Since I first started preschool in 1985, I have been through 24 first days of school. You know what I’m talking about?the day that everyone goes around the classroom to introduce themselves, the day the kids tell their teachers what their daddies and mommies do, and the day that the overachiever kids bring their first show-and tell items?three days early.
Of course, with age, times have changed. Now the first day of school involves the teachers introducing themselves (which could sometimes take the entire class period) and then introducing the class by reading out the names and embarrassing those who didn’t show up. Then there are the students who salivate at the thought of taking those empty seats, sparing themselves the fate of being voted off the island and lacking the requirements to graduate on time.
No such luck on my first day of school. And I had even brought a really cool show-and tell (a required $90 textbook). They didn’t let me into the class.
This particular class allowed 30 students. More than one hundred students showed up. Then, while surveying the tiny room in OSH, which now felt like a talent agency waiting room (everyone talking to each other about why they deserve to have a place in the cast?I mean, class), the department expert announced that they would be adding one more section of 30.
Let me check my math really quick before I continue on with this article.
Thirty plus 30 equals 60 and 100 minus 60 equals 40. (OK, I admit I had to use a calculator, but I think I’m getting the hang of this math thing).
My point: With so many students still left in the dark, many of whom have already graduated, it seems irresponsible of the department and the university not to accommodate them.
Right off the bat, I have already thought of several solutions:
1. Get a bigger room. This is the summer semester, get real. This tiny room in OSH is not the only one available.
2. Open a third (that’s right, a third) section. I’m sure a graduate student wouldn’t mind giving up a few extra hours a week teaching another class for more money.
3. Don’t let people walk until they’ve taken the class. Then make it possible for them to take the class before commencement.
If this current pattern keeps up, we’ll have 10,000 people needing the same class, just days after going through the motions of graduation. (Side note: congratulations to the class of 2002? I really do respect each and every one of you.)
The main thing that our department expert focused on the first day of class was the budget cut. He claimed that the reason he couldn’t have more students in the class, or add any more sections was because of the 4 percent department budget cut.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but wasn’t there a 9.6 percent raise in tuition? Where does that money go? The new TRAX line? (By the way, doesn’t South Campus Drive look beautiful with all those orange and white buckets all over the place?)
It seems that the U has enacted this tuition hike so the administration could work extra hours considering how to save money within each department. For example, with the 4 percent budget cut, this department doesn’t have money to fund enough sections of a class that students absolutely need. Therefore, at our fine educational institution, the 4 percent budget cut has forced the department to cut out, that’s right?the educational part.
What’s left is a bunch of angry students who don’t even get a syllabus for the classes they actually did get into because budget cuts also eliminated the funds for printing syllabi. Personally, I’d rather get a printed copy of the course syllabus than a printed copy of exams.
For this four-credit course that left so many students looking for other ways to graduate on time, each student would pay, on average, about $1,000. Thirty students in the section would provide the department with $30,000. How can that money not pay for an extra section? Do the graduate students who teach the class make more than that? If so, I’m sure we could gather enough money from the arcades in the Union to fund the difference.
Perhaps the administration needs to think of a new way to save money. Or maybe it could make some extra cash if it invited CBS out here to film Survivor: University of Utah Communication Department.
Christopher welcomes email at [email protected]