New specializations are coming to life for the next academic year.
With an enrollment of over 1,100 students in the Honours Life Sciences program, the School of Interdisciplinary Sciences has been working to devise new specializations for the benefit of this large cohort.
The surprising twist? Students themselves are helping to spearhead the design of these specializations.
Four Life Sciences students at the university currently serve as MacPherson Student Partners under the direction of Prof. Kim Dej, who holds the MacPherson Leadership in Teaching and Learning Fellowship.
Together, they are involved in a two-year project to analyze the impact of specializations on student engagements and academic success.
“Last summer, [the faculty] reached out to students, where we held a day-long workshop asking them what they would like to see. That workshop made us realize we should have been working with students all along,” said Prof. Dej, “[I think] an important part of life science curriculum development has these partnerships with students.”
Over the past year, the student partners have been working on curriculum design, looking at outcomes, as well as survey data. They have come up with eight tentative sub plans before finalizing two as optional specializations for the program.
The specializations gravitate towards the subject of human health and wellbeing to captivate student interest. Rather than merely serving as a gateway to professional school, the specializations are more so intended to provide exposure to diverse topics and many potential career paths.
Students working for students appear to be the key theme of this project.
“Talking to friends of mine who have either graduated or are in fourth year, they feel like they needed more structure in the program,” said Aisha Mohamed, a third-year Life Sciences student, and MacPherson student partner. “ It’s been nice getting feedback and knowing that we can make changes to accommodate them.”
“I would have wanted more guidance out of first year that would direct me for the next three years,” added Hannah Kearney, also a student partner.
"Talking to friends of mine who have either graduated or are in fourth year, they feel like they needed more structure in the program."
Aisha Mohamed
MacPherson Student partner
The two specializations, Sensory Motor Systems and Origin of Disease, are currently in the process of being finalized. Pending approval by the Senate, the new plans may be offered as soon as in the Fall 2017 curriculum.
Looking forward, Prof. Dej hopes to accomplish much more for the students in the Honours Life Sciences program by directing an interdisciplinary approach. Some of the areas she hopes to cover include public health, policy and science communications, among others.
“This isn’t the end; we want to explore more and hopefully explore outside the faculty to find things that cross these academic silos. Students who enter into the sciences are still interested in humanities and social sciences, and we wish to make these things thread together,” she said.
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During the fall term of 2015, McMaster University sent students in Level II and above a survey, asking them to evaluate their undergraduate experience thus far.
The Student Satisfaction Survey, created by the Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance, touched on a variety of different themes including resource availability, teaching quality and overall satisfaction with students’ chosen program of study.
The majority of the survey was multiple-choice with occasional boxes giving students the option of providing further comment. Since McMaster did not independently create the questionnaire, the survey only queried students’ overall university experience and general satisfaction.
With many students switching programs multiple times, McMaster has failed to create a system that asks targeted questions about academic experiences or gives students the chance to address their program-specific concerns. The OUSA survey may have brought up concerns about education in Ontario, but on our campus, there is no clear avenue for students to express their dissatisfaction without red tape getting in the way.
According to a recent four-year study by the National Centre for Education Statistics, 80 percent of undergraduate students in the United States change their majors at least once over the course of their education. A comparable study has not been completed in Canada, but with post-secondary teaching standards being comparable, and often ranked to be lower than those in the States, Canadian students likely face a similar level of indecision and dissatisfaction.
While the University does offer course evaluations and shared this survey as a stride to address student satisfaction, there are still numerous students who feel unfulfilled with their programs and degrees. The Silhouette sits down with four students who have had disappointing academic experiences to address the three main reasons why they feel or have felt dissatisfaction in their programs — waning interest, a lack of university guidance and the perpetuation of a harmful academic culture.
A change of pace
Shivani Seth, currently a second-year Philosophy and Biology student, found herself looking away from her initial program of study, Chemical Biology. Seth found that despite her love of the field, ChemBio’s focus was far too narrow. Seth was looking for a more holistic experience and she did not share the aversion to essay writing and formal presentations that her peers had.
