Upon my arrival, I was suddenly struck by the notion that it would be 10 days until classes actually started. Cool! I downloaded every song I had ever wanted-and some I didn't. Unfortunately, I then had nothing to do with the other nine and a half days of free time. The original fire of excitement regressed to a passive, summer vacation-type mode. At least I was among other Amherst students who would help me pass the time.
Hold on a minute. Were these 18- and 19-year-olds really Amherst students? They may have the ability to handle Amherst, but weren't they really just a bunch of exceptional high school students thrown into the same place? As one of these, I make no claim to know what an Amherst student really is, but the Class of 2005 was definitely devoid of any identity after only its first few days here.
So what was orientation week? Besides the events scheduled, it was a bunch of teenagers (brilliant teenagers, but teenagers nonetheless) given adult freedoms for the first time, with mounds of free time on their hands-you do the math.
We got to know each other, but whom did we really get to know? Was it the Joseph Caissie who had his whole view of the world changed in his LJST class or was it the Joseph Caissie who lived with his parents for the first 18 years of his life? Making orientation three days instead of 10 would not change much, but perhaps it would have allowed us to get to know each other in the context of class instead of meeting kids straight out of high school, many of whom are being untrue to themselves.
Back in high school (a phrase I found myself repeating hundreds of times during orientation week), I had plenty of opportunities to party and few opportunities to have an intelligent discussion with a peer. When I "get to know" people at Amherst, it is mostly their minds I am interested in. I can find people who know how to have a good time anywhere. I am certain that the love of the academic life here is no less than advertised, but the first week that I was struck by the lack of interest in that sort of thing, in fact, even a strange aversion to anything remotely intellectual. With 10 days of mostly free time, intelligent conversations were usually restricted to the programming preferences of ESPN.
I don't take issue with the so-called "mandatory" events outlined in the orientation packet. They were informative, necessary or entertaining (and sometimes all three). For what I thought orientation should be, the panel of professors and deans speaking about academics at Amherst was the most appropriate. The events promoting acceptance, safe sex and careful decision making when it comes to drinking were less productive. As a nerd/prude/accepting guy, none of the messages really applied to me, but I cannot help thinking that anyone who "needed" to hear them probably wouldn't listen anyway. If someone had been raised for 18 years in a racist environment, a speech or two on diversity wouldn't change them, it could only perhaps make them mad. Maybe they would realize that they are in the wrong place, but it would likely not change their viewpoint.
Katie Koestner was more effective, but only in alerting me to the fact that things like sexual assault and rape happen on college campuses. I do not consider myself a potential rapist or rape victim. In fact, I doubt any male on campus does. Therefore I zoned out for the speech and fear that it may not serve me should such a situation arise.
Academics are the thing that sets Amherst apart from the rest of the world. I did not know the kid I played air hockey with last week, and he probably is a very interesting person. Just in the context of air hockey, he could have been some random kid I met in the mall. And why should we discuss politics or quantum theory? We were playing air hockey. That sort of thing is fun and even necessary when entering a new environment, but 10 days of it was a little too much.
Several times during orientation, I found myself waiting around for classes to start. I even read a book on my own. (Maybe the idea behind the whole thing was to get us motivated!) Again, I have no notion of what college is supposed to be like. My guess is that it is not "Camp Amherst." Were the 10 days of pleasure seeking fun? Yes, at times. But with no classes, could they really be called orientation?