Kevin Niehaus
Issue date: 4/18/08 Section: Opinion
I am proud to be a member of Clemson's Calhoun Honors College. I love the people associated with the college, I love the perks I receive from it, and most of all I've enjoyed my honors classes. However, while moving forward here in my career at Clemson, I've noticed a problem with the college. In saying this, I do not want to burn any bridges; however, Clemson's Calhoun Honors College is simply not meeting my expectations of what an honors college should be.
An honors college should be a place where students are prepared to apply for prestigious academic awards (i.e. Rhodes Scholarships) and admissions to top-notch graduate programs and medical schools. The honors college at Clemson should be a hub of student activity, where students are constantly interacting to bring bigger and better things and people to Clemson University. It should be a collaboration of the greatest minds we have here at Clemson.
Clemson's Calhoun Honors College doesn't meet these standards, and I don't think the reasons are all that difficult to uncover.
I think the largest problem with the honors college at Clemson is that when it comes down to it, rather than being a collaboration of students and faculty to work toward the greater good of Clemson, being in the honors college often just boils down to two things: keeping your GPA above 3.4 and trying to find an honors class to squeeze into your semester during registration periods.
While I like the idea of having to keep a certain GPA to stay in the honors college, the idea of trying to fit an honors class into a schedule each semester is enough to infuriate anyone. I have frequently had trouble doing so, and the problem stems from the fact that there just simply aren't enough honors classes available to students.
I understand that it would be impossible to offer Clemson students all the honors classes they need, and I realize that the honors college has attempted to alleviate the problem with the use of the honors contract, but even the honors contract is a weak solution to the greater problem. The honors contract is simply the university's way of saying "We don't know what to do to make you an honors student, so here, go give this to a teacher and do a little extra work in a class and we'll call you an honors student."
An honors college should be a place where students are prepared to apply for prestigious academic awards (i.e. Rhodes Scholarships) and admissions to top-notch graduate programs and medical schools. The honors college at Clemson should be a hub of student activity, where students are constantly interacting to bring bigger and better things and people to Clemson University. It should be a collaboration of the greatest minds we have here at Clemson.
Clemson's Calhoun Honors College doesn't meet these standards, and I don't think the reasons are all that difficult to uncover.
I think the largest problem with the honors college at Clemson is that when it comes down to it, rather than being a collaboration of students and faculty to work toward the greater good of Clemson, being in the honors college often just boils down to two things: keeping your GPA above 3.4 and trying to find an honors class to squeeze into your semester during registration periods.
While I like the idea of having to keep a certain GPA to stay in the honors college, the idea of trying to fit an honors class into a schedule each semester is enough to infuriate anyone. I have frequently had trouble doing so, and the problem stems from the fact that there just simply aren't enough honors classes available to students.
I understand that it would be impossible to offer Clemson students all the honors classes they need, and I realize that the honors college has attempted to alleviate the problem with the use of the honors contract, but even the honors contract is a weak solution to the greater problem. The honors contract is simply the university's way of saying "We don't know what to do to make you an honors student, so here, go give this to a teacher and do a little extra work in a class and we'll call you an honors student."
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
Steve Wainscott
posted 6/23/08 @ 10:56 AM EST
Kevin: You make some very valid observations. While we have made considerable progress in terms of honors course offerings, we continue to face obstacles, particularly in the areas of faculty resources, space and visibility. (Continued…)
Post a Comment