<p>I can’t believe Brown just mailed a book for summer reading. Is this just for freshman? Have they done this before - or is this new this year?</p>
<p>It seems like a waste of money. Not to mention time - if anyone bothers to read this.
I don’t see the point of this at all</p>
<p>It’s just for freshmen and it’s been done every year since I arrived, at the very least.</p>
<p>One of your orientation activities is breaking into small groups to discuss the book. I didn’t find it incredibly useful, but to each his or her own.</p>
<p>EDIT: Worth noting it’s a different book each year.</p>
<p>Maybe if they hadn’t chosen a book that was so unlikely to meet most students interest. (historical biography, theme - SLavery is bad)
Maybe if they hadn’t said it was “gift” (my $30 in tuition paying for it) and son is supposed to read it.</p>
<p>Do they really think that you groups of 18yo from around the country would have nothing to talk about if they didn’t manufacture a topic?</p>
<p>I thought this kind of paternalism was left behind in high school. I find it very disappointing. Besides if he wanted a place where everyone was reading the same thing he would have gone to Columbia instead fo choosing Brown :)</p>
<p>You’d be surprised how many Brown students would be interested by that theme. That is not to say that everyone is, but I suspect it’s many more students than you think. I was underwhelmed by the book I had to read (The Places in Between by Rory Stuart), but it was clear that a number of students truly found it inspirational.</p>
<p>Based on my experiences and observations, most freshmen truly do need an icebreaker of sorts, some sort of manufactured shared experience. After all, a good number of freshmen tend to do little but befriend dormmates and classmates because of their shared experience for the first year. I personally don’t think the activity is very effective either way. As far as I know, I never saw any of the students or the faculty leader in my group again. I would take it as a reminder that, despite the upcoming 4 years of relative freedom at Brown, there are always going to be <em>some</em> requirements and hoops to jump through.</p>
<p>Possibly more importantly, the letter to your son’s advisor based on the book will be used to screen for writing deficiencies (and I suspect some advisors care more about the letter than others, in terms of forming a first impression), and so it should probably be well-written and relate at least tangentially to the book.</p>
<p>Brown started the freshmen required reading in fall 2007, for the graduating class of 2011.</p>
<p>Python, many, many colleges do this. In fact, I think there is a thread in the Parents Forum where people are listing the freshmen reading at colleges this year. Many colleges bring the author in to speak to the students. At Brown, the idea was to have the book address a different discipline each year – science, literature, history, etc.</p>
<p>However, as an alum and parent of a student, I don’t like this activity. Brown’s education philosophy is reflected in its open curriculum, with no required core or distribution requirements. That the very first academic thing freshmen do is read the same required book seems totally antithetical to this educational philosophy.</p>
<p>In my daughter’s year, almost every student hated the required book, thought the discussions were silly and useless. The main benefit seemed that it gave the students something universal to complain about.</p>
<p>All thru High School, I’ve detested summer reading. It’s too bad colleges are adopting a poor idea. Any one book chosen on a good day will be disliked by 80% of the students.</p>
<p>My son already knows how to jump thru hoops, doing something he doesn’t want to because its necessary. I imagine all students going to Brown have already this lesson. You don’t graduate at the top of the class without mastering this skill.</p>
<p>This summer my son has a list of books he wants to read for pleasure. Something he hasn’t been able to do since middle school. I see no point in wasting time on this book.</p>
<p>Frankly I think he should read one chapter, and can then decide if its worth while for him to read the rest. He should be able to realize that this is actually not something he has to do - this is not a required hoop. Realizing that is a life skill - what actually needs to be done and what is simply someone else’s preference.</p>
<p>As far as his advisor, he can write about another book he read or he can write about why
it was not worth his time to finish this book</p>
<p>I’m not sure those who read the letters to screen for deficiencies will like that, but that’s ultimately his call.</p>
<p>Perhaps this is why I was never fully happy at Brown. There’s some pervasive mentality that I can’t put my finger on (but definitely lack) that made me frustrated with my peers on a regular basis. There’s something to be said for questioning authority, regulations, and protocol, but occasionally I got the impression that my peers just assumed that these were all evil. Especially as a grader and a TA, I noticed students refusing to follow directions they didn’t like or think worth their time, which would routinely cause the loss of a large number of points because it made their work completely ungradable. Brown let me do something I’d never be able to do elsewhere, but I really don’t think I’ll miss the student body very much as a whole.</p>
<p>They had “required” reading (I guess it was suggested my year, 09). They said you should read it because there would be several orientation talks on the themes of the book. When I asked around, previous year students said most people don’t read it and the orientation event was just a 1hr talk someone gave my summer as well. They didn’t ship out the book.</p>
<p>I never read it and that had no impact on me. It wasn’t a challenge authority thing or some major conscious decision. I just wasn’t that interested in the book and never got around to it.</p>
<p>Uroogla-- there’s a little of that, but those people mostly suck and came from private schools, in my experience, where they were taught to act like that. Honestly, most people who get into Brown got in because they followed all the rules in the most conventional way and knew how to follow protocols very precisely. A lot of schooling for intelligent people prior to college is more about demonstrating you can follow the rules and regs than that you’ve learned all that much.</p>