Updated Results

***Out of 35 responses so far

Are there any classes or subjects that you wish were available that are not offered now? Which ones?

-"For an art school, we have some really lame elective history classes and HORRIBLE humanities and social science classes. It'd be nice to have more classes about film, animation, and graphic novels looked at in a literary way."

-"Business classes, it would be nice to have classes that teach us how to run a business. Also, some accounting would be nice to have so, later on in life, we would be able to keep our own books for any businesses or galleries we open."

Are there any general education classes in particular that you have issues with? Why?

-"I'm torn because while I like the Gen Ed classes being a little easy for me, (I'd rather focus on my Studio classes) I also don't like paying so much for a class that hardly challenges me."

-"...I wish that some of the gen ed classes were a bit more stimulating, and not catered to the stereotype of art students being uninterested in academia."

If you have taken any gen-ed classes outside of Kendall, how would you compare that experience to that of Kendall's?

-" ...My high school education on the whole was much better than that of the gen-ed program at Kendall..."

-"Not only were they far cheaper, they were also a more fulfilling experience."

-"Gen-eds are gen-eds. They are pretty much the same everywhere. The only difference is that at Kendall, you are taking your gen-eds with other art students. At other colleges, you take your gen-eds with students of many majors and departments. Sometimes that is good to get different views/opinions, and sometimes it is nice to have the art-biased group. It depends on the class."

Some interesting results thus far

**Out of 21 responses so far

Are there any classes or subjects that you wish were available that are not offered now? Which ones?

-"Any type of foreign language class"

-"Human Anatomy - Environmental Science"

-"African American Lit."

-"I think Kendall Students need more math to prepare them for not getting ripped off. While GRCC suits my needs fine, and is saving me a pretty penny, I would weep if Kendall's offerings were the only choice available."

To those who have been offended...

I was recently approached by two faculty members, while hanging our second batch of posters, who had some pointed things to say about our campaign. Their primary arguments focused on the hurtfulness of our posted material. This was not our intent. Our goal with our - admittedly sharp - posters was to incite both students and faculty to look deeper into what we were saying, and ultimately get them to visit this site. If you are reading this, it has worked.

To address the "hurtfulness" of our material further; I assure that the aggressiveness of our posters is not reflected in our website, survey, or our overall mission. Ours is a mission to encourage students to speak up, and to encourage faculty and administration to listen.

One argument that was made to me was that students should be encouraged to direct their comments to the teachers themselves, instead of "going around behind their backs." While I dearly wish this was a realistic request of our fellow students, it is not. Many (dare I say, most?) of the student body do not address these issues to their instructors for a number of reasons, but perhaps the most potent is fear. Students hesitate to commit to constructive discourse with their teachers, because they fear a backlash. Opinions are not voiced for fear of undo punishment. Quite frankly, based on personal experience concerning confronted instructors, I do not blame them. Our goal with this site is to circumvent these fears, by allowing students to express their opinions anonymously, without chance for chastisement. We will then pass on the relevant information to the appropriate members of the administration.

On a slightly unrelated note:

If you witness anyone taking down our posters (around three quarters of our first batch were removed) could you please remind that person that the unrequested removal of school-approved material, by a party other than the poster, is not only rude, but also illegal censorship.

Thanks again for reading, and I personally apologize for any hurt feelings. If you have any comments, don't hesitate to forward them to me at: matthansenart@gmail.com

-matt

Welcome!

Thanks for stopping in. If you are a student, please fill out the survey. We will post the results (anonymously of course), periodically over the next few weeks. We hope this will generate a good amount of discourse regarding the condition of Kendall's general ed. program amongst both students and staff. After several weeks we will send our results, along with a brief statement, to the appropriate administrative staff (again, all information is anonymous). If you are faculty, or staff of Kendall, please take heed of what the students are saying. It's our education, it's time we speak up.