[Alumni-chat] What will the BOT do?

[john_hevelin (bwotte at rexx.com)]

Hi, Liza,

>When I was there, we had a 4-quarter system, which worked like this:
>
>First-year (for A Div):
>Fall: Class
>Winter: Co-op
>Spring: Class
>Summer: Class
>
>Second-year:
>Fall: Co-op
>Winter: Class
>Spring: Co-op
>Summer: Co-op
>
>and so on, with B Div having a schedule that was exactly flipped (they started in the Summer with a study term, and went on co-op their first Fall quarter).
I was B Div, started in the Summer 1964 quarter.  I didn't feel that missing a summer "vacation" was a great sacrifice, but I was eager to leave home and start school.

>As I see it, one of the drawbacks of the system in place when I was there was that it was supposed to be a 5 year program, which I think is a real disadvantage in attracting high-school students.
The 5-year program was not a disincentive to me, but I can imagine that today (especially with the current tuition) it might be problematical.  I believe that money earned during co-op periods theoretically offset the additional year of tuition, but I have no figures to demonstrate whether that was true or not.

>It wasn't that hard to complete in 4 years (with 6 co-ops), though, if you were motivated. Another was that it was very socially disruptive.
Well, you must have been a better student that I was, and I worked hard.  I didn't have enough money for five years, and pretty much had to finish in four, which was a stretch.  I would have enjoyed staying for a fifth year, might have explored AEA (which I didn't feel confident enough  or financially secure enough to tackle while younger) or some other enrichment projects that I had to skip.  I didn't find finishing in four years to be "socially disruptive" -- in fact, because of the way quarters were staggered, I got to meet the "other div", which was fun.

>I do think that there are some advantages to having multiple out-in-the-non-Antioch-world experiences, although I would be interested to hear about the co-op communities. One of the thoughts I had was that one might be able to better integrate the classroom/co-op experience, decrease the social disruption factor, build community, and help address some of campus renovation issues if 2 of the co-ops were based in Yellow Springs.
The co-op quarters I spent in New York City (six in all) and Washington, D.C. (one) were the most valuable part of my Antioch experience, and that is not to denigrate the academic curriculum, which was firstrate.  But the opportunity to try different jobs, and to experience the real world outside of Antioch, was invaluable to me, and enabled me to grow in ways that would have been impossible at a more traditional school.  And twelve weeks (with the possibility of twenty-four weeks, with the staggered schedule) was just the right amount of time to either study or work -- just as you were becoming tired of one or the other, poof!  The quarter changed, and you were somewhere else.  I found it refreshing, never felt that lack of a vacation.

>Curious to know what other people think about the relative advantages and disadvantages of quarter-based vs. trimester-based classroom/co-op experiences. Eric, do you have thoughts about that?
For me, the staggered quarter system worked splendidly, and I was astonished to learn of the changes to the co-op program (and year schedule) that occurred after my graduation in 1968.  After reading Bob Devine's discussion, I can understand some of the reasons, but it still seems like a loss to me.  I had never thought about how things worked (or didn't work) from the faculty standpoint.  My grandfather taught at Antioch for most of the time I knew him -- he seemed to have summers free, although as a senior professor he might have had advantages not available to everyone.

John Hevelin '68