2008 Woodie Awards
The Pains of Peer Ed
Danny Colligan
Issue date: 10/22/03 Section: Commentary
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Twice during the course of the year, every freshman is ritually subjected to Peer Education, a one-hour session that is supposed to educate students about tricky situations that one might encounter on the Hilltop. The topics that are covered in this program range from casual drinking and gender relations to date rape and assault. While the intention of the program is noble, Peer Education is marred by several flaws that make the entire endeavor somewhat futile. My personal experience in one of these sessions is testament to this.
From the very beginning, the session I attended was doomed to failure. The Peer Ed. Leaders introduced themselves, each saying something to the effect of "Last year's Peer Ed. totally sucked but we've made changes and this year it's better." The unanimity of discontent with the program voiced by the leaders didn't indicate that great things were in store for us. The introduction was followed by an equally depressing "icebreaker." Seeing as how we had been living/studying/eating/partying with the fellow participants for over a month, breaking the ice was pointless.
The cavalier attitude of the students towards the program, caused by the ridiculous activities and patronizing attitude of the session leaders, thwarted the leaders' attempts to connect with us. For example, in the "still life" activity, volunteers were asked to strike poses onstage of activities that they would regularly be participating in on a Saturday night. One male student struck an ambiguous pose with his fist in the air. Then a leader stepped into the activity, as if the aforementioned student were about to strike her. She told the audience that her boyfriend had found out that she was sleeping around and was angry with her. After some discourse, she asked the student audience what could be done in this situation to prevent domestic violence, which solicited such factious retorts such as "Don't be a ho" and "Get some friends... BIG friends!" To be fair, most of the leaders tried to get the students to cooperate and seemed to honestly believe in what they were doing. Nevertheless, the silly and condescending manner of the activities ultimately turned the students off and made the entire session unsuccessful. Almost equal effectiveness of the session could have been achieved by simply plugging the new web site that was endorsed at the end of the session in small groups (be.georgetown.edu). All of the topics that were covered, and much more, can be found on the site.
From the very beginning, the session I attended was doomed to failure. The Peer Ed. Leaders introduced themselves, each saying something to the effect of "Last year's Peer Ed. totally sucked but we've made changes and this year it's better." The unanimity of discontent with the program voiced by the leaders didn't indicate that great things were in store for us. The introduction was followed by an equally depressing "icebreaker." Seeing as how we had been living/studying/eating/partying with the fellow participants for over a month, breaking the ice was pointless.
The cavalier attitude of the students towards the program, caused by the ridiculous activities and patronizing attitude of the session leaders, thwarted the leaders' attempts to connect with us. For example, in the "still life" activity, volunteers were asked to strike poses onstage of activities that they would regularly be participating in on a Saturday night. One male student struck an ambiguous pose with his fist in the air. Then a leader stepped into the activity, as if the aforementioned student were about to strike her. She told the audience that her boyfriend had found out that she was sleeping around and was angry with her. After some discourse, she asked the student audience what could be done in this situation to prevent domestic violence, which solicited such factious retorts such as "Don't be a ho" and "Get some friends... BIG friends!" To be fair, most of the leaders tried to get the students to cooperate and seemed to honestly believe in what they were doing. Nevertheless, the silly and condescending manner of the activities ultimately turned the students off and made the entire session unsuccessful. Almost equal effectiveness of the session could have been achieved by simply plugging the new web site that was endorsed at the end of the session in small groups (be.georgetown.edu). All of the topics that were covered, and much more, can be found on the site.