Our Education: Are We Forgetting What is Really Important?

As spring semester is coming to a close, it seems fitting that this week's post is devoted to discussing how I believe the University of Southern California (the famous mascot Tommy Trojan is pictured left) could improve the learning environment at the Annenberg School for Communication. In a time when higher education is calling for change, organizations such as the American Council on Education and the Association of American Colleges and Universities are working to respond to the increasing demands brought about by technological growth, globalization, communication, and insistence on accountability. In 2004 the University of Southern California addressed these issues and developed a plan to “become one of the most influential and productive research universities in the world.” The USC strategy is based on three core tasks: to conduct research and scholarship, to increase international visibility, and to focus educational programs on meeting the needs of qualified students around the globe.

In keeping with the spirit of progress and innovation, the Dean of the College of Letters, Arts & Sciences created the USC College Dean’s Prize. The prize encourages undergraduates to “think seriously about learning, be creative, and daring,” and calls on students to suggest ways that they might improve the educational experience at USC. While so many institutions and are developing grandiose schemes to propel their establishments toward excellence, the Dean’s Prize is unique because it creates a forum for the student body voice . In 1971 Ambassador Walter H. Annenberg (pictured here) founded the Annenberg School at USC. Upon its founding, Annenberg delivered these words in his mission statement; “Every human advancement or reversal can be understood through communication. The right to free communication carries with it the responsibility to respect the dignity of others, and this must be recognized as irreversible. Educating students to communicate this message effectively and to be of service to all people is the enduring mission of this school.” This statement has remained the foundation and guiding principle of the School for Communication.

Annenberg offers three undergraduate degrees: communication, journalism, and public relations, and is divided in to the School of Communication and the School of Journalism. With an undergraduate enrollment of almost 1900 students, I think it would be effective if Annenberg broke down the curriculum into even more specific majors, including advertising, marketing, or publishing. One of the most difficult problems I have encountered as a student at the Annenberg School, much to my embarrassment, is not being able to sufficiently provide an answer to the simple question, “What is a communication major?” This is an issue that I have faced countless times, and one that I know many of my fellow students have come across as well. It is not that we do not learn important and relevant information, rather that we learn too broad a spectrum of information. As a solution to this problem I propose that Annenberg also reduces the size of some of its introductory level classes, which are structured much like the general education courses, and replace them with smaller classes that would be more intimate. This, in combination with the addition of more specialized classes and majors, would foster a more productive learning environment where students could better achieve mastery of his or her specific field of interest.

At the Annenberg School, communication majors take classes ranging from technology, to diversity in the media, to legal issues. With such a wide range of options it is quite a challenge to get a handle on what specific aspect of communication one predominantly wants to study, unlike The Annenberg School For Communication at the University of Pennsylvania, which offers communication as its only major. I understand that the Dean’s Prize encourages students to think outside the box, but I believe that the Annenberg School is one of the most diverse communication programs with an impressive selection of resources, guest speakers, and study abroad opportunities. To make the program more effective, I feel that the school should organize and restructure its already strong foundation before expanding any further.

The USC role and mission statement declares, "The central mission of the University of Southern California is the development of human beings and society as a whole through the cultivation and enrichment of the human mind and spirit." To achieve these goals, as the university notes in their 2004 strategic plan, it must not only build upon the pre-existing foundation, but also “leverage USC’s strengths.” Located in the heart of Los Angeles and and with generous endowments from celebrities such as George Lucas, USC has already established itself as one of the leading schools to study media and communication. While it is important to grow, expand, and improve as an academic institution, I believe that USC and the Annenberg School must be careful not to overlook substance in favor of glamour and flash. At the end of the day, it is the students who must be stimulated and satisfied. To maintain this level academia I believe that USC’s Annenberg School should redirect some of their energy to creating an intimate, comfortable, and challenging learning environment where the students do not feel anonymous in large, echoing lecture halls.

Oprah Winfrey: Her Most Honorable Mention

James Freedman, president emeritus of the University of Iowa and Dartmouth College, believes that an honorary degree should “celebrate distinguished and sublime achievement,” and demonstrate to its students the “qualities of character and attainment it admires most.” Inspired by Freedman’s philosophy, this weeks post is devoted to explaining and understanding why I believe that Oprah Winfrey (pictured on the left), activist, talk show host, philanthropist, and media mogul, is deserving of an honorary degree in my field of communication studies as well as from a feminist perspective. If an honorary degree is to represent the ideals of the University of Southern California as an academic institute, then we must take into consideration the principles inscribed on USC’s Tommy Trojan: faithful, scholarly, skillful, courageous, and ambitious. As an African American, as a woman, and as someone who has very publicly struggled with her weight, Oprah Winfrey is an exceptional human being who has overcome great odds and used her fame and fortune to touch hearts and to truly change the world.

