Program needs student input

Whether you are ready to admit it or not, Tech is a part of you. By now, you've either been here for a semester or long enough to have a Master's at most other schools. Still, no matter how long you've been here or how long you have left, all Tech students have an interest in what happens at this university. That is why so many students spoke out against an Honors Program when it was proposed last spring, not wanting to divide a campus that already thinks of itself as an honors campus.

However, the Honors Program is going to happen, and it should. I know, at first read it's shocking. But it's time we all decide to support the Honors Program's existence as an effort to improve undergraduate education at Tech, and it is also time that we all discuss what the program should be as it gears up.

If the only voice-or at least the loudest one-coming from the student body is, "We don't want an Honors Program," then the student voice is going to become irrelevant. Tech administrators have included student input in many of their decisions over the years, and we cannot risk losing the legitimacy that it currently has.

Everyone should become educated about what the Honors Program is going to be and how it will develop over the next few years. There is still much to be decided, and it is not too late for student opinion and experience to help frame some of the future structure.

Every program has to have a group of guinea pigs. It is unfortunate that the program's organization was not in place for there to be a separate application this year, (however the Tech application is not fill-in-the-blank, so there is data to pull this first group of 200 invited students this year). The goal is to have 113 students in the program next year, with the honors students residing in Howell Hall. A challenge for the Honors Program is going to be implementing the program without alienating this group of students.

There is already resentment against students who receive special benefits, such as athletes and President's Scholars, and honors students could easily have the same problem.

As Tech students we need to make a commitment to not ostracize these students just because we may not have wanted the program to start with. If we are all truly of "honors" caliber as we believe ourselves to be then we should recognize that these first 113 students could have been one of us.

It will also be important for incoming students who might have wanted to be in the program to realize that there are plenty of resources and opportunities at Tech for every student. The recent introduction of the International Plan and Undergraduate Research Plan are just two new efforts to improve everyone's undergraduate experience.

Additionally, unlike President's Scholars, honors students will not be receiving any scholarship money for being in the Honors Program. This makes an honors program a hard sell to students. Should Tech be working on attaining scholarship money earmarked for these students? Would an honors scholarship program in addition to the President's Scholarship benefit Tech students or should the Honors Program work closely with the President's Scholarship? These are just some of the questions that student opinion could help answer.

The biggest argument against an honors program is that it devalues every other Tech degree. Students need to recognize that increasing the quality of undergraduate education benefits everyone. An honors program is another way to attract students who may choose to get the "honors" experience elsewhere. Every Tech student and graduate benefits if the quality of students increases. This makes it all the more important for every Tech student to care about what our honors program will be, because even though we cannot participate in it its possible success could help all of us.

My personal opinion is that the Honors Program committee should keep in mind a slogan from one of the first presentations on an honors program at Tech, "an incubator, not an enclave," and strive to offer new intellectual opportunity without segregating what is just part of the best and brightest that is all of the Tech community.

So before you say "all of Tech is an honors school" one more time, consider supporting the Honors Program as it is an effort to improve undergraduate education. However, care enough about Tech and the value of your degree to make your voice heard about what the Honors Program should include and how everyone at Tech can possibly benefit from its existence.