Come November, University students will have a lot to be anxious about, such as the impending presidential elections and inundation with tests, projects, problem sets and course work. An additional source of frustration for students will be course registration for the Spring 2017 academic semester.
The University prevents certain students from signing up for classes on the basis of their major by using what are often referred to as “restrictions.” These restrictions can range from something as innocuous as prerequisites to something as outrageous as discrimination based upon major. For example, some Engineering students have a minimal chance of enrolling in College classes due to the litany of restrictions on so many College classes offered each semester. Because Engineering students need to take at least three humanities classes before they graduate, it makes the system all the more unfair to those students.
Similarly, College students are severely discriminated against if they are pursuing a computer science degree. Indeed, the most popular computer science courses are sometimes capped far before non-CS College students get a chance to enroll. In fact, even computer science minors and cognitive science majors, who require a baseline quantity of CS classes to graduate, are not serviced as much as majors because of the incredible course demand produced by the CS majors.
When the University uses these kinds of restrictions, it loses the interdisciplinary approach to education so keenly advertised when students arrive at Days on the Lawn. The University prides itself on interdisciplinary work — biomedical engineers working with literature scholars, computer scientists working with anthropologists and so on. If liberal arts and hard sciences are not allowed to intermingle both academically and socially, how can students feel prepared for life after graduation with such limited perspectives?
Now, it is important to understand the rationale behind such a decision to place restrictions. Students in the College require a certain amount of College credit hours to graduate with their degree. Similarly, computer science students require a certain amount of computer science courses to be competitive in the already intimidating job market.
To combat these kinds of issues, the University should provide an optional program in which students on either side of the metaphorical disciplinary aisle could choose one class every other semester out of their wheelhouse in order to provide each and every student with a taste of a polar opposite discipline. This program should be offered to all schools at the University. An algorithm could be developed to factor in each student’s year, major and desire to be in such a program that will rank students accordingly for any given class. Furthermore, the algorithm could take into account a student’s previous attempts to enter a given class. This initiative will be able to provide University students with a holistic education, rather than a one-noted one.
It is a common adage that college is the time to find ourselves, whether it be academically, socially, religiously or otherwise. By confining students to engineering or computer science or liberal arts, the University is preventing the student body from realizing its potential.
Sean Sequiera is a Viewpoint writer.
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