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When I visited Berry College, one of the first things that I learned was Martha
Berry’s mission for her students - to educate the head, the heart, and the hands. The lady
in the admissions office who welcomed us to Berry beamed as she told me how almost a
hundred years later this mission is still the driving force behind Berry College. What a
wonderful place to be, I thought to myself. A place where I will grow mentally,
spiritually, and physically. Now that I am approaching the end of my freshman year, I am
able to reflect on all that I have learned, as a result of Martha Berry’s original purpose for
the school. I was recently disturbed, however, to discover that the ideals which Berry
College was founded upon have been challenged with the proposal for building a new
co-ed dorm on campus, for cost efficient reasons. The decision to erect a co-ed dorm
would be detrimental to the Berry community because it will hinder Berry’s mission to
educate the head, the heart, and the hands, of their students thus creating problems that
would far outweigh the financial convenience.
The head is where our brain is located. Our brain is the organ which allows us to
think. We have the choice to think good things or bad things. A major factor contributing
to what we think about is our environment. Berry College encourages their students
through a variety of Christian organization, and also the enforcement of strict rules, to set
their minds on pure and wholesome things. One rule in particular that reflects Berry’s
concern for the students is the “no sex on campus” rule. Berry’s policy is only effective if
they provide an atmosphere that reinforces this rule. By creating an environment that is
not surrounded by sexual temptation, students are not tempted to think about sex as much.
Also, the “visitation” rule , which requires students to be out of the dorms of the opposite
sex by 12 am on week nights and 1am on weekends, helps students to avoid tempting
sexual situations. Guys and girls have enough trouble as it is avoiding sexual temptations.
I know if I had a handsome guy whom I had a crush on, living beside me or even above
me the easy access would make my temptation that much harder to resist. I know much
of this temptation comes from our hormones, but how we respond to it is contingent upon
the decision that we make with our head (brain). By building a co-ed dorm, Berry would
create unnecessary temptation for their students. A co-ed dorm would send mixed
messages to the students, confusing their minds, and hindering the education of the head.
The heart is probably the hardest thing to be educated here at school, because it is
where our morals and beliefs lie. While Berry College accepts a variety of views and
beliefs, it still upholds Christian values and does not tolerate behavior that violates or is
offensive to high moral standards. I would say most students who come to Berry are
Christians or are in favor of the Christian belief. This is not surprising. Since Berry was
founded on Christian principles which are still taught, students of this faith are drawn to
Berry. When we come to college, most often our beliefs and morals have already been
shaped by our families, friends, or church. These beliefs are not created overnight,
however they were instilled, repeated and exemplified in positive role models. Even
though we may have already defined our morals and beliefs, we still need encouragement
and people who are good examples to us. Berry does an excellent job of giving their
students further encouragement and strives to continue to educate the heart by providing
Christian religion classes, music and drama groups, and on-campus Protestant and
Catholic church services every week. Berry gladly supports Christian organizations such
as Campus Outreach, Baptist Student Union, and Young Life. These spiritual
organizations and moral guidelines all work together to educate the heart. By having
co-ed dorms, the values and principles that Berry has claimed would be violated. The
Bible says in Ecclesiastes 8:5 that, “......a wise man’s heart discerns both time and
judgment.” This verse is very applicable to the co-ed dormitory decision. It would be
poor judgment to allow guys and girls to live together. This would create sexual
temptations, that would cause us to possibly go against our heart’s beliefs and not do what
we know is right. By setting up such a difficult obstacle for students to overcome, co-ed
dorms would be in direct conflict with Berry’s desire to educate the heart.
Educating the hands comes as a result of the education of both the head and the
heart. What the hands do depends upon the decisions made by the head, which ultimately
are based upon what the heart believes. Hands are our “doing vessel,” in which we carry
out our decisions. The productivity of the hands is evident by how we spend our time.
What do we do with our time? Are we productive, spending our time wisely and
efficiently? Berry encourages their students to seize the day. “Achieve as much as you
possibly can in one day,” was the advice given to me by my Freshman Seminar professor,
Dr. Jennings. If Berry were to build a co-ed dorm, students would struggle with spending
their time wisely. I love to spend time with guys. It is a natural desire. By living with
guys I would most likely give in the to the temptation of hanging out with guys too much,
as would most girls. By living with the opposite sex, many students would not only spend
too much time with the opposite sex, but would be more likely to engage in sexual
activity, which can lead to inactivity in other areas. For example, if a guy comes in from
classes, he knows he has a million things to do and is determined to accomplish all of them
that day. His afternoon schedule includes, studying for his biology exam, working out,
shower, attend a lecture for extra-credit, and then write an English paper. As he is on his
way to his room, a cute girl who lives two doors down from him, flashes a big smile and
in a pouty little voice asks him to help her with her algebra. He knows he has a packed
schedule, so he decides that he’ll skip the lecture and get some extra-credit some other
time. Then he thinks for a minute longer and decides he can write his English paper before
class tomorrow. Without further hesitation he replies, “How ‘bout tonight at seven?”
Now algebra homework cannot possibly take longer than one hour, two hours max. Well,
that must have been some really tough algebra, because those two were not done until
about one o’clock in the morning. Sure, that can happen and most likely does, in same
sex-dorms, however, there would be many more opportunities for this to occur in a co-ed
dorm. So now we have to decide are we going to spend a couple of hours each day with
the opposite sex, or are we going to spend many hours? Why create an environment that
will cause students to struggle with what their hands should be doing?
A co-ed dormitory would clearly go against Berry’s desire to educate the head, the
heart, and the hands. According to Berry’s mission creating mental sexual temptations, as
well as situations where students would be tempted to go against their moral beliefs, and
causing students to struggle with how they should spend their time, is not at all what
Berry wants to be held responsible for. If Berry’s mission is to educate the head, the
heart, and the hands, why create an environment that would make it difficult for students
to carry out what they are being taught? Even though Berry would benefit financially
from the construction of co-ed dorms, the problems that will arise would not be worth the
money saved.
Word Count: 1342
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