Education

We need to stop viewing education — both our own as Princetonians and that of children across the country — as the sum of all the lectures we attend, papers we write and time we spend looking at a blackboard — or Blackboard. Instead of trying to extend the school day, policy-makers like Emmanuel should seek to promote those things which ultimately enhance learning: social free time, the arts, efficient lesson plans. Only when we rid ourselves of this obsession with over-structuring and numbers can we improve education in a fundamental and meaningful way.

The department of chemistry is seeking to replicate Professor Snape’s potions class for local kids.

The department’s Chemistry Outreach Program seeks to connect trained student volunteers with the wider Princeton community — young students in particular — in hopes of sparking an interest in chemistry. The program, which includes Harry Potter-esque magical potions, looking-glass molecules from “Alice in Wonderland” and maps from “Treasure Island,” has expanded from 17 students in its first year to 31 undergraduate students and three graduate students. The program was established in September 1997 by professor Warren Warren (now chair of the department of chemistry at Duke University), professor Andrew Bocarsly and lecture demonstrator Kathryn Wagner.

The winter of junior year is traditionally a time of high stress for many Princeton students, between independent work, leadership in campus organizations and interviews for summer internships that may turn into jobs. Starting this year, juniors will have yet another postgraduate option in the mix: Teach for America.

Imagine one destination where every Princetonian’s research was accessible. Imagine a news feed for the published work of Princetonians. Imagine every syllabus, every document of lecture notes for all of our classes accessible in one place, with links to their resources available to everyone in the University community. And beyond that, a place where students can publish class work that is deemed exemplary. It would be an intranet for our collective scholarly products.

We read the books, finish the problem sets, take the exams and then, having been “taught to think,” we are shoveled out into various careers, better equipped to contribute in any field. Or so we’re told.