seanessay.com
On our last night we had a graduation dinner. Our guest speaker was from a similar program, at a university in the US. He told us that when he explains the monetary opportunities for leisure, such as in tourism, to the parents of his students, then the parents are eager to go into leisure too. He respected our program: (while the normal ratio is two years community college equals one year university) he would give us, as his university, two years credit.
In our first semester we were allowed to hand write our assignments, and we had to do a short class presentation. (My topic was outdoor experiential education; including quotes of Plato and Kurt Hahn) By our last semester we had to type up a graduation project, and present our thesis to a panel of experts. (My topic was teaching drama; including exercises) On our graduation panel we were allowed one student; during my two years I set a never-to-be-broken record of serving on five such panels. My department head asked, “What, you here again?”
What truly helped us was taking a class for the formal research and writing of projects. If we failed our panel we received in “incomplete,” then we had six months to try again. Otherwise: “fail.”
I say “present,” not “defend,” partly because, I think, people doing sports earn enough glory that they don’t have to puff up their personhood by attacking a thesis. I wish academics at university, with their tweeds and pipes, would get into the national guard or something, so they could enjoy their personal security in a way that doesn’t devalue students.
Now, the average diploma program was not as good as ours: In fact, I heard from a teacher that students in a small group complained to him about one of their members—and they didn’t even know the woman’s name! But in my program we knew each well after a certain compulsory weekend in September: Summer camp. In case we got a job at a camp. Also compulsory was a semester in the college crafts studio. For as a camp human resources person put it to me, “If you don’t say on your application you like crafts, then we know you hate them.”
My classmates included a future music therapist and mountain guide. I myself later worked as a recreation therapist at an institute teaching, besides fitness, drama, music and documentary film appreciation. This was before I took History of Film at Tech. Of course Tech is good for practical job training: Some of my peers had transferred in, for our second year, after a year at Tech learning Facilities Management. They learned things like maintaining small machines and the filters in a swimming pool. “Prepare for culture shock, because here at tech,” their teachers told them, “you are given the answers, at college you will be given the questions.”
Of course we took a class in the history and theory of leisure, referencing Veblen’s oft quoted “Theory of the Leisure Class” written back when the usual work week was six days. (later five and a half) I would use theory to grapple with questions: “Should little leagues keep score?” And: “Should female participants have equal access to resources?” And: “Does a healthy leisure life mean less inclination to torchlight parades in Berlin?”
Unlike at Tech, things don’t have clear immediate answers. As for Nazi Berlin, Kurt Hahn was imprisoned after two brownshirts stomped a man to death in the street. He then said publicly a line had been crossed, and they should be criminally charged. But no one supported Hahn, and the regime put him in prison. Luckily, Hahn was already an internationally known educator. World pressure got him out before the war. He went on to found (1934) the Gordonstoun School where Prince Philip was a student, learning lessons that surely helped the young man during the world war. (Link)
More: “Should the taxpayer support a community centre?
And: “Is there any point to funding the Boys’nGirls clubs, and why are the clubs always in higher crime areas, anyway?” For that last question, the answer is not for formal character training, not like Boy Scouts and Army cadets, but rather: “Kids can’t be in two places at once,” can’t be at the club and hanging out on a street corner.
As for street corners, I could have wasted two years just working full time and hanging out, but no: At my graduation supper my heart swelled and I knew: My diploma meant two golden years.
… …
… …
Sean Crawford
class of 1984
Yes, I recognized Orwell in my graduation project
October, evening before All Hallowed Evening
2023
In my day, Hallowe’en had an apostrophe, because the following hallowed day was for holy saints. Not the dead.
