Precepts

At Princeton, a precept is ideally a discussion, but it never feels that way. With its emphasis on participation as a distinct marking criterion, precepts often become summaries of the readings. In livelier precepts, students simply vie to show how much they know or have read.

There is absolutely no need for class participation points, and forcing unwilling students to attend precept hurts everyone.

I would encourage social science and humanities departments to seriously reevaluate the standards they place on precept participation.

The bottom-up approach to conducting lectures — banning all distractions — is contrary to the spirit of interest and enterprise that most departments strive to foster.

I believe we often need to be prodded to be reminded of the importance of our education.