1997 Commencement Address: Educating the Global Person by President Alfred Bloom
Remember Your Freshman Roommate?
Stephenson to lead Information Services
Technology and cultural life: an adventure in education by Kenneth J. Gergen
The 1997 Commencement Address
By President Alfred H. Bloom
You, the members of the Class of 1997, are graduating today in the midst of one of the most radical and pervasive revolutions in human history&emdash;the globalization of our world.
Thirty years ago last week, when I graduated from college, I set out around a world, vast stretches of which still remained, as they had for millennia, only barely touched by the ideas, economics, and culture of a global order. That majority of the globe beyond the Rio Grande, beyond Hawaii, and beyond the borders of Western Europe, was to us a terrain of adventure, at once romantic by virtue of its cultural lure and intimidating by virtue of its geographical and cultural remoteness and/or subjection to Communist rule.
The war in Southeast Asia was centrally on our minds&emdash;and, we feared, in our futures as well&emdash;but otherwise those further stretches of the globe lay outside what we imagined could ever be our personal sphere of involvement and responsibility. Only specialized careers might take one there, or an idealistic mission to bring to the underdeveloped portion of the globe the technologies, insights, and values of the West. Names like Bucharest and Kiev, Kuala Lumpur, Shanghai and Taipei, Bogota, São Paulo, Lagos, and Nairobi rang with a mystery almost on a par with that of Timbuktu.
During the past 30 years, that relative isolation, in place for the length of human history, has been amazingly and suddenly removed. Now hardly a town or village exists anywhere that is not linked by phone and media&emdash;if not by the Internet&emdash;to a new pervasive global order. Hardly a town or village exists anywhere whose financial, commercial, intellectual, artistic, and gastronomic life has not been fundamentally transformed by that new global order, whose central cafe does not serve both coffee and Coca-Cola and offer conversation infused with the events, expectations, and alluring possibilities of a larger world.
Moreover, the names of that former era&emdash;such as Ceylon, Rhodesia, Saigon, and Peking&emdash;have been replaced by Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe, Ho Chi Minh City, and Beijing-&emdash;signaling that the new order speaks in multiple voices, of which those of the West, though still very powerful, are now only a subset.
And, in penetrating every corner of our planet, the new order has subsumed us as well, embedding our intellectual, cultural, and economic lives within its global context.
Unlike 30 years ago, it is highly likely that any career you choose will engage you in that global world. And unlike 30 years ago, it is highly likely that the contributions you will want to make and the leadership you will assume will depend in important measure on your embrace of it.
I urge you in the strongest terms to meet that global challenge and responsibility.
At the same time, I assure you that your Swarthmore education constitutes a remarkable preparation for that task. The knowledge, analytic skills, and ethical consciousness you have developed here will enable you to grapple with the structural and value complexities of our global order. Your areas of particular expertise will provide the basis for rewarding exchange with individuals of similar interest across it. Your ability to listen and to grasp others' perspectives will equip you to build trust and shared understanding across individual and cultural divides. And your proficiency in foreign languages will open for you the even deeper understanding that comes from grasping other points of view through the categories of language and thought in which they are conceived.
Many of you have already begun to acquire international experience. Thirty-three percent of you have studied abroad. You international students who have come to Swarthmore have succeeded in the remarkable accomplishment of taking on and mastering an educational system different from your own. And for those of you who are looking forward to your first trip around the world, if your careers don't immediately take you there, Singapore Airlines will&emdash;and at a fare that is only 24 percent in inflation-adjusted dollars of what it cost in 1967! Among the benefits of globalization is easier access to the world.
But even a rich intellectual foundation, supplemented by international experience, will not in itself ensure your transformation from Renaissance men and women to the global persons I urge you to become. For that global leap will require building on those skills and that experience in at least three additional ways:
First, I ask you to make use of the analytic precision and flexibility with which you have approached new fields of knowledge and new disciplines to break down any sense you may have of the inapproachability of other cultural worlds. Use those very skills to move beyond exotic and alienating stereotypes to an increasingly precise grasp of the actual differences in perspectives and priorities that distinguish those worlds from your own.
