Found this in my drafts.
I went to a small (around 500 students?), conservative, Christian college. I had worked a year after graduating High School, but the realities of adult life were confusing. I had a job as an apprentice mechanic in a small shop (7 mechanics) that would have been a satisfying and decent paying career, but the drama and politics of the adults in that place were sometimes beyond childish. Although I enjoyed the work, I wanted something different. I decided to go to college. I would probably just go a year or two. I wanted a Christian college, because I felt that I had so much to learn about my faith and the Bible.
And I thought the shop guys were childish.
I ended up going 4 years and graduating from this institution. I learned a lot along the way, some things in class, some things outside of class. This story deals with something that happened outside of class.
My freshman year I was a part of a male quartet that traveled for the school. We were ambassadors for the school that did church events for churches that supported the school. We were the only all male group (we had a female pianist), and somewhat popular. Going in to the second semester, we had several appearances booked, including one at the home church of the pianist and another at the home church of two of the men in the group. That's when we got the news.
Apparently, two of our members grades were below the expected standard for extra-curricular participation, and our group was put on academic probation. This meant we could still practice, but not travel for the school. They were graciously (sarcasm) willing to allow us to fulfill our January obligations (which happened to be traveling to churches where school trustees were members), but then probation would take affect until the next grades in March. This was disappointing to us, as our 2 February dates were to churches of members of the group. When this was brought to the schools attention, the made accommodations for us to be able to travel to those as well. So now, we are only two weeks away from being off probation because grades come out mid-March.
Now I had a problem with this. If the purpose of academic probation is to allow the students the extra time to focus on getting their grades back up to par, and we were going to be given accommodations to travel in January and February, was the purpose of the probation being accomplished? I thought no, can't remember what the others felt, but this was brought to the administration's attention. Their response was to keep us on probation, and they wanted our group to meet with the president and vice president of the college. At the meeting, they explained their position, which was since the other dates were already set, to avoid any embarrassment, they would be fulfilled, and we would serve out our probation for the first half of March. Just to add some context, I want to state that I was not one of the students on probation, so my problem with this was more about doing what I believed was right rather than defending my own issues. Also, I wonder if this same logic would apply to other areas as well. Example: Since the basketball schedule is already out, we should let the players fulfill their obligation to avoid embarrassment. Don't think that would fly.
If an athlete were on probation, even a star one, would they be granted the accommodation to be able to continue to play games that had already been scheduled? I wanted the rules to be consistent and fair. Silly me. They did not agree. To me, it came down to either we were on probation and should not travel, or we were not on probation, and we could continue a regular schedule. I voiced this, and was told that if it was an either/or situation, then we would not travel and in fact, they would disband our group. Hardball. So we had a decision to make, and we ended up disbanding. Not a big issue for me, as it freed up more time in my schedule, but disappointing because we enjoyed doing this and enjoyed one another.
Footnote: The other two members that were not on probation were offered the opportunity to join another group, the school's chorale, and not lose their 1 credit hour this would earn them. I was never given this choice, and in fact did not find this out until talking to one of the other members years later. They showed me.
No comments:
Post a Comment