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Volume CXXXII, Number 16 |
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Lower class limits hurt add-drop
To the Bowdoin Community:
The issue of class accessibility has been under review by several of the College's committees during this academic year. Sparked by student complaints to the Office of Student Records, the Recording Committee has been looking into the situation.
One source of student frustration has been difficulty adding classes during the add/drop period. In theory, add/drop is a two week period, during which students have the option of picking up a class so long as they satisfy three conditions: they must have the necessary prerequisites, they must be willing to make up any work missed, and the course limit, set by college policy, must not yet be reached.
In practice, however, several students have found that, despite meeting requirements, they have been unable to obtain a signature from a professor, effectively making the add/drop period just "drop." Professors have either made themselves scarce or have refused to sign a card, stating that the student has already missed too many lectures, or that the class is full, even when it is in fact grossly under-enrolled. An email survey was sent out to students by the Office of Student Records in an attempt to define the scope of the problem, but student response was limited to the few who both read the email and were comfortable reporting difficulties. As a result, it is still unclear how pervasive this problem is. However, even the few reported instances are a few too many.
A new cause for concern is a recent motion by the Curriculum and Educational Policy Committee to reduce the enrollment limits of 100-level classes from 75 to 50 and 200-level classes from 50 to 35. Although, pedagogically speaking, this policy change would benefit the college, it exacerbates the accessibility problem, and for that reason warrants further scrutiny. The Office of Student Records projects that this move would triple the number of rejections from first choice classes, increasing it from 200 to 600. This would lead to a substantial increase in the number of students forced to take classes that either don't interest them or don't contribute to their course of study. From a student perspective, does a decrease in class size from 50 to 35 students really have a substantial impact on the educational experience?
However, the problem would not stop there. Rejection from a class oftentimes prevents students from obtaining prerequisites for upper level classes in the discipline. Some students already complain that a 100-level class rejection prevented them from exploring a discipline that may have become their major. Others complain of difficulty getting into classes required for the major they've declared. Lowered enrollment limits will only make these problems worse. Government majors in particular may have a harder time fulfilling their specific concentration requirements.
In evaluating the current class limit policy, the issue of class accessibility must not be forgotten. A poll is being planned to gauge student opinion on these issues.
Sincerely,
Gajan Sivakumaran '03
Elise Meoli '03
Shouldn't we study in the library?
To the Editors:
We, the undersigned, agree wholeheartedly with Arlyn Davich's proclamation that the library is above all else a social Mecca, a veritable campuswide with books, if you will. The idea that one would have the gall to interfere with this unofficial construct is absolutely deplorable. Shushing in the library (of all places) is a clearly vestigial remnant of our puritanical roots, one that must be disposed of if we are to advance as an intellectual community.
After all, to ask for relative silence in a forum designed for research pursuits is wholly antithetical to the Bowdoin College way. P. Diddy would not approve. And Daddy certainly doesn't pay thirty-five thousand dollars a year so that some bookworm can interrupt my planning for the weekend's keggers.
Sincerely,
David Bielak '03
Katie Semro '03
Andy Keshner '03
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