In fact, the administration uses this word a lot when trying to convince pre-frosh to matriculate here. Nassau Hall often draws a link between precepts and Princeton's reputation as a school where students really get to know their professors. On the same admissions page that boasts that "most classes at Princeton are small," Dean of the College Nancy Malkiel explains that "precepts enable students to develop and test their own thinking through vigorous intellectual interchange with thoughtful, knowledgeable peers." Yet, if you carefully read Malkiel's words - that precepts allow you to talk to your "peers" and not your professors - it becomes clear that our idealized vision of precepts isn't accurate. In fact, it is far from it.
Without sheer luck, it is quite difficult to get into a professor's precept. Even though not all undergraduates care who teaches their section, many do. Since all of us pay the same amount to be in the class and are required to do the same amount of work, why shouldn't we all get what we feel to be an equally good education?
While many graduate students are certainly fully qualified to serve as preceptors, even they should see why a student would want to study with the professor. Most professors have incredible life experiences that are hard to convey within the confines of a lecture. The precept is a perfect place for many undergrads to develop a personal relationship with their lecturer and ask an expert about material not fully covered by course readings.
We can allow everyone who cares about who their preceptor is to get their first choice. Smaller liberal arts schools get by without using grad students as teachers. Before I am shouted down by objections that we cannot be expected to compete with a small school that lacks grad students to begin with, let me point out that there is an on-campus precedent: in one of my courses last semester, the professor taught all four precepts.
This example is, unfortunately, the exception. Professors almost always teach only one precept. Inevitably, this period fills up quickly and professors are often loath to allow more students in. Mandating, or at least strongly encouraging professors to teach two sections could remedy this situation. Since some students might not want to be in the professor's precept, this might be all that is necessary.
Second, more could be done to improve the experience for those who don't get the professor as their preceptor. I want to be clear: Most preceptors are at the very least satisfactory, and many are excellent. Yet, some are truly terrible. (One of my professors opened his class this year by admitting as much about the previous year's preceptors). Since the "precept is a defining component of a Princeton education," as the admissions page states, there is no excuse to thrust a poor preceptor upon students. More can be done to prevent this. According to a report in The Daily Princetonian last year, many of the training courses McGraw offers to preceptors receive rave reviews, but are not mandatory. Well, they should be.
Finally, the current system of selecting precepts is troubling. Students input their time preferences into Blackboard and are then assigned a section. If, however, all of their preferred times are filled, Blackboard assigns them to a time that is open in their schedule. As such, course coordinators resist students who claim a scheduling conflict because they believe that Blackboard has guarded against such an eventuality. (In fact, students actually could have a conflict if they are saving that time slot for another class that they are currently shopping.) The real problem here is that in previous years, when precepts were assigned without the aid of computers, students could often try to persuade their professor to let them into his or her precept by sheer determination. Students' shenanigans were actually a useful measure of how much they really cared about the quality of their precept in the first place.
That students who deeply want to have the professor as their preceptor cannot achieve their goal is troubling. It is particularly unfair to then ask these students to suffer through a bad preceptor, which happens on occasion. Considering that the administration says it believes precept to be a key component of a Princeton education, it is a mystery why the administration allows this situation to continue. After all, I thought we were special.
Adam Bradlow is a sophomore and a member of Wilson College from Potomac, Md. He can be reached at abradlow@princeton.edu.
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