And even more importantly, use those very skills to move to a recognition of where differences end and where the rich array of human commonalities begins&emdash;that rich array of conceptual abilities, emotions, needs, and aspirations that all human beings share. As the myth of inscrutability dissolves, almost any cultural context can become a domain of effective and satisfying personal engagement for you. A distinguishing characteristic of the global person is that he or she arrives as confident in Mombasa and Manaus, as in Memphis and Minneapolis, that beyond the Airport Hilton lies a world in which personal connections can be made, and shared goals identified and achieved.
Second, I ask you to make use of those carefully honed analytic skills to explode the assumption that the most significant challenges facing our own society are somehow unique to us. Consider, for example, how many nations are struggling, as we are, to overcome the historic marginalization of ethnic or racial groups and to create more inclusive democratic societies&emdash;nations ranging from Peru to Rwanda to Bosnia, Israel, Sri Lanka, and Canada. Consider how many other nations currently face severe pressures from immigration, from the urgent need to strengthen their educational systems and reverse the degradation of their environments. Consider how many other nations face, as we do, unconscionable conditions of poverty and a steadily increasing disparity between their wealthy and poor.
A second distinguishing characteristic of the global person is that he looks at the world through a global framework that rejects a privileged and provincial view and attends not only to the commonalities that unite us all as individuals, but to the commonalities that unite us in the realm of societal experience as well.
And that brings me to my third and final point. I ask you to make use of those same skills, which have served you so well at Swarthmore, to shatter the assumption that there is little in the way of experience and insight out there relevant to solving our problems at home.
Thirty years ago when I landed in Singapore, in Taiwan, in South Korea, and in Hong Kong, the poverty I witnessed beyond the main squares was comparable to, or worse than, that of Chester or North Philadelphia today. During the past 30 years that poverty has been virtually eliminated, with, moreover, no appreciable increase in the disparity between those at the lower and higher ends of economic success.
Given the extent to which we all share in a common global experience, I believe that it is morally indefensible today to claim, on the basis of a presumed sense of uniqueness and privilege, that approaches which have been so remarkably successful elsewhere are of no value to us here. Those nations have critical lessons to teach, regarding, for example the central importance of investing in education, public health, and job creation.
And they stand as compelling proof that poverty can be eliminated, if the collective will is there.
A third distinguishing characteristic of the global person is that she acts to open her own nation not only to what it can teach but also to what it can&emdash;and what it has the responsibility to&emdash;learn.
In sum, I urge you to become the global persons that your careers, your societies, and your historic era require. There is no group of individuals to whom I would more confidently entrust a global world, and there are no individuals whom I would rather see at alumni events everywhere from Melbourne, Malagasy, and Managua to our most esteemed Montreal.*
And don't forget to enjoy that world as you engage it, and as you make it your home.
Congratulations on your graduation. And as the Chinese put it&emdash;yi lu shun feng&emdash;may the wind be behind, blowing smoothly, for the entire journey you undertake!
*A reference to the students' beautifully staged April Fool's joke regarding the presumed merger of Swarthmore into the Canadian university system.
Did you become friends for life, or were you ready within days to throw him or her (along with his or her really, really annoying habits) out the window?
Chances are you at least tolerated each other, says Myrt Westphal, who directs the residential life program for the Dean's Office. She's been involved in the pairing process for six years, although for the last two Jennifer Leigh '94, as director of student activities, has been doing the actual matchups.
After an initial screening to find incoming students with special needs (mobility limitations or other medical problems), the winnowing process begins with:
¥ Sex: "We don't have coed housing by room," says Westphal, "although we do have coed halls."
¥ Smokers: "There's a whole group of people who say they prefer living on a smoking hall, but there are a growing number who are allergic to smoke and can't be in the same environment," says Leigh.
¥ Sleeping habits: "This can be hard because the kid who had to get up and catch the school bus at 6:30 a.m. thinks he's early to bed and early to rise," Westphal says. "And then he gets here and doesn't need to do that anymore, and he turns into a midnight oil person."
¥ Neatness: "We have a category of compulsively neat people that we try to make sure are with other people who feel that order is important," says Leigh.
After making those combinations, "there's a big group of people who pretty much go with the flow," Leigh adds. "They're in between in their habits, so they're very flexible. At this point we look for characteristics to make sure they have at least two things in common: They like to party, they're athletes, they're outgoing and would not do well with a shy roommate, they're substance-free and need time alone."
