You're right -- I should have put "major" in quotes in my topic title, but I did find the inclusion of Philadelphia itself as a focus of the gen-ed curriculum, the way it came about, and that statistic that shows that now, students want to come to Temple because it is in Philadelphia, all interesting.

Did that location make you...Skittish?

Actually, his grammar is fine -- it's his punctuation that needs work. A copy of "Eats, Shoots and Leaves" for our Temple correspondent, please.

When I applied for an opening in Temple's development office, I noted to the interviewer that most of our older East Coast cities had at least one university that educated the elite and at least one (usually younger) institution that educated the working class. In Boston, those schools are Harvard and Northeastern. In New York, Columbia and the City University of New York. Here, Penn and Temple.

I also told her that I thought that Temple's heritage of offering a good education for upwardly mobile working-class Philadelphians was an important part of the school's identity. I didn't tell her that I thought the school was distancing itself from that heritage to its detriment in its pursuit of improved standing within academe.

Nonetheless, I consider Temple's move to embrace Philadelphia in its general education curriculum a Good Thing overall.

--Sandy "what would Russell Conwell do?" Smith

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Sandy Smith, Exile on Market Street, Philadelphia
"Jazz and blogging are both intimate, improvisational, and individual -- but also inherently collective. And the audience talks over both." --Andrew Sullivan, "Why I Blog," The Atlantic, November 2008

That's a stellar observation. Did it get you the job?

I don't think that Temple's quest for improved academic standing needs to interfere with its original goal to educate the poor and the working class. It can, certainly. And it remains to be seen whether Temple will let it. But I see no reason why, in theory, Temple can't better its academic standing AND still find a way to be committed to the less fortunate. Temple, to its credit, offers a program in virtually every conceivable subject matter; in some cases, it offers things--such as journalism--that no other area schools do, mighty Penn included. It would be a shame if prospective students interested in those programs decided against it because the school had a reputation that the "elites" found repugnant.

That was my case, since my undergraduate education came at a school with a significantly higher academic rep than Temple. But when it came to grad school, Temple was the only school in the area that offered what I wanted (the aforementioned journalism). I did attend, and I'm glad I did, but Temple's rep really gave me pause ahead of time. No doubt others may think the same.

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"And again, the Internet is not something that you just dump something on. It's not a big truck. It's a series of tubes."

--U.S. Senator Ted Stevens

Inky has a edit about Temple housing:

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/opini...t_Housing.html

Did that article SERIOUSLY call the area surrounding Temple a "quiet, working-class enclave of North Philadelphia"? Seriously? That "surrounding, working-class, quiet area" has one of the highest murder rates in the City but it is concentrated west of Broad St., not the area in question here, and those residents should be thankful for the students and the investors who actually fix up the falling down rat-traps around campus! I have never seen so many loitering, grown adults in the middle of the damned day in all my life.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0x-fkSYDtUY

"Censorship is free advertising by the government"--Federico Fellini

"Do you mind if I smoke while you eat?"

The draw of our new Center City is canceling out the negatives of the surrounding area.

Also, Broad and the campus itself is much more presentable that before.

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I am not going to comment on the Philadelphia class (alright, I think it's silly), but I will say Temple's housing is starved thin.

They guarantee freshman housing through about 9 complexes and have a very brief bid process for sophomore living. Students must choose suitemates and cannot be matched to another roommate/series of suitemates, which is very poor taste.

I do not think Temple's "apartment-style" sophomore complexes are necessary or good, they take up too much space. It is more important to at least guarantee sophomore housing than give all 5-10 percent of on-campus sophomores a common room. Ridiculous.

And... off-campus? "Near-Temple" housing like the Edge (student leased parts), University Villiage, Oxford, etc, cost a mind-blowing $560-$800 a month, WITH three other roommates. I understand freshmen housing is roughly $2200 a semester, but one gets only one roommate, who can be randomly assigned. He or she can also rely on Temple loans/grants and not sign a 12-month lease. Meanwhile all the near-temple co-students I have talked to either have mommy foot the bill or are taking $600 a month in loans out for the next year.

At the same time, I do not understand how students are using government loans for private housing. I don't think that is right.

Overall, the entire housing situation at Temple is a mess. Sophomores should be given one additional year to transition between freshman carefree-ness to an astute junior student, without worrying about off-campus housing.

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Temple Class of 2011!

I agree with your observation. I grew up down the street from Temple U. at 20th and Diamond in the 70s and 80s. Back then, my neighborhood was rough. But somehow, I dont know if it was through school or simply close proximity, I assume as a poor kid that I was going to Temple. It was the only school held up as wanting to help poor residents get an education.

Unfortunately, Temple U. made some missteps in the 80s involving local residents and a Cold War intensified. Temple also began to shift away from attracting local urban kids like myself to, I suspect 'improve' its image with white suburbanites.

Temple embarked on a massive building campaign that seem to last about 15 years and in the meantime seem to bury its original mission.

I am glad that they are educating on the Phila. experience. I ended attending another school but was always disappointed on their direction. Bill Cosby had me sold at one point.

Sandy, do you think they have moved at all back toward their original mission? A curriculum is great but that is not the same as helping kids like myself who desperately need the opportunity.

Ironically today, many dont realize that the crime in that area has dropped severley for various reasons. Much of the time, the negative generalizations people make about North Philly are pretty wide not realizing that the area comprises numerous communities WITH working class people, working poor and the underclass.