Month: September 2019

Student Power
Have you ever felt oppressed by a teacher or a professor? Freire conveys a message to students to use their power while maximizing it and as well as presenting new ideas to teachers and other students. West Chester students can use their powers in many different ways. One main component of student power is that for a movement to be successful, the student will need each other, therefore, with the power of many students the results are inevitable. One thing every student can agree on is that teachers are sometimes very wrong in what they say. There have been some experiences on campus that the teacher gives students tests that have nothing to do with the past lesson plan. In Paul Freire’s, “The ‘Banking’ Concept of Education” he clearly points that in all circumstance’s teachers are like oppressors and students are the ones oppressed. At West Chester University students can use their power by boycotting professors by boycotting to take the test.
In Freire, his goal is for students to understand their power and how to use it effectively. In, The Banking Concept of Education, the author, Paul Freire denotes, “Those truly committed to liberation must reject the banking concept in its entirety, adopting instead a concept of women and men as conscious beings, and consciousness as consciousness intent upon the world.” (pg. 4) So if all the students stopped going to class all at once, the attention would turn on the faculty. Instead of it being the student’s fault of not showing up to class, the school would investigate the class itself. Therefore, this supports the notion of Paul Freire that students working together to use their power can greatly impact the situation. Essentially with common goals, students can use their power to stand up for unfair tests.
Another way students can show their power is by boycotting certain places on the campus. For example, students can boycott Lawrence dining hall for having food that is bad for you. Freire describes that students are the core of the institution and that they keep the institution running. Freire states that “To resolve the teacher-student contradiction, to exchange the role of depositor, prescriber, domesticator, for the role of student among students would be to undermine the power of oppression and serve the cause of liberation.” (pg. 2). Students usually undermine their power because they are constantly being oppressed but with the help of other students. Students can recognize their strengths and therefore standup for unfair testing.
Enclosure every student needs to recognize their power and how to maximize it effectively. Therefore, in different ways, students can have themselves heard and their problems solved. Some might say the teachers are still more powerful because they are the ones who teach and have a direct connection with the institution but in fact, students are the ones who are essential for the teachers and institutions because they indirectly need them. Freire analytically describes education by describing teachers as oppressors. So basically he states that if students are able to recognize their strength then their voice will be heard.

Cristian Galilea

Working Title

Friere has mentioned many times in his writings about education that there is a need for student interaction. Many professors and students agree on the idea that having student interaction with what is being taught causes them to retain more information.  So why hasn’t this way of teaching been implemented into more classes? The class I will be going through and talking about how it could be changed is the Intro to Criminal Justice. A course that tries to cover a large range of information in half a semester inorder to keep students in, but ultimately causes few to retain mosof what is taught.

In Intro to Criminal Justice you go over the many forms of law, from the history to the people who enforce it, and yet it is all done through a slide show of notes and a reading in the textbook. A way to make this more engaging for the students is to have a person who is or was in the criminal justice profession and talk about what it is really like and what they had to do. This also allows the students to be more engaged by asking questions and really hear what its like to do that job. Also to implement recording into the discussion would allow students to go back later to watch it and take notes on what the person said. This would, in my opinion, cause the students to retain more of what the lesson was about. This would have to be paired with the reading as well and maybe a short slide show about it but this is where we could incorporate another idea. Recording an in class discussion on the reading. This would put more stress on learning the material from the reading and if you are having trouble retaining it all or want to know more about a section of it you can discuss it with the teacher in class. The purpose of recording it instead of taking notes allows everyone to be more focussed on the discussion at hand and be engaged in the conversation, this also allows students to help students if they know the material better. The recording also offers a way of going back over the discussion to then take notes on anything you are confused or interested about. Both of these ways would greatly increase student attention and participation in class while also putting emphasis on the importance of doing the reading.

 As of now the lack of interest and interaction among the students is quite obvious. The classes are mostly silence and blank stares as the professor reads off the slides until class ends. This course in crucial to keeping the interest people have in studying criminal justice either as their major or a minor. Because of the lack of interaction it is hard for everyone to remember the information because it is simply being read to them in a lecture style way of teaching without going in depth. This is a course that does not feel like it should be lecture based because you need to be engaged in order to find the right path to take your next courses and where you want to take your life after college.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1WX8Fh4daCUIDff1Bo5ly3Vtckx0XnIohN5Rp_0RtQOI/edit?usp=sharing

Here at West Chester every professor teaches differently and just as they teach, we students all learn and grow as individuals differently. This creates the problem of not being fully understanding important material being passed onto the students. A prime example of this is Criminal Justice 110, the beginning criminal justice class, we learn from a powerpoint and lecture, and rarely hear relevant life content of criminal law and justice.

