Fall Journal
While the roommates were in band I was once again the only one around when hand outs were distributed door-to-door. This one was quite interesting. The first thing I noticed was that the 1000 word requirement mysteriously vanished into “1-2 pages”. 1000 words is about 3 and a half pages, so the length requirement was certainly relaxed.
Of course the embarrassing part was that only after reading the first side and distributing it to two of my roommates did I realize I was only reading the back side. Apparently “hidden” (well as much as a paragraph clearly marked on the first page can be) was the below question and answer:
Are the reflective journals required?
No, although they are highly encouraged. When else do you have a chance to receive feedback from a faculty member you may or may not know regarding your free-flowing thoughts on connections in life? As a positive incentive to participate in this program, freshman, sophomores, and juniors receive a better standing in this spring’s lottery process if they participate in both the fall and spring. Seniors receive a gift certificate to McMenamins. All participating students receive thoughtful feedback.
No complaints here, first of all. Who cares if I already wrote something, this is good news. But if this really was the intention all along, it certainly was not communicated in any intelligible way. Looking back at the e-mail we received a while back, it does not use the words “mandatory” or “required” – but it does not say anything to the contrary either. Could it be that the residential hall association realized how ridiculous the journal actually was? Or perhaps they foresaw the abysmal participation that would occur even if it was required?