Saturday, July 01, 2006
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July 1: Another pleasant surprise here is that there has been none of the drinking and carousing that I heard had happened on past voyages. S@S and the ship's crew have really buckled down on this (safety) issue; consequently there have been very few disciplinary incidents related to alcohol. The Executive Dean and the Academic Dean, working with a great team of Residence Life people, have instituted policies that control inappropriate behavior. For example, for mixers and socials students are permitted a set number of drinks, tickets for which they must purchase the day before. For the first mixer, some 800 tickets were sold; for the last two, a TOTAL of 100; the students are "getting it," choosing to understand the safety issue and to act responsibly. They still come to the socials and mixers, but are content with a beer or glass of wine (rather than 10 or more!). The Deans have been clear about their policies, and the Security Officer implements them. The Security Officer's wife tells me that this voyage is very different from her previous experience because the students are more serious, more self-controlled, and more interested in integrating the academic part of the trip with the experiential, in-country part. What a relief.
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July 2: Sunday, "Sea Olympics." Today all the ship's participants --students, faculty, administrators, Teachers at Sea, the senior passengers-- will be involved in a series of goofy competitions (trivia contest, whistling with crackers, passing an orange, etc.), followed by a long study session and review session for the upcoming test in Global Studies.
"Real World" did a lot of damage to Semester at Sea's reputation that is only now starting to right itself. UVa's insistence on added work and more serious academics have already paid off in significant ways, and I only see it getting better. Faculty who have sailed with Semester at Sea before have been commenting on the difference; I don't think UVa can take credit for this, since improvements have been seeping into Semester at Sea's activities for the last few years. I've been reading past faculty and Dean reports, and I'm impressed with how suggestions have been incorporated into the program. In truth, it sounded pretty scary (party! drink!) before.
July 1: Another pleasant surprise here is that there has been none of the drinking and carousing that I heard had happened on past voyages. S@S and the ship's crew have really buckled down on this (safety) issue; consequently there have been very few disciplinary incidents related to alcohol. The Executive Dean and the Academic Dean, working with a great team of Residence Life people, have instituted policies that control inappropriate behavior. For example, for mixers and socials students are permitted a set number of drinks, tickets for which they must purchase the day before. For the first mixer, some 800 tickets were sold; for the last two, a TOTAL of 100; the students are "getting it," choosing to understand the safety issue and to act responsibly. They still come to the socials and mixers, but are content with a beer or glass of wine (rather than 10 or more!). The Deans have been clear about their policies, and the Security Officer implements them. The Security Officer's wife tells me that this voyage is very different from her previous experience because the students are more serious, more self-controlled, and more interested in integrating the academic part of the trip with the experiential, in-country part. What a relief.
**********
July 2: Sunday, "Sea Olympics." Today all the ship's participants --students, faculty, administrators, Teachers at Sea, the senior passengers-- will be involved in a series of goofy competitions (trivia contest, whistling with crackers, passing an orange, etc.), followed by a long study session and review session for the upcoming test in Global Studies.
"Real World" did a lot of damage to Semester at Sea's reputation that is only now starting to right itself. UVa's insistence on added work and more serious academics have already paid off in significant ways, and I only see it getting better. Faculty who have sailed with Semester at Sea before have been commenting on the difference; I don't think UVa can take credit for this, since improvements have been seeping into Semester at Sea's activities for the last few years. I've been reading past faculty and Dean reports, and I'm impressed with how suggestions have been incorporated into the program. In truth, it sounded pretty scary (party! drink!) before.
# posted by Admiral David @ 2:29 PM 
