No Ivy envy for ASU
One of these is not like the other, one of these things just doesn't belong: "Harvard, Stanford, Yale, Princeton, Arizona State University..."
Apparently, The Arizona Republic is running low on irony because last week it argued that the recruitment efforts of former Barrett Honors College Dean Ted Humphrey have transformed ASU into a world-class Ivy League institution. Excuse me while I take a break from writing this column to keel over with laughter...
There now, I'm better.
Anyone who believes that buying students is the same thing as transforming the academic environment of the University is in need of a head examination. Nothing is going to turn ASU into an Ivy League institution, but that isn't something about which we need to have an inferiority complex.
On the contrary, there are many reasons to be proud of getting a state school education and to hope that with Crow and new BHC Dean Jacobs at the helm, graduates will have nationwide bragging rights to a top-notch state school diploma.
But if ASU is to become an even better top state school, joining the ranks of institutions like the University of Michigan and UNC-Chapel Hill, then it's going to take a lot more than dangling the money carrot at National Merit Scholars.
It is important for ASU to attract bright, dedicated students. But it is dangerous to overestimate the brilliance of a student based on his or her test scores.
Simply put, being good at taking the PSAT - the sole determining factor of National Merit status - is not the same thing as being a good scholar. In fact, several students are known to have come to ASU on National Merit money, only to lose their scholarship a semester or two later.
As a National Merit scholar myself, I can honestly say I would not be at ASU were it not for the moneybags of the Honors College. Though I had set my sights set on attending a small liberal arts college, my family couldn't afford a private education.
In retrospect, I have no regrets about our financial situation because I have really enjoyed my time at ASU. This University has given me many wonderful opportunities, both in the academic and extracurricular arena. In my four years here, I got to travel Europe, take fascinating classes, have an academic adviser who cares about her students and befriend unpretentious, creative, intelligent people.
I am proud and genuinely grateful to be at ASU. I think this University provides a great education at a nominal cost. And while I am extremely grateful for the National Merit scholarship package, this money would be meaningless were it not for the rich academic challenge provided by my professors.
It was not the empty verbal promises found in form letters, but experiences I've had with wonderful teachers in small seminars like the Human Event that have made my time here at ASU so memorable. The Honors College faculty are some of the most passionate, engaging teachers I have known, and they offer students a small liberal arts college experience in a large university classroom.
Dean Jacobs and his vision for an expanded Honors College complex show he understands that the way to really attract impressive students is not by just throwing money around; it is by demanding a lot out of students and offering them coursework and an environment in which they will be challenged.
Raise the standards for students and better students will come. The Honors College is often criticized for being elitist and exclusive, but these two atttributes are assets, not liabilities. If the College is transformed into a place where students can get a private liberal arts-style education at a low cost, everyone at ASU will benefit.
Besides, I think the charges of Honors College elitism are overblown. The faculty (except Humphrey) are not tenured, the dorms there are cramped, and I've never met a group of such humble and interesting professors and students.
The MU will sprout Doric columns before ASU is the "Harvard of the Southwest." But if Michael Crow proves to be as adept at raising the academic bar for students as he is at raising money, then there is hope that someday we will be the West Coast equivalent of University of Michigan or UT-Austin.
Kathleen Heil is a religious studies senior. Reach her at kathleen.heil@asu.edu.