“I remember one day in class we got a lecture on how to write: grammar, spelling, filler words, and I just sat there like, ‘we are getting a lecture on this.’ I think that’s when it hit me that maybe, what I like to do is different from what the rest of the class liked to do and I think that became more pronounced over the year.”
Upon realizing that the program was not her fit, Seth chose to transfer into a program in a completely different faculty — a decision that didn’t come without challenges.
“It was horribly difficult,” said Seth. “Switching to a whole different Faculty of Humanities, it felt very bizarre. I had to acknowledge I was giving up on previously earned credits. Some would be counted as electives … it was hard to swallow what I was giving up because it means I spent time in another field, basically building my way up there to find out I have to restart at the bottom of another field.”
Unlike Seth whose program was too narrow, fourth-year Honours Life Sciences student Umair Majid considered switching from his program during second year when he felt that the open-ended nature left him without a clear direction. The actual structure of the program streamlined Majid into a vague curriculum that wasn’t what he had in mind. With little guidance from academic advisors and administration, instead of switching programs, Majid looked to extra-curricular activities to find fulfillment while at McMaster.
For students who find themselves interested in their field of studies, but still not completely fulfilled, switching programs can be an extremely difficult decision. For some students, clubs have been the only way to find full satisfaction with their academic experience.
“I spend more time doing non-academic work than academic work. It’s about a 90/10 split, and that 90 percent basically makes my university experience so vibrant because the majority of those things are related some way to my studies.”
Majid used the program’s once overwhelming flexibility to orient his studies to those non-academic activities. Majid eventually became involved with lobbying for a new Life Science course and the start of the student organization “Overcome the Gap.” However, his faculty did very little to promote these non-academic opportunities for students looking for more guidance, yet it is a viable option for people struggling to fit into the broad program.
“The Life Sciences program did not provide the resources or the opportunities to take the knowledge I necessarily gained from all these different courses. I had to do that myself.”
The red tape
As with any other large organization, there are a number of areas where university resources can stumble and fail students. For Seth, it was her own expectations of the curriculum. But for Majid, it was his academic advisors and a lack of guidance from the university.
He found that due to the unspecified nature of the Life Sciences program, the advisors in the Faculty of Science were unable to help him and other students find some direction within the program.
“I feel that in the Life Sciences program they don’t understand what students go through,” he said.
“They should really do a better job at transitioning once you get your acceptance letter.”
According to Majid, the department makes occasional use of a bulletin board and email blasts, but the majority of information relates to environmental science, which is not necessarily the focus of the majority of students in Life Sciences. For him, research into his own program of study was of great interest, but not all students have the time or ability to make that a priority.
“To put it very simply, the students want something but … they don’t know where to reach out and they don’t know how to navigate [their program],” he explained.
The Faculty of Science currently provides five academic advisors for its roughly 6,000 students. While support staff are expensive to uphold, and asking for more advisors may not be feasible, there should still be other methods of guidance available to students so those asking questions are able to find answers.
Tobi Abdul, a recent graduate of McMaster’s Communications program, also found that information about her program was hard to come by, and the academic advising network wasn’t putting out the most helpful information. She initially accepted an offer for Social Work at McMaster, not realizing that unlike most other programs of its kind, Social Work was not a direct entry program.
“I like to look up everything,” she said, referring to the extensive university research she did in Grade 12. “And the fact that I didn’t realize Social Work wasn’t a [direct entry] program means that I wasn’t well-advised … I just didn’t have enough information.”
The small amount of information readily available to incoming students tarnished her experience getting started in the program. The lack of information prevented Abdul from entering her initial program of choice, but luckily, she eventually found a program and system that worked well for her.
“In my last year, I did really enjoy school. I got to take my independent study, I took classes that I wanted to, and at that point I knew how to write about what I wanted to while staying within the guidelines. It just came with a lot of experience, but I guess the end was better than the beginning.”
In addition to her early administrative challenges, she also found obstacles with Student Accessibility Services.
“I also had an ADHD diagnosis when I was 15, and when I got my admissions package, they made it seem like ADHD wasn’t accommodated because technically it’s not a learning disability,” said Abdul.
“I did first year twice because I just dropped so many classes I didn’t have enough credits to go into my second year because I feel like I wasn’t well-advised … they should really do a better job at transitioning once you get your acceptance letter.
