It bears repeating: Generalizing doth mark thee a fool

Sometimes the obvious bears repeating. Generalizations are bad--they unfairly castigate the membership in a group for the actions of a portion of its membership. During the past year, Duke students, as a group, have been called anti-intellectual, racially insensitive, selfish, uninvolved with the community, and a litany of other less than flattering descriptions.

While some Duke students fit some of these categories, all Duke students do not fit all of them. When speaking of Duke students in general, if one must speak in general, the appropriate metaphor is a prism. Hold it up to the light, spin it, and different colors of the spectrum pour forth. Some colors please the eye, others offend, but without the whole range, the world would prove a less exciting place.

First glance at the prism reveals pure Duke blue, the desire for national recognition of Duke's intellectual prowess. Several Duke departments have taken steps to give Duke that recognition; witness the Math department which shattered Harvard's eight year stranglehold on the national math championship; witness the computer science department whose programming team last year placed third in the world and this year won the IEEE national programming competition. Other students regularly publish poetry or research in the other academic disciplines. Duke students compete on equal intellectual footing with their counterparts from every university. Thus, I reply to those who say Duke is anti-intellectual: Look around and see what the best among us do in their various departments. Will this distribution, comprising students pushing the frontiers of existing knowledge among those who do not, radically differ at any other university?

Indigo too shines forth, another type of blue. Rather than intellectual recognition, many want Duke to be known for its concern for the community. Duke students involve themselves in the Durham community. Projects such as Partnership for Literacy, Habitat for Humanity, or the ongoing tutoring program at Morehead elementary, have all impacted positively both students and city residents. Duke students are socially conscious. Once again it is the distribution which tells all: Some Duke students have never been to Durham others make it a more beautiful place. Would the distribution of community-driven students to their less driven counterparts be significantly different at any other university?

Some students, too, are yellow "Pukie Dukies" (doggerel this good deserves repeating). These students care for none outside their immediate circle; they have few thoughts for others' needs, and less concern for others' problems. Some Duke students are self-absorbed and too accustomed to privilege, but for each of these, another Duke student takes the time to inquire why his or her friend seems down or depressed. The Duke student body is neither unequivocally concerned with others nor completely absorbed with individual concerns.

The roulette wheel turns black and red, one color a winner and the other a loser. Duke only benefits, however, when student ingenuity creates new activities such as Casino Night and new facilities such as the Underground and the Perk. Duke students are creative, motivated and ingenious; Duke students are also complacent and easily satisfied. Here, too, it is the distribution, not the presence or absence of the creative impulse in any single student, which is important.

In search of green, pre-professionals train four years for the business world. Concern for grades dominates many classroom environments. The grade outcome of a class, rather than the intellectual thought process it fosters, have changed positions as the most common motivating factors in choosing which classes to take, at least for some. Some Duke students are overly grade-conscious while others care not a whit for class rank and academic prestige.

Though not currently in fashion to admit, I have enjoyed and intellectually benefited from my Duke experience and will continue to do so next year. For all the criticism leveled at the generic Duke student, I challenge anyone to describe a generic student at any other university without similar flaws, and if such a university were to exist, would it benefit its students? The Gothic Wonderland seems divorced from the real world, but in at least one respect, it mirrors it profoundly: The social difficulties found out of sight of the Chapel tower intrude within its shadows. The diversity cherished by so many at Duke includes both insensitivity and selfless giving. Without the bad, we cannot know the good.