The setting: Maggie’s, late afternoon on a Tuesday. Greta (and me) a bit disappointed that they don’t serve alcohol on a Tuesday (one of our motivations to meet at Maggie’s!)…so Greta gets us some chips and salsa and we’re all happy just the same.
The meeting: Subcommittee on General Education, which our Curriculum Committee chair Peter Drake affectionately refers to as SoGE…sort of how Portlanders have been feeling recently given the record rainfall.
The people: Judy Finch and Robin Jarecki from the Registrar’s Office; faculty include Molly Robinson Kelly from Foreign Languages and Literatures, Greta Binford from Biology and Biochemistry/Molecular Biology, and me from Environmental Studies; students include Aaron Fellows (Economics & Environmental Studies double major) and Hannah Swernoff (History major), both graduating seniors this semester.
Greta, our formidable committee chair, launches us into a discussion of expectations and process ideas. Her main point (at least the main point I got): let’s be open right now to anyone and all ideas, and let’s create a welcoming atmosphere to encourage conversation.
Of all the ideas we traded during this meeting, my biggest takeaway was hearing Aaron and Hannah talk about our student body, how much they value (and practice) autonomy and a critical approach…and thus how hard it can be for them to have productive discussions/actions around collaboration and reconstruction! (Though Hannah suggested doughnuts could be a good motivator.)
It seems to me, then, that one desirable outcome of general education at Lewis & Clark could be for students to be able to confidently articulate how autonomy and collaboration relate, how critique and reconstruction relate, and how students can carry this forward in their professional and personal lives. GE could be a place to build concepts and skills that empower students to successfully work through these very important paradoxes.