That package should come with a list of things you need to know and not just the [link to] the website. They need to let students know what to look for. They need to change the way they lecture. They need to change the culture around lecture. It puts one learning style above others and it makes it difficult for people who don’t learn that way. There are professors who don’t have to use slides and that’s not fair. There are no requirements.”
Toxic culture
While some may be able to transition out of an unpleasant academic situation with personal or academic changes, many students get caught in an unhealthy cycle that makes it difficult for them to want and accept necessary change.
Despite it not being everything she wanted, Seth clearly loved her previous program. “[ChemBio was an] interesting program, great program, but just maybe not the best fit for me,” she said.
While she found the material engaging, Seth was concerned by the lifestyle she and her classmates seemed forced to adopt. She described a routine where she consumed large volumes of coffee to stay awake to get work done. While other Chemical Biology students went to greater extents to minimize the amount of sleep they required.
“Everyone was on caffeine pills,” she said.
Chemical Biology students are certainly not the only group under this pressure. Helen Zeng offers another frightening version of this scenario. A second-year student in the highly competitive Bachelor of Health Sciences program, she found the mentality it breeds in students to be unhealthy and unsafe.
“I find that all my Health Sciences spaces tend to be much more stressful and anxiety induced … I have seen people who have developed anxiety issues … because of being in the program,” said Zeng.
She added that many of the students in her cohort refuse to even acknowledge the level of stress they are experiencing. “It’s almost like it’s a point of weakness … I think it makes it a very toxic environment to be in because that kind of stress can make you hate the things you’re learning, hate the program and get excessively stressed over very small things,” she said.
In a 2013 nation-wide survey on post-secondary students, 86.9 percent of students surveyed said they were exhausted, 56 percent felt overwhelming anxiety and nearly 10 percent had seriously considered suicide. There is clearly a problem with the way students are internalizing and reacting to stress, but many students can’t seem to let go of this harmful culture that is following their education.
“It’s competitive and it’s petty and I see people doing these things that I don’t think they should be,” said Zeng.
Present day
Whether students make the leap to a new program or stay with their original choice remains a highly personal decision that may still present its own challenges.
Ultimately Abdul was far happier in McMaster’s Communications program, however it took until her final year of school to feel satisfied.
Majid provides another case study of making his original program work for him. Now about to graduate, he feels he has a somewhat narrower sense of what he wants to do — education policy being on the list. He has helped revamp the Honours Life Sciences program, spinning his dissatisfaction with the program in a way that helps future students get more out of it.
Even Zeng, despite the unhealthy environment she has found in her program, has no plans to switch out. “It’s just studying alone or getting time outside of the program … I find that getting away from that and studying on my own is beneficial.”
While Abdul, Majid and Zeng all found ways to shape their program to meet their needs, Seth has so far found that she is happier in Philosophy and Biology. However, she is still apprehensive about whether switching was the right move. “I’m that puzzle piece that doesn’t know which puzzle I belong to. I’m watching everyone build their way up and here I am trying to figure out what I want to start working on and where I actually belong,” she said.
Seth acknowledges that her problem is one felt by many students. “I don’t think anyone at the end of the day knows if they’re doing the right thing. As easy as it is for me to say that everyone else has found that puzzle they belong to, I don’t think that’s necessarily true.”
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The recent change to the Honours Life Sciences curriculum tops what has been a year of many changes for the program. The current curriculum draws in students looking for flexibility in course selections. Despite graduating with the same degree, students in the program have taken a variety of courses such as biology, psychology, ecology and more. The reasoning behind the changes in curriculum arose from concerns surrounding whether the flexibility ultimately held students back from developing the necessary skills that they need to progress past graduation.
For Biology professor Kimberly Dej, this is a major concern. “We knew that students appreciated the flexibility but we also worried about what students ended up with when they graduated. Whether you’re in health care, politics and policy – you have to think like a scientist … And what we found is that by fourth-year students were still taking a group of courses that were very broad and they were still experimenting with courses. So there was no progression upward through the years.”
