Did they really say that?

Allow me to be an elitist for a second. Well, to be fair, there’s a decent chance you’ve been allowing that for a lot longer without knowing it, but before you judge this little “plog” (print blog…I like to keep up with the lingo) too harshly, tell me if you disagree with the following statement: One of the best distinctions between high school and Duke is not taking classes with students less academically inclined than you. It’s a very political way of saying it, but you know what I’m talking about. Here at Duke, we enjoy the opportunity to be surrounded not only by amazing faculty, but also some of the brightest and most inquisitive students in the world…for the most part.

Don’t call me a snob and drop the paper; you haven’t finished your subpar “Camper,” and you don’t want to look like you’re eating alone.

So, who here has ever rolled their eyes at the kid across the room in class? Consciously or subconsciously, I’m sure you have. What I’m getting at isn’t some little in-joke where all us “smart” kids get to laugh about the “dumb” ones because that just isn’t the case. Everyone here is smart. Moreover, my current class ranking would likely place me in the less desirable of those two categories. However, I’m not talking about smart or dumb, or GPAs (if only Med Schools wouldn’t either), I’m talking about the differences in commitment to the pursuit of a higher intellectual community. I’m talking about the girl in film class who asks “does anyone here even watch ‘Grey’s Anatomy?’” or the kid whose most pressing question to a Pulitzer Prize winning novelist is, “Is there, like, a syllabus? Cuz I wanna know what the midterm’s gonna be like.” They’re not less smart, but they’re not engaging in the academic process of discussion.

It’s not a question of intellect; it’s a question of intellectual curiosity and interest in the subject matter. When your writing professor asks about your favorite novels and what you like about the literature and the language, should you bring in your John Grisham or your fave Gossip Girl book? Don’t get me wrong, I’ve read plenty of airport novels, and I even bore reading the latest Dan Brown book without just plugging in the formula. Despite this, I’d as soon take Tyler Perry as an example of a great director, or Duke as an example of a great football program, as I would think to include “The Lost Symbol” into my academic sphere. You can use this as an example of taking potshots, if you like. A film course should be taken because you want to engage in the academic interpretation of film and its medium, not because it fulfills an ALP or someone said it was easy. And, if you loved film or literature, you wouldn’t care about a midterm.

Now I’d be lying if I said I’ve never Sporcled my way through a lecture, but there should be a base level expectation. Your classmates should be interested in digging into the topic at hand and displaying an inquisitiveness and desire for exploration beyond the level of your average high schooler. And in discussion-based courses, which are the best opportunity to roll your eyes at a kid—outside of the jerk in the front row of orgo asking about points back on his A- —can I not expect a true intellectual experience?

And there’s more to that than doing assigned readings, raising your hand in class or even getting a good grade. I’d say at least 90% of my classes have been full of amazingly intelligent “out-of-the-box thinkers,” where even the one comment made by the bro in the back corner with the flat brim and “DMB Concert Tour” tee is insightful. It’s this engagement that has made my academic experience so inspiring.

However, every now and then I hear stories or come across a class where students are in it clearly to fill a requirement or have no interest in the material, with no knowledge of how to approach the topic intellectually, and throw out duds like, “But if his parties are so popular, why doesn’t Gatbsy have any friends at his funeral?”

So while you might be thinking that you overhear enough mental masturbation from drunk pubpol majors telling you about their Ayn Rand theories, at least there’s a genuine desire and passion to go beyond the textbook and think critically. Maybe the kid you just rolled your eyes at doesn’t care about documentary films, or maybe he’s just a moron with great test-taking skills. Who knows? I just don’t think it’s wrong to expect all of my Duke peers to be prepared to critically engage in any class they take.