Student sees LA trip in “Music and the Movies” as drawback

The “Music and the Movies” JanTerm, led by Scott Stewart, is always a very desirable course because it includes a trip full of exciting experiences to Los Angeles, California. However, for one junior this year, Andrew Malone, going to film studios and watching movies did not provide as much excitement as learning in the dim light of classrooms.

Stewart remembers that when the course began, Malone shone in the classroom and his enthusiasm for the material was unmatched.

“He just worked so hard, harder than anyone else in the class, so I assumed that he had a great passion for sound design and films,” said Stewart. “I was happy that I was able to give him the opportunity to go to a place so rich in high quality productions of this subject.”

However, Stewart says that there was an obvious difference in the Malone’s behavior once the class made it to Los Angeles.

“While the other students seemed much more excited in LA than they were in Atlanta, Malone just started giving me the silent treatment,” said Stewart.

Other students in the course began to notice this as well soon after they began to explore the city.

“We went to the Egyptian theater, which was this awesome old theater that showed classic movies,” said junior Mitchell Ostrow. “The experience was kind of lessened because Andrew wouldn’t stop talking about the benefits of learning through lectures in a classroom.”

This trend continued throughout the trip even in places like the Warner Brothers headquarters and proved to be difficult for Stewart to deal with.

“Sometimes Andrew would refuse to leave the hotel with the rest of his classmates, telling me that he wanted to study on his own,” said Stewart. “I eventually had to handcuff myself to him so he wouldn’t run off back to his room.”

When the Bi-Line cornered Malone in the Campbell hallway for an interview, he acted very agitated.

“I just know that great real-life experiences don’t matter when I can learn everything I need from books,” said Malone. “Who cares if I meet some great actor or go to a historical monument when the real adventure lies in the classroom!”

This impactful statement has made such an influence on Westminster administration that there are rumors that next year, JanTerm courses will be required to stay in their classrooms all day for maximum learning efficiency, a change that many believe is needed.

“It’s definitely something we’ve considered before,” mused Keith Evans. “Now that we have the support of the students, we’re finally going to put this reform into action.”