A Letter to the Exonian
Dear friends at Exeter,
I am so impressed with Exeter’s recent progress that I’m moved to write you. Exeter is changing admirably. My sole worry is that there are a few issues we are not (yet) addressing, that we could consider with ease.
FIRST—WHAT ONE CAN FORGET ABOUT HARKNESS—The value of the presently developed Harkness plan is staggering. Only one item is sometimes forgotten, viz.: When Harkness gave that fortune to the school, he wanted to be able to bankroll so many professors that inevitably these professors would have time to take an intimate interest in not just the academic side of a student, but also the spiritual formation of same. It was not to stop at the academic, and if it does, we err.
SECOND—SINS OF OMISSION?—When Exeter teaches, she does stunningly. I would never have gotten my PhD without her. But at the risk of being a rabid ingrate, I have to suggest there are a few things we do not yet teach. Do we teach note-taking? And research—do we teach that formally? Also, how does one interview a famous person by phone? How may a student find all unpublished dissertations ever written on an elusive subject? What would happen if we encouraged the students to bind their notes and keep them forever? Including each book report? One boy at New York University arrived there with 403 books all reported, on line and wham! He said it saved him some two years on his PhD program.
THIRD—REWARDS AT EXETER—Does Exeter look out to identify the most decent students and reward them? The Duke of Wellington worried that British prep schools merely rewarded “the clever devil” when the school should doubly reward the gentleman, and yes, the gentlewoman, too. Why not give free tuition every year to the five most decent students?
FOUR—SEX—As someone who does AIDS counseling, I am staggered at students’ ignorance about sex. For example: Are you students aware that a membrane condom does not protect you from AIDS? And are you aware that a latex condom, when lubricated with Vaseline, can weaken and break?
FIVE—THE TEACHING OF LANGUAGES—Exeter teaches languages well…but she could do so perfectly. Suppose we took a whole dorm like Wheelwright and dedicated it to Spanish? Imagine that the food, closed circuit TV, music, artwork on the walls and the proctors were all focused on Spanish or speaking Spanish most of the time? And on the top floor, all the time? Imagine that there was a library of Spanish films (like Bunuel) all for the browsing. Imagine that you had mixers with the Hispanic scholars at St. Paul’s or Harvard? That there were lectures on controversial things like why the Colorado River is polluting Mexican farm land? Or why the French army invaded Mexico in the 1860s?
SIX—LAST BUT NOT LEAST, A CONTROVERSIAL COURSE—Would it help you if the Powers That Be saw fit to put together a special course titled “Survival 101” that might cover a dozen or more concepts like those noted above… so that nothing, ever, could fall between the proverbial cracks? The course could address problems of how to handle money; how to choose your college advisor before you get to that college; how to apply to college with precision; how to arrange an apprenticeship in a special field (like law or journalism) when you are home for the summer; how to find out who are the best professors and courses at college, before you get there…Would Exeter want such a course? Would you love it?
Do not misunderstand me. I know you are now the best of the schools, but hey, that only means you get an A-minus. Why not go further, beyond your limits? I am sure you can do it.
And as famed actress, Ethel Barrymore, said at the end of a fine play of the early 1900s, “That’s all there is, there isn’t any more.”
I apologize if I am offending anyone.
Warmest thoughts to Exeter.