Vowing to Learn

Penn Arts and Sciences Magazine: Spring/Summer 2012 issue
by Tracey Quinlan Dougherty

Sophomore Aelita Parker recently had to go three hours without using the letter K in speech. On another day, she had to count all the windows in Harnwell College House. These weren't initiation rites for a social organization. They were penances imposed by her classmates for breaking the rules in her religious studies class, "Living Deliberately: Monks, Saints and Contemplative Life."

Justin McDaniel, Associate Professor of Religious Studies, designed the course to give students an understanding of the ascetic traditions underlying major religions around the world.

"Most religious traditions worldwide have some form of asceticism or monasticism embedded in their religion. Often it's seen as the ideal of the religion," McDaniel says. "Why is that? Why do you have a global history of people believing that in order to get to some sort of paradise they have to place restrictions on themselves in this life?"

To help students draw their own conclusions, McDaniel, an expert on monastic traditions who once spent time in a Buddhist monastery, imposes a unique set of course requirements that mimic the ascetic behaviors common to monasteries around the world. In class, students adhere to a strict dress code, participate in chants, enter and leave the room in silence and refrain from eating, drinking or using electronic devices. Outside class, they follow an increasingly stringent set of rules that culminates in a month-long vow of silence. They must wake at 5 a.m. without an alarm clock. They must meditate. They must practice a daily act of kindness. They cannot use electric devices except for light bulbs. They cannot touch other people. They can eat only unprocessed food and only during daylight hours. An infraction committee imposes punishment on those who misstep.

The aim of these rules, says McDaniel, is not to advance a particular religious viewpoint, but to increase students' awareness. "I thought the best way of doing this would be to have students try restrictions themselves, not just studying about people, but studying from people. In that way, I think they take it more seriously. In class we might discuss fasting. Well, if you're on a fast yourself, you're going to pay attention to it more," McDaniel says. "In the sciences we have labs, but in the humanities we don't often have hands-on experiences. We're trying to do something different."

Far from being a deterrent to potential participants, the course and its offbeat rules are actually extremely popular. Ninety-six students from all four undergraduate schools signed up for the 15 spots available last semester. McDaniel talked with all 96 beforehand to make sure they fully understood what would be expected of them. Not a single student who began the class in January withdrew.

The course has no tests, papers or required readings. The students self-grade in consultation with McDaniel and an assigned partner from the class. McDaniel says the participants are usually quite hard on themselves, but they typically do well in this course and in those they take alongside it.

"I've never had a student that hasn't done better in their other courses when you take away all Internet, all TV, all radio, all headphones, email, Facebook, any electronic communication whatsoever," says McDaniel, who's now offered the course three times. He says his fellow faculty members have been quite supportive of his students' unusual requirements and have given them leeway in completing their coursework in a way that doesn't impinge on their restrictions. Students are permitted to speak in their other classes when required, but they usually print out hard copies of Web-based assignments before the technology ban goes into effect and hand-deliver completed assignments to their professors instead of submitting them electronically. Professors who provide reading materials online often forward the materials to McDaniel so he can distribute paper copies to the participants in his course.

Is there a benefit to living an ascetic life? Parker, who now knows there are more than 1,200 windows in her college house, thinks there is. Freed from the distractions of texting, social media and idle conversation, she had a lot more time to think. She was able to get to know herself better and to consider what she'd like to do with her life, she says. "I'm not positive what I want to do yet, but I know that to know that I have to know myself. I have to know my passions, my beliefs, what moves me, what sustains me," she says. She's currently double-majoring in criminology and psychology, but participating in this course has led her to consider other options. "We write in a journal every half hour, and it's made me remember how much I love writing," she says.

As a result of the course, she's thinking about changing her major—right after she indulges in a pizza and some hazelnut chocolate.