A committee made up of all the contributing departments and two student members was assembled to revise the curriculum. While in the past, required courses were grouped by year level of the course, the new curriculum groups required courses by broader skill sets: research skills, communication skills and an experiential component. Courses that were mandatory before are conserved under this system, but are organized differently.
Under the umbrella category for research skills is the living systems laboratory course that aims to introduce students to novel research techniques. Making statistics a required course was done as a means of ensuring that students in science are able to understand and interpret data presented in research. Past analyses showed that most students take Genetics, so making it a required second year course was not considered to be a big change.
The communication courses ensure that students have the necessary skills to hold their own symposium, hold a debate and develop other skills necessary in the scientific field. Finally, the experiential component features a thesis or project course in third or fourth year, a placement course, community engagement course or peer-mentoring course.
“It’s a real shame if you graduate with a science degree and you’re never in a lab and all you do is fill in multiple choice bubble questions. I think we are letting down the students if they spend four years doing that, so we wanted to think about how they can apply these skills in really meaningful ways,” said Dej.
The number of electives that students are able to take is conserved in the new curriculum, meaning that there is no loss in flexibility to do a minor or to take courses outside of science.
Students currently in their second year of Honours Life Sciences and higher will not be affected by these curriculum changes. Students currently in level one of a gateway program that plan on entering into the Honours Life Sciences stream will take courses as per the new curriculum but will have the same admission requirements as the previous years. The following year will also see changes to the courses requirement for entry into the program, with math, biology, chemistry and physics being required.
“What we found is that by fourth-year students were still taking a group of courses that were very broad and they were still experimenting with courses. So there was no progression upward through the years.”
The next step is to develop subplans, or specific smaller sets of courses within Honours Life Science that allow for a greater variety of interests. Students will be actively involved in the development of these subplans, as they were involved in the development of the curriculum through surveys and a public discussion.
Students with questions or concerns are encouraged to reach out to the administrative department, as well as those who are interested in being involved in the creation of curriculum changes.
Photo Credit: Kareem Baassiri/ Photo Contributor
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By: Emma Mulholland
With the end of the academic year approaching, students are beginning to look for summer jobs and employment opportunities in places ranging from retail to research. The government of Ontario, however, wants to give students the opportunity to become entrepreneurs over the summer, through a program known as Summer Company.
“The goal of Summer Company is to introduce students to the world of entrepreneurship … to [help students] turn a hobby into a business idea … [and] to provide training and mentoring to the students so that they get a greater understanding of the business world,” said Dragica Lebo, Business Development Officer with the Hamilton Small Business Enterprise Centre.
Students apply to the program with a potential business idea and can receive up to $3,000 of funding from the provincial government to support their business. In the application process, students state how much money they initially require to start their business. According to Lebo, “no matter what the business is, all students have the same rules and regulations … the province will only give $1,500 so anything beyond that has to come from the student … if a student needs more … they will need to supply it themselves, or prioritize what they need … they have up to $1,500 [though], so we really try to help them take advantage of the whole $1,500.”
“Most of our students who participate in this program have never taken a business course before. Most of them just have a hobby or an idea … and want to see if it can be a viable company.”
After successfully completing the program, which requires students to attend training sessions, meet with local business mentors and properly keep track of receipts and invoices, students can receive an additional $1,500. Whether or not students decide to continue their business after the program ends is usually dependent on the situation, says Lebo. Many students who participated in the program in Hamilton continue part-time during the school year, and then pick it up again the following summer.
Several McMaster students who went through the program have also continued their businesses, either full time or part time. “The most helpful part was probably the connections that [Summer Company] helped us to establish … they put us in contact with people that could help with the legal aspects [of the business],” remarked Dylan Kiteley, a former participant who used the support of the program to establish a permanent retail location for his company, Oracle Nutrition.
In addition to providing financial support for students, Summer Company also aims to provide students with mentorship and business literacy skills. Summer Company itself sees a wide variety of business plans, but a common theme is that many students applying to the program do not have business backgrounds.