Once personal habits are sorted through, Leigh says the next step is to bring about geographical diversity. "You come to a school where people are from all over the world, and part of the learning experience is to be with people different from yourselves."
The process isn't perfect, and a lot of the conflict seems to begin at home with filling out the questionnaire. Says Westphal: "We get some false information. In some cases the parents fill out the questionnaires or they'll look over their child's shoulder and the child won't admit to things they don't want their parents to know (such as he or she smokes). And sometimes students reinvent themselves, filling it out as the person they want to be, not who they are."
Another problem that arises is cultural: people who have different styles of dealing with anger and frustration or different values about sharing and privacy.
But serious problems are few, she added, which she says is a credit to the students. "There's a great propensity on the part of incoming freshmen to make it work."
Acting on a recommendation of the Librarian Search Committee, the new position of associate provost for information services has been created. Thomas Stephenson, associate professor of chemistry, will hold the post for the next three years. He will work with the library, Computing Center, and Media Services staffs to see what areas of cooperation and collaboration can be fostered among the three.
The new position addresses the committee's recommendation that the College move "toward a single, integrated department of information services in the forseeable future..."
Stephenson's new responsibilities will include administering the College's efforts as part of the recent $1 million Andrew W. Mellon Foundation grant for foreign language instruction. The grant, made jointly to the Modern Languages departments of Swarthmore, Bryn Mawr, and Haverford, will support a program to integrate new approaches to teaching foreign languages. Facilities will be upgraded for a common level of technical capability.
Lewis Elverson, longtime football and track coach and former chair of the Department of Physical Education, died May 1. The emeritus professor of physical education for men began as a part-time football coach at the College in 1937 after his graduation from the University of Pennsylvania. The next year he was named head coach. Elverson went on to compile more wins than any other Swarthmore football coach, leading the Garnet to league championships in 1965 and 1966. Elverson also coached track and field from 1951 to 1978, recording a .545 winning percentage and the most wins ever by a Swarthmore track coach. He was athletic director from 1976 to 1978 and served as chair of the Physical Education Department before retiring in 1978. ElversonÕs contribution to the College is memorialized by the Lew Elverson Coachship, established by former players to support the head football coachÕs position. He is survived by his wife, Josephine Elias Elverson Õ40, his son Thomas Elverson Õ75, daughter Sara-Jo LeForge, and three grandchildren.
By Kenneth J. Gergen
I have just completed one of the most exciting semesters since I began teaching at Swarthmore almost 30 years ago. My exhilaration is largely the result of a new course: Technology, Self, and Society.
The course was designed to explore the impact of the 20th-century explosion in technology on individual and cultural life. Of particular concern are the "social technologies"&emdash;from the telephone, automobile, and radio early in the century to television, jet transportation, and computer communication in recent decades&emdash;that have so fully insinuated themselves into our daily lives.
Too frequently our reaction to such technologies is merely to ask what is the cost or what new opportunity or entertainment is being provided? We seldom address the ways in which these technologies alter traditional conceptions of the self, intimacy, relationships, commitment, and community, for example, and the ways in which they change the character of daily relations, family life, education, and politics. It was precisely to this kind of deliberation that the course was directed.
From the very beginning of the course we worked collaboratively. Because of the vastness of the topic and its freshly minted character, there was no way that I could serve as a learned authority on all issues. (And besides, if the course was designed to foster critical deliberation, then monologue was not a promising option.) The students and I searched for means of generating a pedagogy that resonated with the course content. For example, we established computer-based discussion groups. Each week students checked into their group and offered preliminary opinions on the week's readings. Further, the class of 15 was divided into smaller units responsible (with collaborative input from me) for generating class activities relevant to the readings for each week. It was this latter departure from traditional classroom practice that gave rise to some of the semester's most engaging experiences.
For example, students made ingenious use of the newly available computer classroom in Kohlberg Hall. One week we created a virtual classroom in which we welcomed into our discussion a media guru from the West Coast. On another occasion we explored a hypertext program that enabled us to see how an audience could work interactively with a playwright to create a collaborative work. Still later we visited the Website of a prominent New York artist and contributed materials that she might use in forthcoming techno-based art. Video materials were frequently brought in to supplement class discussion, and certain weeks we found useful resources could be drawn from Websites scattered across the globe. One afternoon we all remained in our rooms and offices while we communicated via computers in a frenetically spiraling multi-logue. In effect, the semester allowed us to create, experience, and reflect on electronically mediated life&emdash;from the local to the global.
