A few weeks ago, Isabella Gardiner ’28 wrote a column arguing that Brown should ditch the two-and-a-half-hour seminar. Her complaints will sound familiar to anyone who’s sat through one: the classes run too long, meet too infrequently and don’t foster lively debate. While I sympathize with the dreadful experience of being stuck in a boring class, I don’t see much reason why that fate is limited to the two-and-a-half hour seminar. Rather, the pitfalls Gardiner identifies could appear in any course taught by a monotoned, rambling professor.
The long seminar can be great, however, in the hands of a professor who knows what to do with it. Take LITR 0710: “Writers on Writing Seminar,” my first-year seminar that is also taught in another section — LITR 1200 — as an upper-level seminar. Writers on Writing, in contrast, segments the long period into varied activities and creates an environment of student-led-discussion. In this way, our two and a half hours transform into a space for genuine intellectual growth. I think that if Gardiner dipped her toes in LITR 1200, she just might become one of the two-and-a-half-hour seminar’s biggest fans.
Each class begins with my professor, Eleni Sikelianos, asking us, with a small grin, what we thought of the book. Her question invites an enthusiastic discussion, as students burst to share their takes on the often experimental book they had read that week. Class then transitions to a brief independent creative writing segment before Sikelianos explains the historical background of the book, introducing us to new concepts and writing styles. We then shift into paired learning, where we discuss our prepared questions, before coming back as a class to share our thoughts. After a ten-minute break, we switch rooms to hear the author of the book we’ve discussed give a live reading. Each segment builds on the last, moving us from our initial reactions to collaborative discussion to paired reflection and finally the author’s own interpretation. This progression demonstrates what a two-and-a-half-hour seminar can offer that a shorter class may struggle to accommodate: the time to explore an idea from multiple angles without rushing the conversation.
Ensuring that our learning “nestles into our consciousness,” as Gardiner puts it, despite meeting only once a week, a successful seminar must incorporate meaningful out-of-class assignments. My seminar, though it formally meets only weekly, is part of my daily routine. I read a bit of the weekly book each night before bed, collect questions and chat with classmates in passing about our takeaways. Given that reading a book per week puts me in a bit of a crunch, the weekly reading ends up accompanying me wherever I go, acting as a lens through which I go about my day. I am held accountable for completing the reading through a one-page reflection due the day before class each week. Because the books we read are often modern and experimental, there are no SparkNotes summaries online to aid a student who hasn't done the reading, ensuring that students come to class prepared and ready to discuss.
What Gardiner proposes would also end one of Brown’s oldest traditions. The University’s two-and-a-half-hour seminars have been a staple of a Brown education for more than a century. Archives from 1892 document the University offering weekly small seminars for advanced students to conduct research and engage in careful study in subjects including German, History and English. As the University grew in size, these seminars were later expanded by President Henry Wriston, who led widespread reforms to “(force) students to think critically rather than just ‘regurgitate’ information.” Today, the University still describes its First-Year Seminars as aiming to provide “close interaction between faculty and students in a small setting that encourages pedagogical innovation and community-building.”
Gardiner might be right that some seminars don’t live up to that lofty ideal. But getting rid of the format would mean saying goodbye to at the very least one gem. Writers on Writing needs every minute of its two and a half hours. Before Gardiner writes off the long seminar, I implore her to give this one a try.
Lia Goldberger ’30 can be reached at lia_goldberger@brown.edu. Please send responses to this column to letters@browndailyherald.com and other opinions to opinions@browndailyherald.com.