“Most of our students who participate in this program have never taken a business course before. Most of them just have a hobby or an idea … and want to see if it can be a viable company. This program gives them the opportunity to test the waters out,” explained Lebo. Bi-weekly meetings with community business leaders offers students everything from moral support and encouragement, to practical advice on navigating the business field. “[The mentor’s] role is to assist and guide the students from beginning to end of their companies within the program … to encourage the students in the world of business … and to help them through each phase and ensure that the [students] are on the right track,” said Lebo. Several prominent community leaders from a variety of fields, including McMaster professors, have volunteered time during the summer to work as mentors in the program.
Summer Company has been running in Ontario since 2001, and while it is open to students from age 15 to 29, Lebo notes that an interesting demographic shift has been taking place in the past few years. “About five years ago [the program] was very college or university [student] dominated … but in the past few years it’s been very 50/50 [between high school and post-secondary students] … I think that the entrepreneurial bug is embedded in students in a younger age … there are more business classes in high school than before … a lot of [high school] students are showing interest … they see that they can apply what they know, try something different, and see what it’s like operating a business.”
As classes come to an end and the hunt for summer employment begins, with a little help from the Ontario government, some students will be spending the summer hoping to break into the business world.
Photo Credit: Kareem Baassiri/ Photo Contributor
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By: Lauren Beals
What if you could eradicate a disease from the face of the planet, but doing so would mean taking away resources from prevalent health concerns? What if someone asked you if modern research should continue to use tissues samples from third world countries, even if the sample population felt exploited? Maybe you would flip a coin. Or you could call in the experts.
No better experts could be found than those at McMaster. Recently, the University has assembled their own A-team of global health ethicists with the new Program on Ethics and Policy Information.
Meagan Kay-Fowlow, the Program Manager for PEPI, describes the program as “an ethics consultation and research program” dedicated to helping “stakeholders in global health research navigate through the ethical challenges that impact their work.” This may include overcoming ethical barriers that threaten global health projects, anticipating ethical risks or enhancing the quality of current programs.
Take the example of the emerging Zika virus. PEPI might look at ethical questions regarding its elimination through vector control, or work with policy makers as they try to ethically mitigate its spread. Researchers could also consult PEPI as they create projects to better understand the virus.
Beyond global consulting, PEPI also supports the independent pursuits of its team members encouraging collaboration with local scholars.
“We’re really excited to be at McMaster because there’s already so many great people working on issues in Global Health,” said Kay-Fowlow. “There’s a great deal of potential for research collaboration on exciting and pressing issues.”
Leading the charge is Claudia Emerson, PEPI’s Director. A former senior scientist with the University of Toronto, Emerson brings a wealth of experience from roles with the University Health Network and as a core investigator with the Ethical, Social, Cultural Program for Global Health funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
“She is a critical asset,” said Kay-Fowlow. “She sets the vision for the work we do.” Emerson, who established the program at McMaster, also conducts her own research on disease eradication with notable works including malaria and polio advocacy among other issues.
To many people, Emerson’s bold ideas can be intimidating and often deter them from getting involved. To others, their only experience with ethics is approval from the research ethics board before a thesis. PEPI aims to change that.
“We hear this a lot. It’s also a perspective we are trying to change,” said Kay-Fowlow. “The perception is that paying attention to ethics means that scientists have extra work to do, or have more hoops to jump through. But we see ethics as enabling, paying attention can enhance the quality and efficacy of projects.”
She also hopes to involve the student community through social media and emerging initiatives. “We’re hoping to engage in some interesting discussions and we’ll definitely be sharing information about ethical issues and work that we’re doing in this area,” said Kay-Fowlow.
Despite their difficulty, ethical questions are vital to innovation in the modern world, and working toward their answers can reap real benefits.
“It’s very rewarding to see the impact of the work,” explained Kay-Fowlow. “Many of the questions we face relate to the challenges posed by cutting edge technologies, and it’s very stimulating to try and figure out how we can harness that power to achieve some good.”
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There is a new face in the office of the Dean of Social Sciences. On Nov. 15, Economics professor Jeremiah Hurley will step into the role of Dean following the departure of Charlotte Yates, who was appointed the position of provost at Guelph University.
Hurley specializes in the economics of health and health care systems and completed his Master’s at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.
The idea of Hurley’s new role at McMaster is exciting. He said, “I’m most looking forward to trying to help build excellence in the faculty in teaching and research, support faculty and the university as it moves forward with its agenda.”
