Whatkind of school is Dartmouth? Is this the kind of place where I would like to spend the next four years of my life?
These are the kinds of questions that the many prospectives who have flooded the campus this past week have been asking. They are tough questions, and they deserve honest answers.
One problem with these kinds of questions is that the answers depend greatly on the person answering them. For every individual, there is a unique "Dartmouth" experience, but I would dare say that the answers would be, and are, overwhelmingly positive.
If you were asked by a prospective what the worst thing about Dartmouth is, what would your answer be? Depending on who you are, you may point to our location as a drawback. However, this could also be an answer to the question of what you really like about Dartmouth.
Perhaps we are not even qualified to answer questions concerning what kind of school Dartmouth is. After all, what do we know about this topic? We only go to school here and have lived here on and off for anywhere from less than a year to more than four. But is this enough? Maybe we are trapped in our own perception of what "Dartmouth" is and refuse to see how things really are.
In "Awareness," Anthony DeMello writes, "There's a nice story about some people who were on a raft off the coast of Brazil perishing from thirst. They had no idea that the water they were floating on was fresh water. The river was coming out to sea with such force that it went out for a couple of miles, so they had fresh water right there where they were. But they had no idea."
One area that comes under scrutiny when prospectives visit campuses and try to determine if they like a school or not is "social life." How many times have you heard people complain about "social options at Dartmouth?" It seems as if the problem is that there are people who are looking for something to do and are not able to find anything to do.
Maybe there is a problem here. If there is, could it be that it is not an institutional problem, but the problem of a group of unsatisfied and aimless individuals? A solution for these people would be that they could do something. "But", they say, "there's nothing to do." Is this really true? Here you are surrounded by a couple thousand college students, dynamic and intelligent individuals, but there's nothing to do? Sorry, can't help you then.
There are many people who complain and rail against problems at Dartmouth that are just as contingent and illusory as their own subjective perceptions. There are many problems at Dartmouth, and to begin to list them would be to leave the majority of them out, but that is not really the point. Dartmouth is what we make it. It is what you make it. It is what I make it. Do you see a problem? Go out and solve it.
There have been many determined individuals at Dartmouth who have done just that. They saw something wrong and attempted to right it. They are the ones who should be listened to and followed. They are the ones who can best answer the question, "What kind of school is Dartmouth College?"
