Real-life imitates Rodney Dangerfield (well, sort of):
Roger "Rusty" Martin is the oldest freshman at Saint John's College in Annapolis -- by four decades. The 61-year-old president of Randolph-Macon College, in Ashland, Virginia, says he wants to study the freshman experience in a way that would be impossible from the president's office. At Randolph-Macon, Martin's one-on-one contact with students took place mostly across a desk. But he wants to know what first-year students are really like.
So he's taking a semester-long sabbatical from the top of the academic food chain to dwell at the bottom. After his semester at Saint John's ends, Martin plans to publish some of his thoughts in one or more magazine articles. He says his fellow freshmen are strikingly focused, keen to study, averse to drugs and loyal to their parents.
Something tells me Martin's experiences won't generalize too well to the college-age population as a whole. But if just one silly orientation class or crappy food-service company gets the boot, I figure Martin's foray into froshhood will have accomplished something.
Posted by kswygert at November 29, 2004 12:14 PM