Freire talks about the need to break away from the typical forms of teaching or the “Banking Concept” of education. This can be done by the students and ultimately for the betterment of each and every student by changing the way classes are taught. In Criminal Justice, there needs to be much less power points, lectures, and memorization of laws. Professors need to draw into the students interests by day to day examples of crimes, court cases, laws, and then ultimately open up for discussion to better the students understanding.

There are changes that need to be made to CJ 110 in order to allow students to truly grasp the necessary materials to learn, the class needs to stay the length of 50 minutes that it is. This allows enough time for learning to occur without losing the attention span of an average student. The class needs to start off with only a small amount of time for lecturing and power points, but then break into a discussion of real life examples and court cases to truly remember and grasp materials. Students learn and retain information a lot better when they can relate it to real world examples and remember important information by associating it with stories of criminal justice. “Through dialogue, the
teacher-of-the-students and the students-of-the-teacher cease to exist and a new term emerges: teacher-student with
students-teachers. The teacher is no longer merely the-one-who-teaches, but one who is himself taught in dialogue with
the students, who in turn while being taught also teach. They become jointly responsible for a process in which all grow.” (Freire Pg.4). My class fails to realize is that more often than not we all have our own experiences to share and learn from throughout the class instead of pure lecturing. Once the floor is open for discussion then the professor can use students own experiences to add in the relevant amendments, laws, ruling, statures, ext. that pertain to the class as well as the individual.

Once we can break away from the “Banking concept” of education in CJ 110 then, its raises a simple 50 minute knowledge dump into a true class where the discussions and debates from professor to students. Then the students will be empowered and actually care about the class and material because they have a personal connection with the information, or can at least remember and associate it with different things instead of words on a screen.
‘The capability of banking education to minimize or annul the students’ creative power and to stimulate their credulity
serves the interests of the oppressors, who care neither to have the world revealed nor to see it transformed. ” (Freire Pg. 2). Allowing free flow discussions and course material will allow the students to feel comfortable with the professor and ultimately truly stimulate their minds by not feeling oppressed and more of an equal to the professor.

Effective Writing Project

Group Members- Seamus Corkery David MacMullen, Haley Clark

Freire’s idea of learning is that one can only learn by explaining something to another person. However, the person listening isn’t learning, only the one talking is learning more about themselves as a person, and the topic they are explaining. If Freire’s idea of learning is true, that would mean only the teachers are benefitting from the current school system. If learning is only done by teaching then how are students expected to attain and comprehend information. If this is a true depiction of how learning happens, a good student teacher relationship is necessary for the well-being and educational purposes for students. Student/Teacher relations is a very complex relationship, because teachers can’t produce student learning or student freedom. For a teacher to truly enlighten a student with the knowledge they can gain, they must learn how to personalize their classroom as a communicative and interacting environment. 

In the modern day classroom, it feels most student teacher relationships must be initiated by the student. If a student takes time to attend office hours, engage in the classroom, and ask questions about class, or just life, they will form some sort of connection with a teacher. This can be done regardless of any differences between the student and teacher. However, some students may feel more comfortable if they have something already in common with a teacher. It should be feasible for a student and teacher to interact no matter the gender, race, or social class of either. If a student or teacher let these factors stand between forming a connection it would not be beneficial for either party. Also, students who simply attend class, without any extra input are less likely to form any kind of connection with a teacher. Most likely, not all students will put in the effort to form any kind of relation with a teacher outside of the classroom, so teachers need to find a way to make sure those individuals are still learning just as well as others. Which is why it’s important for teachers to personalize their classroom as an interactive environment in order for all students to gain the proper amount of knowledge, and create solutions to get to know their students, even if it’s outside of a classroom environment. 

The relations between students and professors at West Chester could definitely use some improvements. There are some professors who make it easy for students to want to talk to them, and  this is especially important when a student needs extra help. Students are more likely to reach out for help when they feel they’ll be welcomed in a non judgmental and positive environment. However, this won’t be the case for every professor at school. 

