The news came almost as rumor. On local radio, there was a brief announcement that a college was having financial problems and was seeking help to continue operating. The word struggling may have been in there, but if so, was not to my memory emphasized.
The local newspaper had a story to the effect that they were making efforts to keep going. I was not paying too much attention and it seemed just more background noise.
Then, the announcement came. Becker College would be closing. Not earth shattering news for the future of education in New England, but for moi, it was met with some sadness. When another school announced it was struggling, Hampshire College, I did not react the same.
Camp Hamp, as it is nicknamed, is kind of a cool kids school. Hip and with it and expensive. Located in the Pioneer Valley (or, as the area is often called, Happy Valley) among several colleges. it lacks the endowment of an Amherst or Smith.
Our family, spent time at the school attending a conference for a number of years and Hamp is a pleasant place to spend time. Yet the thought that its closing would necessitate its hip clientele having to find somewhere else to practice their pas d'ennemis à gauche virtue signalling did not affect me at all.
Becker did. Why would the demise of a small and not well known institution catch my attention?
The simple explanation was that I spent three years there. Not as a student, but as a house parent. Starting married life with free room and board as a sort of babysitter was a way of saving money as we built our house on a piece of land we owned in the exurbs.
In the morning, we would go out to our regular jobs and come home to supervise the dorm and perform the somewhat light administrative duties that were required.
But, there was more to it than that.
Of course, not every student was a scholar and some were bound and determined to have a college experience that did not expand their minds intellectually, but chemically. They would use substances illegal in law for their age and some illegal for all. Some might have averred that such practices expanded their consciousness, but stoned and drunk was, in the end, just stoned and drunk.
The Papist college I attended was far less indulgent of the students than Becker's administration. This is understatement.
A gentleman who had an administrative position with the school related how he went to court with a trio of male students who had been arrested for some shenanigans. A dean accompanied them.
The boys were dressed like typical American slobs of the day.* The judge told them to leave and come back in presentable fashion. When they returned, the dean waxed eloquent as to what wonderful gentlemen the lads were. They were, to the best of my memory, not. The ridiculous aspect was that the dean was not lying. He just had a Moynihanesque (Defining deviancy down) view of the standard.
The dorm we were parents in was Knight Hall. The lower level housed the campus dining hall. As house parents, we were allowed to dine there or bring food to our apartment that also had a full kitchen.
One morning while heading down to fetch a small breakfast, I encountered a male student with a breakfast tray and a key about to unlock the door where he had obviously spent the night. He greeted me pleasantly, as if this was normal (actually, it was against the rules). I took the key from him and told him to eat down in the cafeteria and that the key's owner could pick it up at the dean's. He was mortally affronted.
I delivered the key to the dean's office and the man promised to really take care of it, but I was not expecting much. As usual, he would not apprise me of the results, but when pressed, after some hemming and hawing, admitted that he merely asked them not to do it again after making known he felt the offense was serious. There were many incidents like that. The only expulsion was for the beating up of a security guard. Maybe I am being too harsh if I suspect that was done only because it could not be swept under the rug.
Now, as an undergrad, your writer was hardly a paragon of virtue. Still, he knew that the authorities at his college were not his allies in any of his less than noble adventures. Most of what he attempted was of a boys will be boys nature, and he was learning the lessons of knowing when to stop and reflect that some games might not be worth the candle.
Is it that "college" is a buyer's market in the sense that the school wants to keep the customer happy? That is complex as, yes, keeping the customer in place is necessary. Yet, the consumer did not feel him or herself pampered and felt the hot breath of oppression even in a mild regime as was Becker.
So, there we were, feeling like camp counselors in what was effectively, for some, winter camp.
Was that all it was? For some. Others, it was different. They were signing for loans that would have to be paid off. There were more than a few who were serious about the field of study and applied themselves.
But, was it education?
It is accepted that studying philosophy at Harvard is education and learning carpentry at a vocational high school is learning a trade.
But, is studying veterinary technology, a popular major when we were there, education or vocational training.
Some students majored in Travel and Tourism. Thanks to the internet, that field of study disappeared a while ago. It could have been argued that those leading a tour in the Greek Islands were studying civilization.
Maybe seeking the dictionary definition would be a start. According to a Merriam Webster online site, we have education as:
the action or process of educating or of being educated
also : a stage of such a process
b
: the knowledge and development resulting from the process of being educated
Rather circular and not at all satisfactory.
Where can we go?
Well, your writer, failed student that he was, can help. Many decades ago, in the summer before I was to start freshman year, my college sent me a reading list of books I was to read.
Among the required titles was John Henry Cardinal Newman's The Idea of a University. I dutifully read the book and got something out of it.
I realized that I had no business going to college as envisioned by Cardinal Newman. Education for its own sake and cultivation of the mind could not compete with my goal of getting away from the kind and loving parents I thought wardens at a maximum security prison. Not to be lost in the discussion, I wanted to have a good time.
In the process, coursework was also accomplished, minimally for the most part but more in my major, being a history nerd.
But, though the memory of what the cardinal wrote is not perfect, I know what is not college and Becker wasn't. It was voke ed, as is most post-secondary ed.
Some of the older professors at my college would mention how things changed after the war and the GI Bill expanded opportunities to go to school, and the freshman classes expanded. From a working class family, that is not something I despise. The Vietnam War increased the demand to expand the mind as well as get a deferment.
There was something else going on and all the reasons for it can be debated elsewhere, but college for everyone came to be looked on as a societal good. I didn't dwell on it much at the time, But the question was not asked was, how many history and poli sci majors does a society need, let alone "sosh" and "psych" majors? This is not to mention philosophy and theology graduates.
There is a narrow way of looking at the relative value of college and after with a thought experiment. If there were a strike of sociology doctorates and a strike of garbage collectors, which would have a bigger impact on your life.
If you are a college grad, and you spent more than a nanosecond on the question, one hopes you do not have loans outstanding, but your parents wasted their money.
STEM is considered a winner, and maybe marketing is an expensive entry level ticket, but the liberal arts other than at elite venues will not be the golden path, other than teaching.
Go to the Ivies and you too can be part of something big such as the foreign policy establishment. You know, those whiz kids who brought us the recent Afghan debacle. Major in poli sci at Downstate U, and you can run a state rep’s campaign.
Major in philosophy at an obscure liberal arts college and you may know how or why one should live as you starve.
In this country, college is for the most part voke ed at collegiate prices. The lad or lass who majored in Real Estate Sales Science, however, is presumed to be seeking wisdom same as those who were part of Plato's Academy.
Meanwhile, the Town of Leicester plans to buy Becker and turn it into the town "campus" high school. Long ago I had a short association with a campus high school in another state. It was a bit of a disaster as many of the charges looked on it as an invitation to leave the "campus" and partake of substances that our charges enjoyed.
Someday, I shall probably not do a study on my thesis that in history, most ideas are bad.
*The day to day attire of my countrymen and women has not improved in the interim.
If you found my screed above not completely without merit, email me for a free subscription to the Long Hill Institute at rmorchoe@ymail.com.
It is true that picking the right college and major and parents and then applying oneself has its rewards. The current regime has problems for society or there would not be a call for tuition forgiveness. More about this in another post.
Ah the shrimp!
enjoyed this…i believe college degree still has value for many, and state schools with in-state tuition are affordable, many have quality professors who can challenge and excite those who want to really get something out of it. I think much of a student’s experience go back to their parent’s expectations…. you WILL finish in 4 years!! Regarding Becker, i recall the spicy shrimp in the little kitchen, fun times.