Senior Class Socratic Exchange

I think David Shor ’13 and Rachel Unger ’14 are referencing that guy from Bill and Ted here:

As graduation approaches, we anticipate the years of our lives that will follow these last four.  Who better to tell us what comes next than those who have already had 50 years of experience post-Wesleyan?  Lucky for us, the Class of 2013 has the unprecedented opportunity to engage with the Class of 1963 in an intimate, Socratic setting so that we may better understand what lies ahead.  We will have the chance to discuss how our Wesleyan experiences influence our hopes for life after college, and they also want our class to ask how they will spend their coming years.  Then, the tables will turn, and they will challenge us.

At Wesleyan and across the nation, much has changed in the last 50 years. So with open mind, the Class of 1963 invites us to join them in a Socratic dialogue to discuss our ideas about the future following this year’s Commencement and their 50th Reunion.

The event will take place Friday, May 24 from 11:00pm am- 12:30pm at Eclectic House.  Please fill out this form if you are interested in participating in this unique experience.  There are many more of us than them, and pairings with alumni will operate on a first come, first serve basis, so please let us know ASAP but definitely by Monday, April 15 if you would like to be a part of the special event!  Please contact David Shor (dshor@wes) or Rachel Unger (runger@wes) if you have any questions!

From the class of 1963:

As we come to your graduation on May 26, 2013, you will be celebrating your successful completion of your four years of diligent study in the Wesleyan tradition. Your Commencement will mark the beginning of the first day of the rest of your lives armed with the ability to think with an intellectual honesty you have sharpened within Wesleyan’s hallowed grounds of academics.

Fifty years ago, the Class of 1963 did the same, but with your Commencement, the Class of 1963 will be celebrating not only your first step into your first 50-year unique journey, but we, the Class of 1963, will also be celebrating our first step into our first day of our unique journey into our second 50 years! And to commemorate these new beginnings, members of the Class of 1963 are pleased to engage with members of the Class of 2013 in a Socratic dialogue for our mutual benefit.

As Plato developed the Socratic process at his Academy, we – one on one – will center our dialogue in a set of questions that will challenge each other, no holds barred, on our respective visions of how each of us are going to manage our next 50 years of life!

You are encouraged to question from where, how and why the members of the Class of 1963 will draw their courage, moral compass, energy and compassion to accomplish their goals. With your questions, you will be free to examine 1963’s position within the context of your vision with the tools and life’s experience of your generation.

Then it will be the Class of 1963’s turn to be your Socrates!

Both Classes bring to these Socratic dialogues similar backgrounds from the wellspring of our Wesleyan studies, but a very different life experience at this point in time. The Class of 2013 brings new tools, insatiable curiosity and a clean drawing board. The Class of 1963 has its Wesleyan background, a life’s orientation of 50 years of learned realities and a real desire to know how those realities fit into the new world of the next 50!

Recognizing that change itself is the only constant in the Universe, we do not necessarily see the world the same way. The next 50 years are going to be incredibly different from the past 50 years. The first 50-year’s life experiences for the Class of 1963 will not be the first 50-year’s experiences for the Class of 2013.

When two generations separated by 50 years come together to challenge and learn from one another – that’s when the “fat lady” sings!