Students have regarded graduating with honors in high esteem for generations. But what distinguishes an honors course from a standard one?
The Helen Hardin Honors Program at the University of Memphis prides itself in providing more active learning environments for ambitious students; however, some prefer not to participate.
Angela Patrick is a 22-year-old English major and honors student. “It genuinely irritates me when students have the GPA to join but don’t,” she said.
She was home schooled for many years, and when she arrived at the U of M, it wasn’t what she expected.
“I wasn’t being challenged,” she continued. “I was really bored my first two years, (and) I wasn’t learning or growing as a student or a person for that matter.”
Mathematics professor, Mate Wierdl, teaches both traditional and honors students. He described his experiences with both.
“The best students in my honors (class) are the same as the best students in standard,” Weirdl said.
According to him, the main difference has nothing to do with who is smarter.
“(Honors students) tend to be better motivated,” he continued.
In some instances, he said honors classes can become negative.
“When students are (too) competitive or have too much ambition, they can sometimes have a conflict like ‘Oh, I don’t want to work with this person because I don’t want them to be better than me,’” he said. “That is stupid.”
But when it is a collective effort, he said he believes the classes are beneficial.
“You get a smaller college flavor in honors,” Wierdl said.
His typical honors course has 15 students enrolled as opposed to his standard courses that have about 80.
“Of course you have a more one-on-one approach in a smaller class,” he said.
“I wish all students could get that same treatment,” he concluded.
There are two types of Honors programs. There is University Honors, and there are various honors programs for the different colleges.
James Campbell is the director of the Math Honors Program. He has been teaching for 36 years.
“You (the teacher) can tailor the class to actually challenge the students,” he said.
Although he spoke favorably of honors students, he has had some fail in the past.
“Students, in general, fail because of outside factors. Most of them are younger. It is due more to maturity issues rather than lack of ability,” he added.
Some students, such as Nathan Brandeburg, contract for honors credit. This occurs when a course does not have a honors equivalent. In order for this to take place, students must fill out paperwork agreeing to do extra work in that particular class. The professor, the head of the department and the director of the Honors Program must sign this document.
The 20-year-old Computer Science major admitted to being fond of the Program. “I’m pro honors,” he said. “Everyone in the course is just as motivated as you are, (and) you get to work one on one with your professor.” He also said that he gets hands on experience. Experience he needs for his particular field.
Students can apply for the honors program on the Helen Hardin Honors website. The requirement is an overall 3.25 GPA.