Hurley hopes to continue some of the initiatives Yates undertook in her time as the Social Sciences Dean. He cited LR Wilson Hall, a new building exclusively for Humanities and Social Sciences students that is set to open next summer. Hurley hopes it will foster innovative efforts in teaching and making use of active learning spaces. “It’s going to create great opportunities for us to learn from both research and the community,” he explained.
In addition to continuing the initiatives Yates started, Hurley hopes to create more opportunities for interdisciplinary learning. Due to the nature of his specialty, Prof. Hurley said, “I’ve always been appointed between Health Sciences and Social Sciences so I’ve always been engaged in interdisciplinary work.” He added that he plans to discuss strategies for greater interdisciplinary collaboration with other faculty members.
This collaboration process is what Hurley loves most about the McMaster community. “The environment at McMaster is so supportive of interdisciplinary research,” he said.
“When I was on leave at another university and I realized the things I just take for granted at McMaster in terms of the ease of working with others across departments and faculties doesn’t exist everywhere. For me that was a moment of crystallization.”
Prof. Hurley has not confirmed what these new interdisciplinary efforts will look like, but he mentioned the possibility of a greater variety of classes being offered to students in some programs in addition to courses where multiple professors divide a course. He believes this will allow students to learn about a wider range of perspectives, and concluded, “I think we want to be open and flexible about this.”
Photo Credit: evidencenetwork.ca
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By: Kaiwen Song
MCAT? Thank God that’s done! Autobiographical sketch? Just needs another look. Supplementary essays? Completed and edited! Now I just pray that my reference letters arrive on time.
This September, many of my peers and I applied to medical school through the Ontario Medical Schools Application System. In addition to the full application, OMSAS requires that three physical copies of completed reference letters be received by Oct. 1 — not sent by, not postmarked on, but received. Although many medical schools understand the variability of mail delivery times and use Oct. 1 as a flexible deadline, certain schools don’t. The University of Toronto medical school this year is notable for declaring on its FAQ page that if a reference letter arrives at OMSAS even just one day after the deadline, the corresponding application will not proceed to file review.
As you can imagine, the weeks leading up to the deadline were a very stressful time. In addition to taking the MCAT, completing our autobiographical sketch, and writing our supplementary essays, we also had to take all the necessary steps to ensure that our reference letters arrive on time. Unfortunately, as students, we can only do so much. We begin by asking our potential referees early to provide them with plenty of time to write it, as well as for the letters to arrive at OMSAS safely before Oct. 1 through the postal system.
As the deadline approaches, we start to send carefully worded reminders to our referees — forceful enough to express the reference letter’s importance, but restrained enough to not offend. Although we understand that our referees lead busy professional and personal lives and require time to complete the letter, we can’t help but feel uneasy since our entire applications are on the line. At the time, it felt supremely unnerving and frustrating – all of our hard work can be undone by something outside of our control.
Upon further reflection, I am surprised to say that I actually believe that the University of Toronto medical school’s strict deadline is fair. If the deadline was flexible, up to what point should reference letters to accepted? One week after the deadline? One month? There must be a clear deadline to ensure that all applications are processed in a timely manner, and Oct. 1 seems perfectly reasonable.
That being said, I would like to advocate for the change from physical reference letters being mailed in to electronic references sent through email. The biggest source of stress regarding references was the unpredictability of the postal system. Reference writers could send the letter weeks before the due date, but there’s still the chance that it could arrive later than the deadline, especially if the letter is coming from another province or country. If a letter is lost in the mail, students have no way of determining whether that occurred, and there may not be enough time after this discovery to ask for another letter. All of these issues can be addressed by switching to an electronic system, such as the one used by the United States’ undergraduate college application system. Students are asked to input their referees’ email addresses into the system, and their referees will receive a secure link in which to comment on the student’s suitability for their applied program. As soon as the reference letter is submitted, the student will receive notification of its completion.
An electronic system for receiving reference letters will streamline the process, reduce the anxiety of students at a very tumultuous time in their lives, and ensure that all applications can begin to be processed in a timely manner. As anyone can tell you, applying to medical school is hard enough already. Let’s not make it harder than it has to be.
