Samuel Casey
Editor in Chief
March Madness is finally over! No, not the basketball tournament; I’m talking about the rush to turn in I.S. before the deadline(s) at the end of last month. Regardless of when it was finIShed, every senior deserves a standing ovation for completing their thesis during a pandemic. With an abundance of free time, I’ve been able to reflect on the I.S. process and the necessary adaptations, many of which should continue in future years. Of course, I can only speak to my own experience as a political science student. How one approaches I.S. is often an individual decision based on what they want out of it, whether that’s the first step toward a career in research or just being good enough to pass and graduate. These determinations should be equally respected which, in my opinion, is currently not the case. Doing exceptional work should absolutely be honored and celebrated, but just finishing an undergraduate research that is, remember, not elective but required, deserves the utmost appreciation as well. This goes beyond Wooster and is a problem rooted in our education system where GPA and test scores are correlated with self-worth. I.S. should be strictly pass/fail, instead of the tiered system that currently exists, especially because getting “honors” is tied to inclusion in honors societies and graduation distinctions which is mostly subjective. Not to mention that the difference between “honors” and “good” rhetorically feels like the difference between Earth and Mars.
On the topic of subjectivity, the I.S. experience of many seniors is based on their major and advisor. While I’m sure most students leave I.S. meetings stressed, yet supported, I know of others who have felt the complete opposite. The project is supposed to be challenging, but the level of challenge truly depends on the faculty you are working with. In general, I felt that professors were more understanding about missed deadlines than ever before due to the pandemic, but we should normalize this in any given year for many reasons, only one example being first-generation/limited income students who are often working maximum hours and cannot dedicate the same time to I.S. each week. It also isn’t a secret that I.S. takes a toll on students’ mental health and this is only amplified for students who already have conditions that make completing a thesis even harder. Are professors adequately trained on what to do if a student is having an anxiety attack, for example, during a weekly meeting? Much like anti-bias training, it should be thoroughly discussed and practiced continuously. This could also benefit faculty who may be in unfamiliar territory if they are new to Wooster and could easily find themselves overwhelmed.
I would also like to see the I.S. process become less restrictive. We all know that Independent Study is supposed to be a “class of one.” But is this really feasible? The spread of majors is not evenly distributed across departments, and some faculty find themselves many more students. This year, my own political science advisor decided to create cohorts among his advisees, grouping students with similar topics together and meeting with the group as a whole each week. There can be a lot of pressure meeting individually with your professor each week, especially if you did not get all your assigned work done, but hearing other students going through the same thing was quite relieving. It also gives you extra people to reach out to who are working through the same thing at the same time (shoutout to Stachal and Elizabeth). This should not be required, but I’d love to see more professors adopt this cohort model as it can be very helpful to students and will alleviate the schedules of the advisors as well. Also, it would be awesome if students had the option to do more creative projects, outside of studio art and music, as writing a 100+ page paper is not always the best, and definitely not the only, way to exemplify the goals of I.S.
These are only a few suggestions and, of course, I do not know everything about what works and what doesn’t for Wooster students. More than anything, the College should be having conversations about how I.S. can evolve because what worked when it was created (or even ten years ago) does not necessarily work now.