The enthralling sense of exploration did not stop here. One prominent outcome of the technological explosion is the realization of the limits of oral and literary traditions of expression. With technological innovation, we open new forms of representing and communicating knowledge. When words, numbers, sound, images, color can all be converted to a single, digital modality, layered and interlaced, and then placed in continuous motion, there is an explosion in our potentials for communication. It thus seemed appropriate to invite students to use their term projects as sites for communicative exploration. Although they were free to write a traditional scholarly paper (and some wrote very fine ones), I encouraged the class to take risks. If not now, when?
At the semester's end, I was treated to a galaxy of shooting stars. Robert Dull '97 wove prominent course themes into a stage production that made innovative use of technology to criticize the technologizing of human relationships. The play was subsequently presented to the student body. Kate Bernstein '99 took her camcorder into the field to generate a fascinating ethnography of Rave culture, where teenagers are drawn together by a dance and drug fusion in which technological imagery and sounds play a key unifying role. Richard Delgado '97 generated a hypertext program enabling "the reader" to rove through the e-mail archive of class dialogues and to trace the range of intricate connections. Meghan Falvey '98 fabricated a series of prints bringing critical attention to technology's functioning in society. Her project included posting these prints in various center-city sites. Carew Kraft '99 and Jennifer Weiss '98 each generated a collection of paper fragments&emdash;bits of scholarship, dialogue, drawings, and more&emdash;each treating different issues raised by the course. The collections themselves portrayed the fragmentation of knowledge generated by present-day technology. (The curious reader may hear a fragment from Kraft's postmodern answering machine by dialing [610] 328-8690.) Kylian Robinson '97 treated the class to a massive painting that, when illuminated by an accompanying paper, explored the limits placed on communication and understanding by using printed language.
As this course made apparent, the most exciting aspect of teaching is the opportunity to learn. One prominent lesson was that when students are given an opportunity to create forms of pedagogical practice tailored to a body of material, the old traditions of lecture/discussion seem more relevant to a social and technological context that is rapidly deteriorating. Students growing up with unparalleled technological sophistication in a new information environment are invaluable resources in creating a new vocabulary of educational practice.
EditorÕs Note: Sharon Friedler, professor and director of the CollegeÕs dance program, her husband, Louis, professor of mathematics at Beaver College, and their 15-year-old daughter Sorelle, were in Ghana from January to June. Friedler was invited to teach dance composition at the University of Ghana by Professor Kwabena Nketia, director of the universityÕs International Center for African Music and Dance, who was Cornell Visiting Professor at Swarthmore in 1995. Along with her teaching duties, Friedler gathered information for a book on traditional dances of Ghana and how they are learned in the villages, at the university, and taught cross-culturally. During their stay in Africa, the family sent e-mails chronicling their adventures in the classroom and out. Here are some excerpts:
The womenÕs lacrosse team reached the postseason for the first time in school history. Posting an 11-6 record, the Garnet made its first-ever appearance in the ECAC Division III Mid-Atlantic Championships. The Garnet was defeated by Hartwick College, 14-11, in a semifinal contest. Swarthmore opened the season by winning its first five games, earning a No. 9 ranking in the IWLCA poll. Highlighting the season was the GarnetÕs first-ever victory over Ursinus College, a 14-12 decision, and the first victory over Franklin & Marshall since 1988. Led by Holly Baker Õ99 (42 goals, 24 assists, 66 points), Kristen Osborne Õ97 (25 goals, 20 assists, 45 points), and Alicia Googins Õ00 (43 goals), the Garnet posted its fourth consecutive season with 11 or more victories. Lia Ernst Õ97 (32 goals) and Kelly Wilcox Õ97 were named to the USWLA All-American squad. Ernst, Wilcox, Baker, and Laura Starita Õ97, and Samantha Peltz Õ97 were named to the All-Centennial Conference squad.
