When I think of the way Pepperdine students deal with academics I get the urge to channel the Governator and call us all “girly-men.”
Growing up I had certain preconceptions about my future college experience: I saw myself with a lifetime supply of ramen noodles to serve as my daily nutrients. At the end of each mentally-challenging day I thought I would slug back to my four-by-four-foot cell of a dorm room trying not to be creeped out by my Dungeons and Dragons-obsessed roommate.
Luckily when I arrived none of those nightmares came to pass for me at Pepperdine. I was among the ranks of students who received a warm welcome to the sunny hills of Malibu a spacious room and a pleasant roommate. I even enjoyed the food from the Waves Café. And the classes? They are as easy as a crossword puzzle in People magazine and hardly challenging.
Pepperdine prepares you to be a certain kind of person. Pepperdine students park next to Lamborghinis or Bentleys when they grocery shop. Even if they never heard of the names before college the Pepperdine students are now well acquainted with Betsey Johnson Prada and Dolce and Gabana.
Pepperdine students are world travelers. They take comfort in the university’s resources and alumni to assist them into the business of their choice. And Pepperdine students expect nothing less than a complete study guide from the professor detailing every aspect of the test 48 to 72 hours before the exam. I often wonder if Ivy League professors dole out test previews before their exams.
Pep students expect to be coddled. We are academic girly-men.
But this is supposed to be college not preschool. There is a handful of professors and a couple of classes – Public Policy and Organic Chemistry for example – whose names induce a cold shudder down students’ spines. Other than that Pepperdine academic life is fairly smooth sailing. It’s not because we’re lacking excellent faculty; it’s because we’re not expecting the best out of ourselves as students. We’ve allowed ourselves to acquire a sense of what I call Pep Entitlement.
Pep Entitlement leads most students to believe that just because life for the most part has been easy so far the academic experience they receive at Pepperdine will be equally easy. It sucks the intelligence and integrity out of the college experience leaving us unprepared and irresponsible. And it is darn right our own fault.
This is something that I recently took notice of during the class before one of my tests: As the professor graciously gave students a sneak peak of the upcoming exam students hastily requested that he post it on Blackboard. It wasn’t enough that he verbally laid everything out practically line-by-line. I took a minute to observe the absurdity but conceded to participate on the count of convenience.
Hey if someone is going to do the work for me why not indulge? Well here is the voice of reason: I don’t want my degree to be a measure of how well I can regurgitate a perfectly manicured study guide. That is how I got my high school diploma.
I thus challenge every Pepperdine student to stand on their own two feet and get as much as they can out of this experience.
Though we do live in an environment that easily allows us to skate by we need to hold ourselves to a higher standard: Stop being a girly man and do something for yourself challenge your intelligence.
Even though I appreciate the study guides and the helpful heads ups as much as the next person I try to practice what I preach. If professors do respond to this request for an academic challenge and choose to tighten the slack on behalf of the students I ask: Do it gently we are fragile.