Photo Credit: Ontario Universities' Application Centre
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By: Sunanna Bhasin
Last February, I partook in one of the best learning experiences of my life: MacServe Reading Week. MacServe is a service-learning program run by the Student Success Centre that coordinates opportunities for groups of students to volunteer in the city and abroad. It differs from community service by combining personal reflection, critical discussion, and working alongside community members as opposed to working for them. It encourages students to recognize their responsibility to engage in civic life.
While MacServe provides opportunities elsewhere, I chose Hamilton because I wanted to get to know the city beyond McMaster. The overwhelming emotion and connection I felt each day is indescribable. Service-learning was an integral part of my growth into a compassionate and well-rounded individual. Outside of personal growth, students should be encouraged to be active in their community outside the “McMaster bubble.” There is sometimes hesitation on the part of students about exploring downtown Hamilton, partially because of the uncomfortable reality of poverty in the city. This unfamiliarity should not translate to an unwillingness to learn about our surroundings, especially since it is our home for at least eight months of the year.
One issue is the social stigma associated with poverty, which we can perpetuate if we ignore the issue. There is prejudiced language I have noticed at McMaster, such as the term “Code Red” used to refer to the especially impoverished areas of the city, further segregating the Hamilton and student population. We miss the bigger picture when we buy into this rhetoric, and fail to see the strong, hard-working community in this city that’s fighting to end this stigma. This bigger picture is something that cannot be fully understood through detached research. I met the Hamiltonians behind the stereotypes by conversing with a woman asking for extra snacks at the food bank, or sitting at a shelter, not only serving food to the customers but also eating and conversing with them. Participating in service-learning is a fantastic way for McMaster students to break through the barrier separating them from misunderstood members of the community.
I urge McMaster’s administration to consider giving students the option to partake in service-learning for course credit. With overwhelmingly heavy course loads, many students find it difficult to balance schoolwork with extracurricular activities, but this could allow more students to get involved. If professors encouraged community engagement and increased interaction with Hamiltonians by providing academic incentive, more students may become interested.
This model already exists in the university: McMaster’s Nursing program has taken steps to make 32 hours of service-learning mandatory in first and second year. Nursing 1K02 and 2K02 make up two parts of a course called “Health and Well-Being of Diverse Populations” which includes service-learning. Giving students an extra push to partake in what may be the most memorable experience of their university career could be the answer to not only cultivating compassionate minds, but also building up the Hamilton community. It is the application of textbook knowledge that becomes an effective means for social change.
Photo Credit: Tiffany Mintah
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Omar Khadr is a polarizing figure, considered by some to be a terrorist and others a child soldier. But English professor David L. Clark sees a deep connection between the young men and women he teaches at McMaster and Mr. Khadr, one that he hopes to foster.
Mr. Khadr was born in Toronto in 1986, and spent his early life between Canada and Pakistan. He was captured at the age of 15 in Afghanistan following a firefight with the American Military in which Mr. Khadr allegedly killed a medic. He was held at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan before being transferred to Guantanamo Bay, where he became a victim of torture.
But he was also busy working to upgrade his middle school level education with help from a team of professors from The King’s College, a private Christian university in Edmonton, Alberta, who devised a curriculum and visited him in Guantanamo. Since his extradition back to Alberta in 2013, the visits have increased to at least once a week and Mr. Khadr has reached a Grade 12 level education.
In May 2015, McMaster’s Prof. David L. Clark wrote a letter to President Patrick Deane, requesting that the university hold a spot for Mr. Khadr. The letter received little response from the university until the request drew the attention of the media, and Prof. Clark was invited to meet with President Deane. That meeting, described by Prof. Clark as “a very robust conversation to say the least,” resulted in an invitation to Prof. Arlette Zinck of The King’s College, one of Mr. Khadr’s primary tutors, to visit campus. Prof. Clark regarded this as a promising first step in a larger process.
This letter also had another kind of response: hate mail. “There’s nothing like opening up your email in the morning and having someone scream at you,” said Prof. Clark. “The letters that came to me demonstrated that a whole lot of education needed to take place first,” a challenge Prof. Clark is taking on.
