The New Advising Format: Undermining Indepedence, Disrespecting Students

The faculty’s approval of mandatory weekly advising blocks violates the valuable relationship the Academy has cultivated with its students. Not only does the approval of this unnecessary policy reduce the environment of independence at Exeter and restrict students’ already limited availability, it also undermines the mutual respect between students and instructors.

This rejection of Student Council’s request, without further investigation into student opinion, sends the message to students that the Academy does not value their input, and belittles the efforts of Student Council.

The approval diminishes the respect the school shows for both student opinions and student government. When the majority of faculty voted in favor of weekly 30 minute advisor meetings, they chose to ignore the plea of student council for limiting them. This rejection of Student Council’s request, without further investigation into student opinion, sends the message to students that the Academy does not value their input, and belittles the efforts of Student Council. We invest our time in running a student government with the knowledge that the faculty respect and value the opinions of our representatives, but the actions of the faculty disregard the efforts and opinions of the student body. Students and instructors may disagree on many issues, and the faculty certainly has authority to decide, stemming from their wisdom and experience. However, casting aside a student council request without seeking further student opinion from sources such as surveys disrespects students' input.Along with disrespecting student input, the new policy insults students’ independence. By instituting another required activity, this decision tells students that they are not mature enough to handle their own time. Exeter prides itself on the independence and life management skills it instills in its students, but forcing them to meet with their advisers during a specific time babies us. Presumably, the required attendance would be enforced with the already-more-restrictive dickies, mitigating student flexibility. The mandatory nature of these meetings removes students’ responsibility in planning their time, by assuming they are not mature enough to plan for themselves.This also diminishes students’ independence and responsibility by transferring the prerogative of when to seek guidance away from those seeking help and into the hands of the administration. As a day student, I do not meet with my advisor weekly and only rarely see him more than once per month. When I do seek him, however, he is always there to help. Perhaps because I am exempt from the unique pressures facing boarding students, I have been able to navigate through my first seven terms here at Exeter without the roughly forty hours of extra counseling and guidance this weekly plan would have chained me to (7 terms x 80 days per term / seven days per week x .5 hours per week). Personal experience has taught me that parents fill the day-to-day function of advising for day students, but I think that the contact of dorm life naturally increases the accessibility of advisors to boarding students. Exeter should teach students to know when they need to be advised and then seek their advisers' opinion, instead of forcing them into weekly meetings. Teaching them this valuable skill and the way help is offered later in life will help students far more than any extra advising will.Finally, this required activity eats into time Exeter students should be able to use for more important and relevant activities. The Academy has been concerned about sleep loss, given its efforts such as the improved fatigue program with the health center’s opening, but this faculty vote will deprive students of a half-hour’s rest each week. When they are forced to complete another half hour of homework at two in the morning instead of during the day when the advising block will take place, the advising block will either result in reduced health for students or a reduction in already-pressed extra-curricular activites. This decision disrespects students and their government, their responsibility to manage their time and seek help, and the health of both their sleep or their social lives.