What doesn't kill me might maim me

But you know, I've always been a little bit skeptical about Nietzsche's famous declaration. After all, something might not kill us, but that doesn't necessarily bar the possibility that it might maim us horribly. And even if something doesn't maim us horribly, is it really true that hardship only makes us stronger? I suppose, to give Nietzsche and my nifty new XL T-shirt credit, that if I hadn't had to write a 30-page JP, I wouldn't have been able to crank out 30 pages for Dean's Date as quickly as I did. But it's also true that if I hadn't been so utterly exhausted from finishing up my JP, I would have had the strength to work on my Dean's Date papers much sooner, and I wouldn't have needed that really-fast-writing superpower. And of course, if I weren't so exhausted from writing my Dean's Date papers, I would be able to study much more efficiently for finals.

Ultimately, I loved writing my JP both semesters. My Dean's Date papers were on very interesting topics, and I'm pretty certain that I know how to go about finals. But I suppose I can't help feeling a little bit like George Orwell in Spain. Orwell, amazing man that he was, fought in the Spanish Civil War for the Republicans and was shot in the throat. Everyone was amazed at his luck at surviving after having received such a wound, but Orwell couldn't help bitterly remarking that it would have been luckier never to have been shot at all.

Now, as the semester comes to a close, it occurs to me what an incredibly strange idea Dean's Date is. At some point somebody must have stood up and said: "Let's make everything due at exactly the same time! And if a professor wants to give an extension to a student, he can't! Not without asking the Dean!" Everyone else in the room presumably then nodded their agreement. This restriction on deadlines also applies to independent work. It's the same general kind of thing with midterms week, though without official University interference: Many professors assign major assignments during midterms week, and those who don't often don't adjust the week's workload to account for the increased work elsewhere. Now, I wonder if there's any particular logic that conclusively defends this system in which work tends to come in waves.

Midterms week isn't really the issue. I'm more concerned with the strict rules surrounding Dean's Date. On the one hand, I suppose there's a paternalistic argument to be made. After all, undergraduates need to be protected from having to deal with papers and finals at the same time. Maybe, though I suppose the same argument could be made about protecting undergrads from writing lots of papers at the same time. Or maybe it isn't fair to the people who don't ask for extensions when professors give extensions to those who do. Of course, the Dean can grant extensions.

It also isn't fair, however, how differently final work weighs on students from student to student and from semester to semester. Last semester, I had 15 pages due for Dean's Date; this semester, I had twice as many. Some students have to write even more than that. So maybe it's time to rethink Dean's Date. Maybe it is the best possible solution, but if it is, it would be nice to know that for sure. Maybe that's what next year's T-shirts can be about.

Martha Vega-Gonzalez is a history major from New York, N.Y. She can be reached at mvega@princeton.edu.