{"id":97,"date":"2006-08-28T08:59:37","date_gmt":"2006-08-28T08:59:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.wabash.edu\/fyi\/2006\/08\/28\/talking-about-the-ideal\/"},"modified":"2006-08-28T08:59:37","modified_gmt":"2006-08-28T08:59:37","slug":"talking-about-the-ideal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/fyi\/2006\/08\/28\/talking-about-the-ideal\/","title":{"rendered":"Talking About the “Ideal”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jim Amidon \u2014<\/i> \u201cThe student is expected to conduct himself at all times, both on and off the campus, as a gentleman and responsible citizen.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

That single, simple sentence, which seems to have been written a couple centuries ago, constitutes the only rule of conduct at Wabash College. It seems almost Victorian in tone \u2014 \u201ca gentleman and responsible citizen.\u201d<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

And with the possible exception of college archivist Beth Swift, I\u2019m not sure anyone at Wabash knows how long \u201cThe Gentleman\u2019s Rule\u201d has guided student behavior and conduct. Many older alumni remember having only one rule, but few know the origins of it. Fewer still remember talking about it much.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"Many critics think it\u2019s an antiquated holdover from another era long ago; an era void of litigation and judicial conflict. Virtually every college in America once operated on an honor code similar to Wabash\u2019s Gentleman\u2019s Rule. Few colleges still have those codes, and most that do also provide students with thick handbooks to guide their behavior. The honor code has been relegated to governing academic honesty.<\/span><\/p>\n

At Wabash, though, the Gentleman\u2019s Rule is it: the ideal we hold out for our students with hopes that they make the link between the enormous trust we place in them, the freedoms they enjoy, and the responsibilities they alone must shoulder.<\/span><\/p>\n

Living up to the Gentleman\u2019s Rule is not easy for most 19-, 20-, and 21-year-olds. I discovered that a week ago when I sat with 28 freshman students and two of their student orientation leaders for a 75-minute talk about what the Gentleman\u2019s Rule really means.<\/span><\/p>\n

I started out our conversation by asking the students \u2014 then on campus only 36 hours \u2014 to define for me the characteristics of a gentleman. Just as there were 30 different students from 30 different families, there were almost as many definitions.<\/span><\/p>\n

The definitions I liked best included words like \u201crespected,\u201d \u201cchivalrous,\u201d \u201cethical,\u201d and \u201chonest.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Like the rule itself, the words we came up with stand as ideals for the students; targets we want them to shoot for fully knowing they will ultimately fall short at some point.<\/span><\/p>\n

As I looked into their tired eyes, I knew each student was imagining how he might conduct himself over the next four years \u2014 and the years that follow. I could see them wrestling with ethical dilemmas in their minds, when doing the right thing could and would be difficult.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"We talked a lot about courage and how much courage it would take to confront a fraternity brother, roommate, or teammate when they were in violation of the Gentleman\u2019s Rule. When was it okay to speak out, to have those conversations?<\/span><\/p>\n

I guided them through a discussion of what is and is not appropriate behavior under the Gentleman\u2019s Rule. When I asked for examples of potential violations, each student was able to offer something: fighting, cheating, stealing, using insensitive language, treating people badly, and so on.<\/span><\/p>\n

That part of the talk was most heartening. It demonstrated to me that these young men, alone for the first time in their lives and now personally responsible for their behavior, do know the difference between right and wrong.<\/span><\/p>\n

Each student could imagine himself breaking the rule and I could tell they were puzzling with the issue of \u201cbut what if I don\u2019t get caught.\u201d Then a bright young man looked up and said, \u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter if you get caught; your conscious should be your guide.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAnd your mama,\u201d I added. They looked at me curiously. I said, \u201cIf you\u2019re really struggling with a decision about what\u2019s right and what\u2019s wrong, put it to the mama test: what if your mother found out?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The light bulbs went off and they nodded their heads in agreement with the simple, easy-to-understand definition of what it means to be a gentleman.<\/span><\/p>\n

Wabash hopes to educate its students to think critically, act responsibly, lead effectively, and live humanely. In order to accomplish that lofty goal, students are guided by the Gentleman\u2019s Rule and the ideal it represents.<\/span><\/p>\n

And just as they will flunk tests, fumble footballs, and drop lines on stage, they will occasionally fall short of the ideal. It\u2019s understanding when and how they have fallen short, that each young man makes the critical link between trust and responsibility, which will govern every decision they make for the rest of their lives.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Gentleman\u2019s Rule may be a simple sentence, but it stands a grand ideal for every student who steps on the Wabash campus<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jim Amidon \u2014 \u201cThe student is expected to conduct himself at all times, both on and off the campus, as a gentleman and responsible citizen.\u201d That single, simple sentence, which seems to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-97","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"w_featured_image_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/fyi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/fyi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/fyi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/fyi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/fyi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/fyi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/fyi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/fyi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/fyi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}