Oprah Winfrey is an ideal candidate for an honorary degree because she excels in all areas that I, as a scholar, student of communication, human being, and feminist, value and admire. As a student of communication I idolize Oprah as the multi-Emmy award-winning host of the most successful talk show in history. As a scholar I respect her as an influential book critic who catapults each one of her recommended authors to stardom and for her devotion to bettering education; and as a feminist and humanitarian I venerate her as the first female African American billionaire, as the most influential woman of my time, and as having accomplished all of this without a husband. Winfrey has donated countless millions to charities and foundations around the world, and most recently invested $40 million of her earnings toward her grandest contribution yet, the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls (Oprah is pictured with the students at the ribbon cutting ceremony). Awarding Oprah Winfrey with an honorary degree would resolve the problem proclaimed by Freedman himself; that the prestige of receiving honorary degrees has been “trivialized” by awarding celebrities and “prospective benefactors” rather than those outstanding citizens who are truly distinguished in their field. Oprah Winfrey makes for a model honoree because she possesses the celebrity and wealth which will attract the much desired media attention to the university as well as the credibility, respect of the public, and good virtue to use these gifts wisely and purposefully.

If I am going to nominate Oprah as honorary degree candidate, it is essential that I explain to you the many accomplishments that I believe make this tremendous woman so worthy. To begin with, she has mastered and monopolized all facets of media in which she has ventured. Her talk show, The Oprah Winfrey Show, began September 8 1986, the year that I was born, and after more than 20 years on the air it is now the longest running daytime talk show in history. Like many daytime talk shows, Oprah deals with issues such as heart disease, spirituality, obesity, anorexia, as well as home decorating and beauty makeovers. One might ask; so what makes her show so special? According to Time Magazine (Oprah's TIME cover is pictured below), "Few people would have bet on Oprah Winfrey's swift rise to host of the most popular talk show on TV. In a field dominated by white males, she is a black female of ample bulk. As interviewers go, she is no match for, say, Phil Donahue...What she lacks in journalistic toughness, she makes up for in plainspoken curiosity, robust humor and, above all empathy. Guests with sad stories to tell are apt to rouse a tear in Oprah's eye...They, in turn, often find themselves revealing things they would not imagine telling anyone, much less a national TV audience. It is the talk show as a group therapy session." This quotation, I believe, touches on Oprah’s greatest strength, that she is neither white, nor male, nor skinny, nor blonde. She is none of the personas that we are accustomed to seeing on our television set, thus she makes her guests and viewers feels comfortable and welcome. It is her unmatched ability to maintain a sense of humility in the face of such great success that make Oprah Winfrey a master of her trade and a woman worth commemorating with an honorary degree.

Although television is where she got her start, her company, Harpo Productions, publishes two magazines, O and O at Home, which in 2002 were hailed by Fortune Magazine as the most successful start-up magazines ever. Still, despite her vast number of accomplishments, Oprah’s magic lies not in her immense fame and fortune, but in impact she has personally made. In 1998 she began Oprah’s Angel Network, which has raised more than $51million for underprivileged families. To name just a few more of her most notable acts of charity, she donated $10 million to Hurricane Katrina relief and single handedly put ten black men through college with $7 million in scholarships. CNN has hailed Oprah Winfrey as the “World’s Most Powerful Woman” and Vanity Fair once wrote, “Oprah Winfrey arguably has more influence on the culture than any university president, politician, or religious leader, except perhaps the Pope.” To say this about a white male would be exceptional; but to hear this about an unmarried, at times overweight, black woman from a very humble background is just earth-shattering.

Although among much of the African American community Oprah is a hero and a legend, she has received criticism throughout her career for being “anti-black culture” and even accused of becoming “white-washed” in order to gain popularity in main-stream society. Others have said that because she is a woman her interviewing style is “too soft;” while others say that because she gives a lot of support to Africa, she is “un-American.” Inevitably, she will always have critics; as such a high caliber of fame cannot come without a price. But, that being said, who can say that Oprah Winfrey is not faithful, scholarly, skillful, courageous, and ambitious? I believe that both James Freedman and Tommy Trojan would be proud to award Oprah Winfrey with an Honorary Degree in human letters for being an outstanding citizen, a role model, and a truly revolutionary human being. Aside from being one of the richest people in the world and one of the leading African American philanthropists, Oprah Winfrey has re-invented the face of success and turned our society’s hierarchy upside-down.