Opinion

Peer Ed doesn’t serve any purpose

Popular university department fails to educate anyone

By Chris J. Allen

Posted on Feb. 06, 2006, at 12:00 a.m.

Surrounded with the temptation to procrastinate in college, I was confronted one day with a flyer posted on a bulletin board. To quote it exactly, it read, “How to avoid procrastination: Avoid waiting till the last minute to do your homework.” Really, all I have to do to avoid procrastination is not procrastinate? What genius!

This flyer, like many others of equal eloquence, was supplied by this university’s very own Peer Educators. You may have seen their emblem gracing many posters, a predictably cheesy image of a bunch of stick figures holding hands. Chances are you read something about their many meetings but never went.

The fact is that “Peer Education” is a university project that was probably born of good intentions, but succeeds in nothing. It looks great on paper, a group of dedicated students trying to better the community by reaching out to fellow students, molding their minds and hearts into positive betterment. In fact, if I didn’t have to pay for it, I really wouldn’t care about what the Peer Educators do.

However, it isn’t free. Peer “Education” takes the form of countless workshops and other information campaigns that cost money. Some Peer Educators are even paid for their work, courtesy of everyone who pays tuition.

Peer Education claims to affect the student body, but if you have ever attended a “workshop” – and chances are you haven’t – then you would notice the scarce attendance. In a statement made by Peer Educator head Angela Fiandaca concerning a new project about sex, Fiandaca said, “All we see in media images is sex, but very few people actually know much about the subject.” Who are these people who know little about sex? I have yet to meet one college student that doesn’t know how sex works, the dangers of STDs, or that if you repeatedly stick an unprotected penis into a vagina, then a baby will eventually find its way into your life.

The messages Peer Education delivers are cliche and pointless. Despite highly disputed surveys, it’s a fair estimate that the majority of college students drink, and do it underage. Peer Education implies on their Web site that drinking underage isn’t worth it. However, it only takes a short Facebook search to find that many of the student Peer Educators themselves think it just might be. This is no fault of the students, it just illustrates the many inadequacies of the message Peer Education thinks it is conveying.

The role played by Peer Education is one that is already filled on campus. There are actually qualified individuals located at Cutler Health Center with whom one can discuss complicated issues such as eating disorders – issues that certainly cannot be solved via bulletin board flyers. RAs always have an abundance of free condoms, are trained to help students and are easier to reach than Peer Education. No one needs the mall to be filled with cardboard gravestones in order to be scared into concern about AIDS – it’s a pandemic, after all. The Internet is an unlimited source of all information you could ever need about anything.

Personally, I would like to see the university stop handing money out to such a meaningless organization, and instead use our tuition dollars to buy something more valuable, like NESN.

Chris J. Allen don’t need no edukation.

This entry was posted on Monday, February 6th, 2006, 12:00 am. You can follow any responses to this article through the RSS feed.