I
graduated in May, 1972 and stayed on at Lehman for
graduate courses. Any description of my experiences is, by
now, irrelevant, since it would seem that Lehman no longer
offers a Master's degree in History.
I loved the
school when I entered as a Freshman in 1968.
However, in my Junior year, New York City began its
Open Admissions program. CUNY was forced to accept many
below-par students, regardless of academic average.
Having so many
students requiring college-level remedial
courses, ruined the academic environment.
The standard
was so lowered, that it has apparently
never really recovered.
At the time of Open Admissions, Lehman
College, formerly
Hunter Uptown, was a rather small campus.
The onslaught
of students in Open Admissions was a disaster.
Faculty
members, who had slaved over doctoral dissertations and
publications began retiring. The complaint was that there
could
no longer be college-level discussion because students
would interrupt a
person in mid-sentence because he or she
could not understand
college-level vocabulary.
In 1972, the Herbert H. Lehman degree
was of no particular
advantage in the job market.
I wound up with jobs that one
could get out
of high school.
Thank you, New York
City, and Mayor Lindsay for ruining a wonderful free university
system. It was paid for by tax
dollars
of thousands of working people, many of them
veterans of
World War II. I'm sorry for this negativity,
but
the bad reputation of this school has followed me
throughout
a lifetime.
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