He has devised a second initiative, “The Hospitality Project”, that aims to address that issue by asking students to write five hundred public letters to Omar Khadr in the spirit of “hospitality, friendship, dignity, respect and solidarity.”
He is optimistic about the relationship between young people and Mr. Khadr.
“99 percent of positive responses I got to the first initiative came from students, and that’s what lead to the second initiative,” said Prof. Clark. The website was launched on Sept. 9, and already Professor Lisa Farley at York University has tweeted an invitation to her first year class of about 300 students to take part in “The Hospitality Project”. The reaction at McMaster remains to be seen.
“I’m holding my breath,” said Prof. Clark. While he anticipates a great response from students, he admits it is possible that their letters, which will be signed and published, may attract backlash. “They won’t have a return address [but] of course it’s quite possible that… students who write [the letters] will be subjected to criticism.”
In the age of the internet a return address is hardly needed to identify a writer, but Prof. Clark believes that this risk is outweighed by the benefits to Mr. Khadr, and the overall role of the university in building peace.
“I want the Canadian public to see that students too are part of this work towards a more democratic and humane polity,” he said.
Photo Credit: David L. Clark
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Karen Wang / Graphics Editor
The first things I noticed about Peggy-Anne when I met her on orientation night were her twinkling eyes and her radiant smile. Jet-black hair, pearly white skin and rosy cheeks, she appeared to be in her fifties, but she spoke with the energy and exuberance of a five-year-old. Her smile lines gave the effect of effervescence instead of old age, her shrunken physique a sense of childish vivacity rather than fragility. As she introduced herself, her voice bounced off the walls and her legs – too short to reach the carpet – kicked in the air emphatically.
Peggy-Anne is one of eighteen participants of McMaster University’s Voicing Hamilton Discovery Program this year. In step with Patrick Deane’s Forward With Integrity initiative to strengthen intercommunity relationships, the program offers a twelve-week course on the history of Hamilton to local Hamiltonians encountering barriers to education.
“I just want to learn,” Peggy-Anne said simply as to why she signed up for the program. The genuine desire to learn defined the energy at our weekly Saturday classes and is what I find awe-inspiring as a Support Team member of the program. This array of adult students – despite differences in age, background and enduring difficulties in life, whether monetary, linguistic, cultural or medical – all share the simple excitement to engage in a purely educational environment.
At the graduation ceremony four months after we first met, Peggy-Anne recounted her struggle in entering an academic setting as a big, scary step; one that she is ever so glad she took. Having led a difficult life, it wasn’t until a decade ago that she recognized herself as a victim of family violence and childhood sexual abuse. The program gave her a newfound confidence and a sense that she is allowed to have a voice, to take up space.
The program isn’t just about the spirit of learning, or the history of Hamilton for that matter. It is an opportunity to reach out and make connections; it is about searching for a sense of self and identity. In short, it is about finding your place in society.
Every Saturday morning Peggy-Anne comes to class bearing Tim Horton’s coffee and breakfast for herself and Lina, another student that she has grown close to. Through discussions on local activism and controversial topics, despite occasional opposing opinions, the class members have shown tolerance, respect and intelligence. By sharing stories, ideas and inside jokes, the class of the Discovery Program has become family.
As university students, we have become sheltered in our university life. Often at 2 a.m. when an essay due the next day is still waiting to be started, I wonder ironically why we often feel trapped in this system of deadlines and morning lectures and where our sense of adventure and excitement is that the students of the Discovery Program effortless find in learning.
“Why we are all here?” I often find myself wondering about the mass of students in lectures and tutorials waiting for the proverbial bell to ring, the students who join clubs to fill resumes (we all do it). I am talking about myself, my roommates and the many people I see around campus.
I suppose we are here for an education. For a degree. For a future career. Most of us look at school like an assignment, an obligation to check off the grand To-Do list of life. I realize that in the path of finding a future, we’ve lost something important in the present.
We are becoming robots in an educational system. Yes, we are students. But before that, we are members of larger communities – the McMaster community, the Hamilton community, the global community. We need to remember that.
I am grateful to the 18 creative, intelligent, resilient people who have reminded me of this by sharing their stories and their presence.
