In his recent state of the university address, Chancellor John Wiley said that he was considering making it mandatory for all students to participate ""in at least one documentable ‘out-of-classroom activity.'""
He said that such activities, including student organizations, study abroad, volunteer community research project, internships and other such extra-curriculars, ""provide opportunities to learn and practice teamwork and leadership.""
Furthermore, he said that, should this plan come into being, students would be provided with an additional transcript of their extracurricular activities. He added, ""If nothing else, this would aid students in preparing their resumes and ‘selling' themselves to recruiters.""
Hmm... a place of learning where those in authority encourage students to join activities to bulk up their resumes—now that sounds familiar. Can't quite place it... oh yeah: high school. Wiley no doubt means well, as perhaps he wants to give the many students who already participate in activities something to show for it.
He also notes that many alumni cite extra-curriculars as one of their most enriching experiences here, and Wiley most likely wants all students to graduate with similar memories. Though this is admirable of Wiley, his plan makes too many assumptions about students. He says that he suspects that 100 percent of students already participate in activities.
However, this is far from true, as any student can name a handful of peers who would not qualify as taking part in out-of-classroom activities. Furthermore, Wiley assumes that all students have free time available to dedicate to extra activities.
However, many students have jobs and work many hours each week. College is expensive, and if many students did not work, they would not have a way to pay their tuition and board, and their work hours leave them unable to do anything extra.
Moreover, some students may have other crucial responsibilities that don't include the university, such as caring for family. Or, like many adult students, they may be married or have children.
College can also be very rough, not only because of the increase in responsibility and stress, but it is often a turbulent time for personal lives. A student may barely be able to handle basic classes and school work as it is, and balancing another activity may just be too much.
If this plan is carried through, it will have results far beyond irritating and inconveniencing many students. Making students participate in activities in order to ""sell"" themselves and gain leadership skills will create a juvenile, contrived atmosphere. In high school, students would often join clubs that they had no interest in merely to ""look good"" on college applications.
This led to a competitive environment that taught students that the appearance of experience was more important than actual experience. This false world is exactly what many were hoping to escape by coming to college, but the UW will be in danger of developing such a negative environment if it adopts such requirements.
Wiley says that this requirement would ""be a distinctive feature"" of the UW. However, a distinctive feature of the UW has always been the authenticity of the students and their genuine willingness to expand their horizons and education through engaging in their community.
Making it a requirement to do so, however, will cheapen the experience for students who truly wish to, say, have a radio show on WSUM or conduct a research project, as they will be joined by students who have no true interest but are merely participating because they have to.
Moreover, if graduate schools and prospective employers know that joining an activity is a requirement for graduating from UW-Madison, they may question if applicants truly took an interest in their extra activities.
Though Wiley seems to merely want to benefit students through this proposed plan, he should have faith that students, as adults, know what is best for their education and don't need to be told how to spend their free time.