The menÕs and womenÕs track and field squads both posted successful meet records. The men went 11-0 and finished in second place at the Centennial Conference Championships, while the women went 11-1 and finished in third place at the conference championships. In their final Centennial Conference Championships, seniors Eric Pakurar and Shan Sutherland both brought home the gold. Pakurar was a repeat champ, winning the 400-meter hurdles in a time of 0:55.49, and Sutherland won the pole vault, clearing a height of 12'11.5". On the womenÕs side, it was freshman Desiree Peterkin who led the way for the Garnet. Peterkin broke the school, meet, and conference records with a 37'6" triple jump to qualify for the NCAA Division III Championships. Peterkin, along with Danielle Duffy Õ98, Catherine Laine Õ98, and Jill Wildonger Õ97, set school, meet, and conference records in winning the 4x100-meter relay in a time of 0:50.29. Duffy was a repeat champ in the 400-meter run, winning in a time of 1:00.81. Laine finished second in 100-meter hurdles and third in the triple jump, qualifying for nationals in both events. At the national championships, Peterkin became the first Swarthmore woman to earn All-American honors by finishing in eighth place with a jump of 36Õ11.5Ó.
The menÕs tennis team reached the second round of the NCAA Division III East Regional Tennis Championships, finishing 12th in the nation. Playing one of the toughest schedules in the nation, the Garnet posted an 8-9 record, earning a seventh seed in the tournament. Swarthmore squared off against 10th-seeded Rochester in the opening round, knocking off the Yellowjackets 4-3. Roger Werner Õ98, Ed Ernst Õ98, and Jon Temin Õ00 were all victorious in their singles matches, and the doubles teams of Werner and Ernst and Temin and Sascha Sheehan Õ00 gave the Garnet the doubles point. Advancing into the second round, Swarthmore ran into their nemesis, the second-seeded Amherst Lord Jeffs, losing a 4-2 decision.
The womenÕs tennis team opened the season with a 6-3 victory over Peace College, but a combination of injuries and inexperience saw them finish the season at 3-13 overall and 2-8 in the Centennial. Wendy Kemp Õ99 led the Garnet with a 10-5 overall record. The sophomore posted one of the best conference marks of the season, going 8-2 against Centennial opponents. At the Centennial Championships, Neena Shenai Õ98 was the lone Swarthmorean to advance to the second round. Shenai and Elena Rosenbaum Õ98 were named to the Centennial Academic Honor Roll.
After losing six starters to graduation, the baseball team used the 1997 season as a rebuilding year. The Garnet recorded a 5-28 overall mark and went 4-14 in the Centennial, finishing strong, winning two of the final three contests. A sign of good things to come came on the final day of the season, as Steve Farneth Õ00 threw a no-hitter, blanking Haverford 8-0. It was the first no-hitter by a Swarthmore pitcher since 1978. Pat Straub Õ97 came in from the outfield to fill the void as catcher, led the Garnet with a .417 batting average, and was named to the First Team All-Centennial Conference for the second consecutive season. Jeremy Bonder Õ97 hit .381 on the season and was named Second Team All-Centennial.
The softball team finished the season with a doubleheader sweep of Haverford to post a 4-25 record. Michelle Walsh Õ98 and Apryl Dunning Õ99 were both named to the Second Team All-Centennial, finishing 2-3 respectively in the conference batting race. Walsh hit .495, leading the conference with 14 doubles and seven triples, and Dunning hit .488 and placed fourth in the conference with 30 runs.
The golf team recorded their first victory since 1995 in the season opener, a 394-407 decision over Philadelphia Pharmacy. The squad finished the season at 3-9-1. David McKechnie Õ97 and Ben Schall Õ97 were named to the Centennial Conference Academic Honor Roll.
The menÕs lacrosse team looked to use the 1997 season as a rebuilding year after the graduation of eight starters from last yearÕs squad. Offensively the Garnet was led by Pat Donaghy Õ99, who recorded team-highs in goals (11), assists (seven), and points (18). Tucker Zengerle Õ00, one of four freshman starters, stepped to the forefront earning Second Team All-Centennial Conference recognition for his strong defensive play. Zengerle was the lone freshman to be selected to the all-conference squad.
Haverford snapped SwarthmoreÕs two-year run as Hood Trophy champions, earning a 11.5 to 7.5 victory. This spring menÕs tennis, womenÕs lacrosse, and softball earned full points, while baseball split a point.
Swarthmore College. All rights reserved. 1997