Ryan Benjamin | Going beyond the classroom

We entered the room ready to learn, as we always do. But this was no ordinary class, you see. As the sun began to set on the chilly Sunday evening, the group - half Penn students, half Dalits, or India's "untouchables" - carried flowers and refreshments. Then class began.

Many Penn courses - like undergraduate courses throughout the country - are quite predictable. Whether lecture- or seminar-based, they usually involve a professor speaking at the front of the room, either leading a discussion or proselytizing from a Powerpoint. But there are some professors who are willing to push the envelope, and it's about time the University start better promoting and funding these alternative forms of teaching and learning.

Professor Andy Lamas teaches Religion, Social Justice and Urban Development - URBS 405. He hosted the special session, entitled "Dalit Community and Penn Students: Reflecting on experiences of oppression and struggles for liberation," as a way to bring to life concepts we discussed during our normal meeting time. Lamas teamed up with Mike Thevar, a Philly-based Dalit, who runs a service that brings Dalit - those from the bottom level of Hinduism's longstanding caste system - to the United States. The event featured lecture, food, song and discussion, and the entire second half morphed into a forum for the Dalits to share their own experiences with discrimination in India - a prejudice largely to do with caste, not as much race, as we are accustomed to here.

"Learning should take place constantly, both in and outside of the classroom," said College sophomore Hannah Connor, a member of Lamas' class. "When I told my friends that I had a three-hour class on Sunday night this week they all responded, 'Oh, that sucks.' No it doesn't! It was a new and different learning experience."

We had already learned about Dalits from textual sources, but there's an element missing from simple reading and response. It might be interaction with people instead of words, or perhaps it derives from the power of something different, out of the ordinary.

As Lamas' extra session demonstrated, there are myriad ways of engaging in "nontraditional" learning while still inside the classroom. I've always imagined classes going on field trips throughout the city and in the region. But I'm not just talking about urban-studies courses; in fact, this goes beyond the typical Academically Based Community Service class, which largely sticks to West Philadelphia. The metropolitan region, our nation's fifth largest, has everything from a zoo to two major rivers to sports stadiums to botanical gardens.

Essentially any class in any department can utilize the resources here, whether it's history in Old City, art history at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, economics at the Tastykake factory or environmental science in Fairmount Park. Speaking of which - did you know that the Centennial International Exhibition in 1876 took place in Fairmount Park? The telephone was first displayed there, a 10-minute bus ride from campus. Incredible that I only discovered this recently.

We often hear of the importance of expanding technology on campus, but often this results in the use of Powerpoints. And more Powerpoints. Such presentations bug me because excessive amounts of text distract attention away from the speaker, and students inevitably start to drift because they know the Powerpoint is available online. So when I say "alternative," I don't mean more technological. I mean exploring various avenues in curriculum, like centralizing an entire 14-week class around an effort to solve a problem, from researching a cure for juvenile diabetes to solving malnutrition issues in India. The focus lies in contextually studying the problem, even if we probably won't find the solution.

The power to institute these types of courses doesn't lie with the president, provost or even the deans. Professors have the ability to shape their class structure largely free of departmental influence. They should not be afraid, even amid the pressure to gain tenure, to explore different avenues. If they had help and encouragement from the administration, it would make all the difference. And to those with tenure: This is your chance to shape the future of undergraduate education for years to come. All it takes is a little creativity.

Ryan Benjamin is a College senior from New Haven, Conn. A Connecticut Yankee appears on Fridays. His email address is benjamin@dailypennsylvanian.com.

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