LETTER: Article biased against Rice-London program

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by John Andrews and Amanda Fisher

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We feel the article appearing in the Sept. 8 issue of the Thresher concerning the Rice in London program was outwardly biased and focused primarily on negative aspects of the program.

Although the housing provided was less than luxurious and the job search was in fact difficult, the biggest problem with the program was the unrealistic expectations of its participants.

One cannot expect to go to a major city such as London and be provided with the same comfortable environment to which Rice students have grown accustomed.

Although it may not have been the "Real World," according to MTV's standards, London provided many of the participants with a wealth of experience other than just something to add to a resume -- it was challenging, exciting, eye-opening and above all, fun.

We met great people, found jobs which supported us comfortably and still found time to take walks and day-long picnics in gorgeous public parks.

One must remember that any program in its first year will have its glitches. Cheryl Matherly and Career Services did their best to provide us with an opportunity to live and work in London.

Many of the participants (and their parents) would have been much more tentative about working abroad if housing was not already pre-arranged.

What the article failed to mention are the plans for improvement in this year's program. One of these changes is a housing option.

Keep in mind that the rooms deemed so unacceptable by some of the participants contained a microwave and a refrigerator!

Finally, we believe that the Thresher used poor journalistic judgement by interviewing a member of its staff for the article. This is clearly a conflict of interest and could have been avoided.

None of us were interviewed -- or even contacted -- for the story.

We will remember our summer in London for the rest of our lives. We didn't go there to make money.

We went there to live in one of the most international and captivating cities in the world. Making money was just a means to achieve this.

In our opinion, the Rice in London program was worthwhile, and we encourage other Rice students to take part in this unique opportunity.

Remember, life is what you make of it. And there's a lot of it out there to be had.

John Andrews

Jones '97

Amanda Fisher

Jones '97

and two other Jones students

This item appeared in the Opinion section of the September 29, 1995 issue.

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