Our first solution for teachers to engage with students would be through service learning opportunity. This solution has so many positive incentives behind. To name a few, the class would be helping others, the service would be course related to give students a hands on learning activity for the student, and most of all this would give teachers an out of class bonding opportunity to strengthen student/teacher relations. For example, at Saint Joseph’s University, education majors will spend some of their time teaching kids at their own building dedicated to education majors getting hands on experience with teaching. 

Our second solution for teachers to engage with students would be to have one on one meetings with every student in the class. This would benefit both the teacher and student because it gives a chance for the teacher to learn more about the student, to figure out his fascinations and how he likes to be taught, also it gives the teacher a chance to provide help to the learner. One on one meetings between a student and teacher can help a student ask the questions that he was afraid to ask in class.

Freire writes about two systems of education: the banking system and the problem-posing system. In his article, he points out all the flaws with the first method and gives his solution to those flaws in his second method. His main point was to help us readers see what an oppressive educational structure looks like and steps we can take to transform that structure into a better and more effective one.

In this writing, I will attempt to address a students responsibility in their learning apart from their professor’s actions at West Chester University. According to Freire, this can be achieved in a few ways. Students learn through direct application, communicating with others, thinking critically about what they are being taught- held up against their own experiences, and they learn through acquiring deep understanding by asking questions.

Set aside all the professors, teachers, and educators at West Chester University. Set aside the ways in which these educators teach, test, and, tract their student’s academic progress. Set aside generations and generations of instilled ways of acquiring knowledge. My question is: How does a student emancipate themselves from the ideas of what learning has been throughout their own educational journey and take ownership in the acquisition of knowledge for their own sake at West Chester University? According to Freire, a student is not only a student, but a teacher as well. Each student has a deep well of personal life experience, thoughts, and ideas that are worth sharing with others. This sharing takes place through communication and discussion. A student has the ability to make choices when it comes to learning or not learning. As soon as they meekly and blindly accept all the teacher says, they morph from critical learner and thinker to a passive and static automaton. It is the student’s responsibility to not allow this to happen.

I will attempt to address how to take these rather abstract ideas and apply them to students here at West Chester. As human beings, we have been given this innate desire to learn about the world in which we live as it relates to us and each other. We learn through processes and those processes are not achieved in isolation.  Sometimes we need to reprocess and then reprocess it again in order to understand. We were not made to be dumping grounds for information though, nor were our brains meant to be categorical piles of educational facts. Nor were we meant to learn by ourselves and without others.  To be human means that we ask questions, wrestle through those questions with others and see how to apply the answers to those questions to ourselves of the world around us. Freire says, “For apart from inquiry, apart from praxis, an individual can not be truly human. Knowledge emerges only through invention and re-invention, through the restless, impatient, continuing, hopeful inquiry human being pursue in the world, with the world, and with each other.” In applying this to student power at WCU, learning is a lifestyle, not a method. A few practical applications would be: Spend more time in a friendly debate over a cup of coffee with a classmate to wrestle though complicated theories from class. Come to class over-prepared to participate in class discussions.  Be ok to sit in a place of not knowing, so that knowing can follow. Too many students are afraid to open their mouths in class, for fear of being wrong. Meet with professors over lunch to talk about ideas. Taking responsibility and action for our education at West Chester University keeps away mechanical and habitual ruts in our learning and brings the material alive as we practically engage with the fresh information.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Xne1KscEQZNwgN_FtZntYH6dtnB4Bshgtnsn6FI7sMw/edit?usp=sharing

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1KlalmioyfCYSKh4qjAeJv0NfLSHgI0DFpXf-KOZQZRI/edit?usp=sharing

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ZJK9uL3Q-kFQXj4LfEI6qoSKRTOc83W0GeJpYrRooDs/edit?usp=sharing

Link to Draft: https://docs.google.com/document/d/11JyBlAht-h_49HjGNwKaLOkK6ogOmeQNPa_y2S7meGE/edit?usp=sharing

Freire advocates for learning practices that are based on student initiative and action. At West Chester University, students can greatly benefit from a Psychology course however not through its current learning style. At WCU, the Psychology 100 syllabus states that one of the main goals of the course is for students to “apply their knowledge of psychological concepts, theory, and research to real world settings.” This clearly shows that the goal of the course is not content, the goal of the course is real life application. The issue is that the course is not currently allowing this to be accomplished. Psychology is being taught in a passive way where the professor is reading from powerpoint slides without any application of the information to reality. Students have access to the powerpoints, therefore they are not even attending class, making Psychology not a course that students are benefitting from. Students are unable to utilize the benefits of Psychology in real life through this current learning style. Psychology teaches about the human mind and behavior, therefore it could help students better understand behavior and help them interact with their peers more effectively. Students would benefit from a flipped classroom style where they can do independent reading so that the Psychology courses class time can be used to apply what they read to reality by collaborating with other students, asking teachers for clarification, and participating in activities that demonstrate how the brain works with behavior. 

