Adjusting to College at Valparaiso

Adjusting to College at Valparaiso

Me at my desk with my Remington typewriter and the phonograph to the right that I once thought might be a typewriter (see blog post My Favorite Typewriter posted 5/29/17) - that's laundry drying in the foreground  

I had graduated from Walt Whitman High School in June of 1967. At the time it was a highly rated school even if it was a public school. I expected college to be about the same as high school in difficulty. Much to my chagrin, I found that was not the case. College proved to be a bit eye-opening. On the academic side classes were difficult and came with high expectations. On the social front getting a decent date was even more difficult.

English was always one of me weaker subjects. Can't spell, not the greatest vocabulary, slow reader, etc. Once I got to Valparaiso I had to pass an English proficiency test; otherwise, I was going to have to take a class entitled Grammar 0. OK, it's bad enough you are required to take a course prior to being eligible to take the beginning college English courses like Intro to English Lit and English Composition, but do they really need to call it Grammar 0? Like needing to take a class before being allowed to take the beginning English classes wasn't enough of a blow to one's self esteem. Just to emphasize how dumb and inadequate your English skills are, we are assigning you to a class that has a value of zero. Dear Student, we are pleased to inform you that you are now qualified to take Grammar ZERO. That's less subtle than when you show up for a neighborhood baseball game and they ask you to play right field. Or kinda like when someone asks what you look like, and the person describing you says you have a nice personality. Heaven knows what they make you take if you fail the “0” class. Luckily I passed the test. Whew, I was above the “zero” line! I was now qualified to take English Composition 101. 101, way better than those dummies in 0.

In English Comp 101 we were required to write a composition on some theme each week. We would be given two grades. One on the quality and content of our writing and one on our grammar and spelling. Misspelled words would not be tolerated. If you misspelled a word you would get an F on the grammar and spelling side and also a failing grade for the paper. I handed in my first composition. I got a B+ for quality and content but I had one misspelled word so I got an F overall. My second composition I got an A- for quality and content but had 2 misspellings, good for another F. My third I got a B but again I had a misspelling for a third straight F. Ut-oh, maybe Grammar 0 was in fact my level after all. I have often said that English is my second language and I do not have a first. My professor asked me to meet with him. He told me my compositions were very good but I was going to fail the class unless I cleaned up my spelling. He advised me to look up the words where I'm unsure about the spelling. I told him I looked up all the words I was unsure of, I probably look up at least 10 words for every paper. I explained that the words he was finding I thought I spelled correctly. I can't look up every single word. Well, he laughed and said “Alright, I am going to wave the spelling rule for you otherwise you are never going to pass this class. However, you must continue to try to spell every word correctly. If I see you slacking off on this I will re-instate the spelling rule.” I ended up getting a B+ in the class. It was the highest grade I received in any class that semester.

I had applied to Valpo as an engineering major but quickly, and by quickly I mean prior to registering for any of my classes, changed to math. I signed up for calculus. This was eye-opening for me. All math I had taken previously made total sense to me. I either immediately understood how to do it or I just needed to be shown once. I had never read a math book in my life. I just looked at the problems and solved them for homework assignments. Calculus started out OK but quickly stopped making sense. I had no idea how to read a math book, or rather I had no idea how to make sense out of my math book. The book told me what to do but there seemed to be little if any explanation about why and exactly how the stuff actually worked. I was lost and I barely got a D on the second exam. Math was something I always got A's in and trust me, A's were not a grade I received with any sort of regularity elsewhere. After the “D” exam my math professor asked me to come see him in his office. He advised me to drop his class telling me he just did not think I had the aptitude for math. I said “But that's my major”. He then further advised that I should find a new major. Wow, college is tough. The one school subject I had been good at I was going to be a failure at in college. (I wonder if there was a Math 0 class?) I neglected to take my professor's advice and stayed in the class. I can, on occasion, be stubborn. I never did understand how the calculus worked that semester but stumbled through using those nonsensical (to me) formulas. I ended up with a D for the class. I decided not to take a second semester of calculus, for the time being anyway, and changed my major again. I may be stubborn but I'm not a complete dummy, just ask the English department...

Freshman year mostly resulted in my hanging out with my dorm mates. My roommate, Rick, and I got along great. We hung out together much of the time. Our social activities were largely confined to hanging out in our rooms listening to music, occasionally going to the movies or going to the student union for something to eat. Our big weekend activities were going to the backside of a nearby graveyard by the railroad tracks where we would smoke cigarettes and drink alcohol we had sent to us from friends in New York where the drinking age was still 18. Another weekend activity Rick and I did was to sometimes go on hitchhiking trips to places like Chicago or Lake Michigan. Valparaiso had a boy to girl ratio of somewhere between 4 and 5 to 1. Back in the 60's colleges tended to be male heavy. Consequently getting a date with a women was not so easy, particularly so for freshmen guys. Attractive women and pretty much any woman with something on the ball had many choices and consequently seemed to pretty much boycotted freshmen guys. I did managed to have a total of three dates during the school year, two of them with the same girl. She was very nice but she did not have much going on in that very pleasant looking head of hers. The more time I spent with her the more unattractive she became to me. Both times at the end of the date I could not even bring myself to kiss her even though it was clear she was willing. I suppose what I could have done was kiss her at the start the date while she still looked good to me. Rick had no dates but he was trying to stay loyal to his high school girlfriend, Maureen, back home who had actually really broken up with him. When we were home for the Christmas holiday break we double dated with our high school girlfriends. We went to Radio City Music Hall and saw the movie “Wait Until Dark”. When the scary part came (Alan Arkin jumping out from the dark with a knife at Audrey Hepburn) a shriek filled the theater and both my girlfriend, Maryanne, and Maureen, who was sitting on the other side of me, grabbed me and partially jumped in my lap. Rick either pretended not to or didn't notice. He was in denial. He ended up dropping out of Valpo before the end of the year. We kept in touch and when I saw him a year later he was still trying to get Maureen back even though she had long since moved on to another guy.

                         Rick standing behind a picture of his high school girlfriend Maureen

Valparaiso used a 3 point system for grades. (Did that mean I got an A in dating?) You would get 3 points for an A, 2 for a B, 1 for a C, and 0 for a D. One of the incentives, other than pleasing your parents, to getting at least a 1.0 GPA (Grade Point Average) was that a minimum GPA of 1.0 was required to be eligible to pledge a fraternity in the spring. Just about all social activities on campus, other than football and basketball games, involved a fraternity or sorority. So if you wanted a social life your best bet was to join one of them things. Valparaiso was a tough grading college. Over 70% of the freshman class finished their first year with a grade point average of less than 1.0. I finished my first semester with one B one D and the rest C's. However, the B was in a 3 credit class and the D was in a 4 credit class so my GPA ended up being less than 1.0. No fraternity for me!

So let's sum up: My Grammar was above zero, although clearly not my spelling. My GPA was a fraction under the GPA Mendoza line. My date total was above average for a freshman even though my dates themselves left a bit to be desired. Lastly, somehow in just a few short months, I was now better at English than Math. That first semester had indeed proved to be an eye-opening experience.