Don Campbell describes exhortations by Don Joyner last spring to incoming Fall freshmen. He’s East Carolina University’s associate vice chancellor for admissions and advising.
“Let me tell you what’s going to happen to some of you,” Joyner shouts. “You’re going to break up with your boyfriend or your girlfriend, and all of a sudden, you think your life is over! Well let me tell you something else: You’ve got to get over your depression! You can’t use that as an excuse… because this place can be unforgiving!”
He tells them how to succeed in college — get involved in campus activities, use the library, learn some basic study skills, have realistic expectations, beginning with commandment number one: “Go to class.”
Hmmm. Why would a university admit and retain students who don’t go to classes?
CrossTalk offers provocative excerpts from panelists at the National Press Club on September 7, 2006, as they discussed the prepublication report of a commission appointed by US Secretary of Education Margaret Spelling, A Test of Leadership: Charting the Future of US Higher Education.