Psychology is currently a course that is demonstrating Freire’s “banking” concept of education. The “banking” concept of education refers to education that only “allows the students to extend as far as receiving, filing, and storing the deposits… it is the people themselves who are being filed away through the lack of creativity, transformation, and knowledge in this (at best) misguided system (page 1).” A flipped classroom learning style would help to resolve this issue. Students can comprehend the textbook information on their own time and use class time to apply the material to reality. They can apply the information to reality in class by presenting students with problematic scenarios and have them collaborate in groups to see how they would solve the problem. This exercise would help students observe how others would react and see different perspectives. This is an essential component of psychology because psychology can be very helpful to develop strategies for personal growth and success. By talking through how we would solve an issue, we will become more aware of our own thoughts and therefore be better equipped to develop habits and strategies for success. 

In Psychology we learn about different variables in the environment that affect how we behave, so therefore changing the environment of the group activities could also be beneficial. For example, activities could be done in a crowded loud environment, a quiet room alone, a group with strangers, and one with people you are familiar with. A Psychology course would also benefit from beginning class with a puzzle or a memory game to get the brain stimulated by different exercises, during these activities the teacher could present the students with different distractions to see how variables affect thought processes. Another subject topic that is taught in Psychology is how reinforcement and punishment affects the occurrence of a behavior. This is hard to comprehend from a textbook, but this could easily be displayed in class through presenting students with different reinforcements or punishments to their behavior and see how those components determine how they would act, if they would continue the same behavior or change their behavior.  Collaboration with a diverse group of students is essential because it would allow students to see how different cultural backgrounds affect behavior. It is also important to have individual in class activities as well as group activities because the teacher must accommodate to introverts and extroverts so that everyone can benefit from the class time. 

Freire also states that “Authentic thinking, thinking that is concerned about reality, does not take place in ivory tower isolation, but only in communication. If it is true that thought has meaning only when generated by action upon the world, the subordination of students to teachers becomes impossible (page 3).” Authentic thinking cannot be concerned about reality in the current learning styles of Psychology if students are just expected to listen to fifty minute lectures. In order to accomplish authentic learning students need to be able to utilize class time for collaboration and application of the information they are expected to understand.

Schools have always had a problem finding different and unique ways to teach or connect with their students, whether it be middle schools, high schools, or colleges. Although it is a good way for students to feel more at home in their place of study, they are usually not successful. Compared high school, WCU makes every effort to make their students try to connect more with their professors and campus. In order to do this, they hold a second part of their original orientation that is originally held before the fall semester. Orientation Part 2 is held in the first few days of arrival for upcoming first year and transfer students. Within this two day event, WCU students, staff, and guest speakers, tell you all the do’s and don’t’s of college, along with ways to get involved. This may seem like a great idea, however, it creates a fear within students. As the students begin to realize that this is not like any other academic experience they have received, they start to feel as if they are a small fish in a big pond. Which, in turn, creates a stigma; that they are not worth the time of professors or councilors due to the amount of people in their class. This stigmatization is what causes learning to become absent  in class rooms. It encourages students to feel alone in their struggle to understand material, ask for help, and succeed in their new life as a college student. “ Education must begin with the solution of the teacher-student contradiction, by reconciling the poles of the contradiction so that both are simultaneously teachers and students.” As Paul Feire discusses in his passage, “The Banking Concept of Education”, there is a “teacher-student contradiction”. The contradiction, he says, is at fault by both student and teacher. This means, the teacher is at fault for their teaching techniques, that just allow students to soak information in as if the professor  knows everything. However, students are also at fault for stigmatizing teachers, thinking that they are all knowing and do not have time to teach them, when, at the end of the day, it is their job. “Indeed, the interests of the oppressors lie in “changing the consciousness of the oppressed, not the situation which oppresses them”; for the more the oppressed can be led to adapt to that situation, the more easily they can be dominated.” Friere also points out that the “oppressors”, or WCU staff, are more worried about changing the students to fit them in the system, rather than changing the system so it fits the students better. This occurs in classrooms with the teacher not willing to change their techniques for the greater good of the student. This leaves the students, yet again, terrified to communicate with their teachers, for they make themselves believe that if they are not fit for their teachers techniques, they are not right for the class. The solution to this problem, begins with direct communication from both the student and staff at WCU.  Once each party is willing to communicate with each other so they understand one another, learning will become and everyday occurrence. In Paul Freire’s passage, “The Banking Concept of Education”, he discusses the displacement of the relationship between the student and teacher, “Education must begin with the solution of the teacher-student contradiction”; until this “contradiction” is mended through communication no learning will take place.     

