All About Mentoring Spring 2011 - SUNY Empire State College
All About Mentoring Spring 2011 - SUNY Empire State College
All About Mentoring Spring 2011 - SUNY Empire State College
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52<br />
students are used to action, and the more<br />
contemplative aspects of academic life<br />
can be frustrating. They want answers –<br />
yesterday. We have noticed, too, that<br />
military students often bite off more than<br />
they can chew. Sometimes, like many of<br />
our other students, military students just<br />
disappear, not finishing their work, not<br />
responding to emails and offers of help.<br />
Were they redeployed Did they get too<br />
overwhelmed by academic demands<br />
To consciously support veteran students<br />
demonstrates that colleges welcome diversity<br />
in ways that are rarely talked about.<br />
Besides being dedicated to identifying<br />
and eliminating classist, racist, ageist or<br />
sexist attitudes, it shows that diversity of<br />
experience is welcomed, and that colleges<br />
strive to foster an inclusionary environment<br />
that is dedicated to erasing veteran’s<br />
social alienation by inviting them into a<br />
community of discourse that contends with<br />
real world dilemmas. The lived realities<br />
of experience in our complicated world<br />
desperately need the rigorous critical inquiry<br />
and communication skills that can be honed<br />
in the academic environment. And higher<br />
education needs to learn from people whose<br />
lived experiences are the stuff of literature,<br />
philosophy, history and politics.<br />
Ultimately, we believe that what matters<br />
most is that we give students – and<br />
ourselves – the opportunity to think about<br />
and explore all the complicated aspects of<br />
war. As the writer James Salter says, we<br />
need to know about war, because it is<br />
about us.<br />
Note<br />
Quotes from students in this essay were<br />
collected from study group assignments and<br />
discussions during the 2009 and 2010 terms.<br />
References<br />
As expected, the literature on war is<br />
immense. We recognize that we only touch<br />
on a small sliver of that work. Included<br />
below are references to some of the key<br />
texts mentioned in our essay. If anyone is<br />
interested in receiving a fuller bibliography<br />
of the materials we have collected, we would<br />
be happy to share them with you.<br />
Kingston, M. H. (2006). Veterans of war,<br />
veterans of peace. Kihei, HI: Koa<br />
Books.<br />
Lewis, J. E. (Ed.). (1995). War: A classic<br />
collection of 56 great war stories of our<br />
time. New York, NY: Galahad Books.<br />
Smithson, R. (2009). Ghosts of war: The<br />
true story of a 19-year-old GI. New<br />
York, NY: Collins.<br />
Tick, E. (2005). War and the soul: Healing<br />
our nation’s veterans from posttraumatic<br />
stress disorder. Wheaton, IL:<br />
Quest Books.<br />
Willis, C. (Ed.). (2003). Semper Fi: Stories<br />
of the United <strong>State</strong>s Marines from<br />
boot camp to battle. New York, NY:<br />
Thunder’s Mouth Press.<br />
War Stories Project<br />
Claudia Hough and Elaine Handley have<br />
joined with Cindy Bates to work on a<br />
project that evolved out of the War Stories<br />
study. They have collected stories about war<br />
from the <strong>Empire</strong> <strong>State</strong> <strong>College</strong> community<br />
that they will craft into a performance<br />
piece. It will be presented at the new Arts<br />
Residency on Thursday, Nov. 3, at Proctors<br />
Theater in Schenectady, N.Y.<br />
suny empire state college • all about mentoring • issue 39 • spring <strong>2011</strong>