I have spent the past few years opining about various imperfections of Dartmouth, but today I wish to consider the many ways in which the College succeeds in educating students. Of the many influences that have promoted my personal growth here, it is the development of intellectual curiosity and critical reasoning skills for which I am most thankful.
After four years in any institution there is bound to be some form of personal change, if only from the greater wisdom that broader experiences afford. Indeed, I believe this was true for my high school experience and would likely be true for any job in the corporate world. But what separated the Dartmouth experience from these other institutions is the degree to which the terms of the experience were subject to debate. In high school, work consisted of memorizing information and then regurgitating it on biweekly tests. I gathered a fair amount of knowledge through this process, but I questioned very little about the material I was being taught. Classes at Dartmouth have been very different. Knowledge was still imparted, but there was often an acknowledgment of the disputed areas within a field. These controversies naturally lent themselves to rigorous analysis and productive debate. It is from this process that I have become more willing to question assumptions and more eager to challenge the views of my professors. Most importantly, I have gained a curiosity about the outside world.
I always knew there was more to the world than high school, but I was remarkably unaware of what it was. Then, it suited me fine to go to class, attend sports practice, do some homework and then retire to do it all again the following day without ever being conscious of the larger picture. Due to the education I have received in Dartmouth's classrooms, and the excellent speakers who have visited during my tenure, I believe I am far more aware of, and interested in, this outside world.
In particular I would like to thank those professors who taught me in a balanced way. This may seem like a peculiar thing to appreciate, but as my transcript reads like the course offerings of the departments of government and history, I am familiar with professors who politicize their courses. I wish to thank those professors who put aside their personal politics and taught classes in which the facts were presented evenhandedly and where reasoned analysis was valued. These skills, of being able to assimilate large amounts of information and then debate the competing meanings of facts intelligently, are ones that will leave graduating seniors in good stead for life beyond Dartmouth. Specifically, I would like to thank professors Koop (History), Kuypers (Speech), Spiliotes (Government) and Tishler (Russian). These professors' personal views, as best I can tell, ran the gamut of the political spectrum but all were resolute in demanding precise arguments. Sloppy thinking of the "correct" viewpoint was not enough to ensure success in their classes. For those demanding professors, I am grateful, both for my own growth and for that of my classmates. I am also indebted to Chaplain Crocker who has pressed me to challenge and defend my beliefs as rigorously as the aforementioned professors. The knowledge accumulated in college, as with so much of it accumulated during high school, is temporal and will largely be forgotten. But critical reasoning skills learned here will have more frequent application and are commensurately more valuable.
The administration has been helpful occasionally in promoting these critical reasoning skills. The quality of speakers that Dartmouth manages to attract continues to amaze me. For those students interested in elections, Charlie Cook's speech, by arguably the nation's most influential electoral analyst, demonstrated critical thinking at its finest. Similarly, for students interested in the Middle East, former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak's speech and subsequent answers to audience members' questions provided an invaluable opportunity to discuss the peace process. The list of other notable speakers who have promoted free debate and stimulated intellectual curiosity would be a lengthy one.
I do not wish to suggest that Dartmouth is a perfect college or that there have not been flaws in the education I have received. Indeed, I have spent many of my past columns detailing the failings of the administration, particularly with respect to changes forced on students concerning their social lives. But in no way does that diminish the gratitude I feel towards this institution, and those special professors, for the critical thinking and intellectual curiosity they have encouraged within me. There is much to be thankful for in the Dartmouth education. I wish to leave you with the words of Daniel Webster, who expresses my sentiments about Dartmouth more eloquently than I ever could, "It is ... a small college. And yet there are those of us who love it!"