In, ‘The ‘Banking’ Concept of Education’, the author said that it is the student’s choice how they would want to learn and what they want to learn, not the teacher’s. In WCU, Bio-110 or General Biology is a subject that most of the science majors have to take. Although, in high school, most of the students take general biology and Bio-110 is basically repetition of high school biology which is a waste of time for many students. Bio-110 should not be a requirement, especially for students who have taken a Biology class in the past and there should be an assessment test before students schedule for classes. The labs for Bio-110 should be less than three hours because the workload in the lab does not take that long. If they do better on the assessment test, then they should be able to take a higher biology class. Students even lose interest throughout the course because they are learning the same stuff and if a student already knows something why would they want to learn about it again.

Students are the one who are learning then why do they not have the choice what they want to learn. A class like Bio-110 is imposed on the students and they do not have any option than taking it because WCU has made it a requirement for the major. Even Freire said, ‘The teacher cannot think for her students, nor can she impose her thought on them’ (Freire 3). It is the students who are going to be using the stuff they learned in the future and if the education they are getting is useless, then what is the purpose of going to WCU. This is not what is going to make them successful. It is just a waste of their time and instead they should be taking classes which will actually help them in their career. 

Students who take Bio-110 also have to take a three hour lab. In the lab, they learn about how to use a microscope and how to identify the basic structure of a living cell. Many Biology major students already know how to use a microscope or they know what a cell is because they have taken a Biology class in their high school. Most of the time, students finish the lab work in an hour and they leave early. When they could actually schedule for a different class during that time which could be easier for many students when they are making a schedule. Now they have the change their whole schedule because of the three hour that has been reserved for Bio-110 lab. If the lab work is not that long, then why does it have to be three hour long, why not an hour and thirty minute. It is only possible when the professors communicate with the students just how Freire said, ‘The role of the problem-posing educator is to create, together with the students’ (Freire 4). 

There are tutoring at WCU for extra help so if someone has a problem when they take a higher biology course like Botany or Zoology instead of General Biology, they could just go to a tutor for help. Why take a course for three months if a student already knows most of it. Most of the students in the class do not study for tests and exams because they eventually lose interest after learning the old information again and end up not doing great for the tests. It is because they are not putting effort anymore. Even Freire said, ‘Their response to the challenge evokes new challenges, followed by new understandings; and gradually the students come to regard themselves as committed.’ (Freire 4) If the students are not learning new things how is Freire’s idea of being committed even possible.

Topic#4

Course-based learning. Freire’s essay advocates for a model of learning that is 100% based on student initiative, student choice, and student action. Yet some classes at WCU seem to project a passivity onto students as a model of success. Using one WCU course as a model, analyze the model of learning that this course presently relies upon in order to propose concrete, implementable alternative practices that could achieve Freire’s model of learning at WCU

Thesis:  Bio-110 is a repetition of high school biology which is a waste of time for many students. Bio-110 should not be a requirement, especially for students who have taken a Biology class in the past. There should be an assessment test before students schedule for classes or they should learn new information than the course material being taught right now in Bio-110. The labs for Bio-110 should be less than three hours because the workload in the lab does not take that long.

Quotes:

The teacher cannot think for her students, nor can she impose her thought on them’ (Freire 3)

‘The role of the problem-posing educator is to create, together with the students’ (Freire 4).

‘Their response to the challenge evokes new challenges, followed by new understandings; and gradually the students come to regard themselves as committed.’ (Freire 4)

I personally think that the topic could be better or more could be added to it to make sure you have enough to talk about. The quotes are fine.

