I often think I would enjoy my classes so much more if my first-year classmates would stop talking so much. Thank God for large lecture classes, without which I'm sure I would have dropped out by now. I can't speak for everyone of course, but I came to Brandeis to be educated by well-qualified and respected professors, not high school hot-shots.I do see from where the loud first-years are coming. I myself am a first-year student and I also thought I was really cool and smart when I came here. I, however, got over myself. I'm afraid most of the newer students have not. And, I see no solution to the problem but to restrict first-year students from seminar classes. I'd support a ban on them speaking in class, but I suppose paying 35,000 dollars a year should allow the student some ability to express himself.

Along these same lines, it is apparent to me that while the University Seminar in Humanistic Inquiries (USEM) is an interesting concept, it's not very useful to new students. Why would we want to give oversized egos a chance to express themselves without educating them at all first (causing them to feel worthless)? I still have nightmares about the ridiculous comments made in my USEM.

If you throw 18 first-years in a classroom and give them a topic, they will inevitably blurt out anything and everything they can think to say. It has become evident to me that many of the students at Brandeis were among the best and brightest of their respective high schools. Brandeis students were probably among the select few in their high schools who spoke in class. But, no one seems to notice that at Brandeis everyone is speaking, and that everyone is saying the same thing.

This problem does not seem to be as evident with the older students. I'm betting this is because of their catalog of college experiences, which I would define loosely as "knowing something." Thus, it is my theory that seminar classes should be open only to those students that know something, such as sophomores, juniors, and seniors.

It might be helpful to prepare students who know something to enter seminars with some sort of introductory seminar class. I call this concept "USEM for sophomores." It's a great plan. Let new college students sit quietly in introductory courses for a year, absorbing information and listening to the opinions of their older peers, and then when they return the following year, let them speak.

This problem with first-year students actually highlights what I feel is a larger problem with many liberal universities like Brandeis. This larger problem is really the freedom universities grant to their students. First-years can jump right into nearly any course in every department as soon as they get here is the most obvious problem with having too much freedom.

One has to ask what is really so terrible about requiring a few specific courses. Is it so awful to ensure that students graduate with an actual education? Besides ensuring students have some basis in anything before they take seminar classes, it would probably also be useful to ensure students also have a basis in what is important.

I think it is intolerable that a student can graduate from Brandeis never having read the most important books, seen the most influential art, and discussed the most fundamental philosophies. College is not about specialization; that only can come after general knowledge is acquired. College is also not about only about academic experimentation, as certainly a general idea of many subjects should also precede this.

To me, college should accomplish two things. In the first two years, it should mold truly educated individuals. It should give students the intellectual ammunition necessary for academic work in any discipline. In the final two years, college should give well-educated students the ability to have a chance to both specialize and to experiment in academic fields.

This vision of what college should be is so far removed from the modern conception of a liberal university - Columbia University excluded - that I don't expect any of my suggestions to emerge in Brandeis' curriculum guide anytime soon. I still pray, however, that we can at least cause first year students to be a little more modest and a little less loud.

I hope my fellow first year students will stand up with me and admit we know a lot less about the world than we think we do. USEMs are great, but keep first-years out of them.

- Matthew Bettinger '05 submits a column to the Justice