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NewsvineFor about four hours two times a week, most Stanford freshmen enter a new dimension. A dimension of sight, of sound and of mind. They move into a land of both shadow and substance, things and ideas — IHUM!
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The meeting time of Introduction to the Humanities (IHUM) classes is anywhere from Monday mornings (The Fate of Reason) to Thursday afternoons (World History of Science). The place is Annenberg Auditorium (Life of Contemplation or Action?) or perhaps the Geology Corner (Inventing Classics). Meet the cast of characters, some 12-15 students per section, who ultimately comprise most of the freshman class at Stanford. Many share a common urgency — they’re trying to get IHUM over with.
For those students, IHUM is simply another GER on a laundry list of classes that students have to take to earn their diplomas from Stanford. They see IHUM as just some nuisance that one has to get through, but for that rara avis that not only goes to IHUM, but actually loves it, it is an opportunity to embark on an “egomaniacal dream ride.”
So says Harley Adams ‘11. He’s what some might call an “IHUM Kid.” Some students consider the IHUM Kid to be that slightly eccentric, oddly brilliant, wily-tongued devil that seems to exude confidence and bravura at the discussion sections many loathe to even attend.
The insights of the IHUM Kid are profound, witty, often comic and sometimes over your head, but not so high that you don’t recognize that you’ve just heard something deeply meaningful. IHUM Kids have a tendency to monopolize conversation, which can drive their fellow students crazy or cause them to merely shrug their shoulders and feel grateful for having to do less work.
Tommy Tobin ‘10, FroSoCo sophomore president, was willing to recollect on the record about being labeled as an IHUM Kid.
Tobin recalled the halcyon days of his youth — winter quarter 2007.
“A student in my class called me an IHUM Kid,” he said. “I did talk a lot, spouting off information, [but] I talked within the class not to hear myself speak, but to keep myself awake.” Not exactly the ringing endorsement for IHUM that one might expect from a true IHUM Kid.
Others regard the IHUM Kid moniker in a much more positive light.
“My friends tell me that I have IHUM Kid tendencies, but I should probably leave it at that,” admitted Cynthia He ‘10, currently a resident writing tutor. She enjoyed IHUM because she was able to “hear some really erudite perspectives. As a bio major, I don’t get many opportunities to read great works in a structured setting.”
But how does the present batch of IHUM Kids feel about the situation? Discussing his own section, Adams, currently in Richard Martin’s Inventing Classics IHUM and an Art of Living veteran, waxes eloquent about the positive effects of IHUM on his social life.
“Steve Ziegler [‘11] was in [Art of Living], so we started being friends because of it,” he said. “We’d go to dinner after section and continue arguing about Nietzsche — I love saying Nietzsche now.”
Among authors studied in IHUM, Plato is also a favorite of Adams.
“Here’s this guy thousands of years ago who says you can be immortal by creating beautiful ideas . . . using others and sharing in these ideas through thought and art,” he said. “I think I wrote an essay on ‘Symposium’ being an orgy of the mind. That really blows my mind.”
Adams described his perception of what it means to be an IHUM Kid.
“I think people have a conception that the IHUM Kid does all the reading, does all the work, comes to the lecture all the time and knows everything and wants to suck up about it and wants to get a good grade because this is another class,” he said. “I think the IHUM Kid is like any other student who skips lectures and reads half the reading and is tired in section but is really passionate about the material and sees this as a great opportunity to discuss it and to talk about some really great stuff.”
“That’s the IHUM Kid for me,” he added. “I guess that’s what I hope.”