Team: Cait Mangini and Sarah Veneziale

link to essay draft – https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Vkwyigqe_7qO–0RbyjLm9yAEFhkpgj-2fnbEDH9LIo/edit

Does are some good quotes for the project but that is all you have for now. You just need to figure out how to respond to the question and how to use the quotes.

Topic selection: topic 4, course based learning

Team Selection: Sarah Veneziale and Cait Mangini

Thesis: Geology 101 is a class that deprives a student from learning any bit of information. Students will only be able to gain knowledge for this course if changes are made such as switching the lectures to online courses, student led discussion groups, and decreasing the amount of students in each class.

Quotes: “Those truly committed to the cause of liberation can accept neither the mechanistic concept of consciousness as an empty vessel to be filled, nor the use of banking methods of domination (propaganda, slogans—deposits) in the name of liberation”

 “ Verbalistic lessons, reading requirements, the methods for evaluating “knowledge,” the distance between the teacher and the taught, the criteria for promotion: everything in this ready-to-wear approach serves to obviate thinking” (Freire 3)

Last year I completed my freshman year at West Chester University. Almost everyone of my friends struggled with anxiety and depression which was our first semester because it was hard to create connections and friendships. Our university is beautiful and it is very sad to me that most freshmen have this same experience as most of my friends. We must create easy for freshman students to make friends and have a positive first year at West Chester University.

One of the largest problems I see in West Chester is the lack of community, especially in affiliated dorms. In affiliated housing, no one props their doors open and there is very little feeling of community in your dorm. I have had friends in traditional housing tell me that everyone leaves their dorm doors open and it has helped her make a large number of friends. They often hung out together in the common areas of the floor. This didn’t happen ina affiliated housing.  It made it very hard to make friends and most people often only spoke to their roommates. I had one friend who moved home in the middle of the first semester. She lived about an hour and a half away and had three 8 AM classes every week. I believe the isolated atmosphere of affiliated housing affects students mental health and academic performance. 

The space and atmosphere at any learning institutions affects students and how they grow and learn. This includes the way teachers teach, the conversations held between individuals and atmosphere of the classrooms and campus. The space student are learning and living in affects their overall mental health and academics. If affiliated housing encouraged students to prop their doors open and greet neighbors it would create more of a community. Having more friends would help students who struggle with things such as anxiety disorders and depression. It would help the students to feel supported and loved if they were surrounded by caring friends. It would give them encouragement. Friends can study together and help each other grow and learn. Having an open dorm door shows gives off the message that you are looking to make friends and welcomes other students to pop their heads in and introduce themselves. This helps students make friends.

If affiliated housing had provided evert dorm with a wedge door stopper it would encourage students to leave their doors open. In affiliated housing the doors are very heavy and lock automatically, the key to open the door is a hotel key. That makes it hard to communicate with others in your hall. Having something to hold the door open would allow students to speak to people in their dorms while they walk down the hallway. 

Along with providing dorms with wedge door stoppers along with having encouraged time to prop open dorm doors would allow students to have exposure to the other students that walk down their hall. Placing specific times which students are encouraged to have their doors open and mingle with the students on the floor would begin to form connections and friendships. 

These two simple steps would allow students to create bonds with others and feel less isolated. This would be beneficial for their mental health because I will provide them with friendship and support. It will also provide them with people to have fun with and enjoy their free time. All of these aspects combined and added to a college experience will make it overall more enjoyable.  

Another way for our students to be able to make friends is by spaciously reorganizing West Chester to better connect students to each other. This could be done by adding outdoor seating for large numbers of students outside their dorms. I know personally, me and my roommate love sitting outside at my apartment this year and if it was available we would have done it last year. Adding a spot with comfy chairs for students to hangout in would allow students to meet others when they are in this area and talk and hangout. It will help create the connections our freshman students need to be happy here at WCU.

Another way the university could help freshmen to make friends would be to add two people desks to the classrooms, especially classrooms that have classes full of mostly freshmen, like WRT. Every student has to take writing and it is usually a class of mostly freshmen. SInce the class is mostly fresh manthey do not have to worry about the pressure of being judged by upperclassmen and are able to make friends that are the same age as you. DOuble desks would be beneficial because it would allow freshmen to make friends with other freshmen.