NO NEW opinion this week. In place of your regularly scheduled programming, we'll be presenting reruns of "The W. Files: Really Bad Nominees ..."
Only joking. I came close to being unable to write in the last several days - not from writer's block, but because of ISIS blocks. In my ongoing effort to get into the classes I want, I spend several hours each day attending and doing homework for all eight courses, so I wouldn't be behind if I ever do get in.
Of course, you all recognize this phenomenon: the Semesterly Class Shuffle. Rock from one overfull classroom to another; turn left to your requirements for graduation, turn right to refusals to sign course action forms, then pause for a nervous breakdown. This little week-long dance is not only time-consuming and tiring; it also diminishes the quality of our learning.
We're in the second week of classes, professors are assigning work, and some students still don't know in which classes they are. Clearly a large part of the problem lies in the failure of the supply of courses in popular departments to meet demand. The University is attempting to improve the situation by hiring more faculty ("Crowding leads to registration woes," The Cavalier Daily, Jan. 23), although this may be difficult in light of the dearth of funds for the purpose.
While department chairpersons figure out how to blackmail the Virginia legislature into giving the University enough money, here are a few suggestions for making the interim more bearable.
Fix the information problem and thus lower the transaction costs. In other words, if students know more about the courses they're considering, they won't have to visit several classes during the first week of the semester just to determine what the course requirements will be. They won't have to end the day desperately trying to change their schedule because all five courses for which they're registered require a 10 page paper due April 4.
Have professors list as much information about the class on the Internet as possible. The English department might serve as a model; on the department Web site, it offers brief but helpful descriptions of the courses offered for the forthcoming semester.
Let students register for six courses at the beginning of registration, rather than waiting until its end. The current system means that a student registering for a four-credit class can get only three more courses before ISIS says no more. Then he comes in January or September and has to beg various professors - not always successfully - to let him into the other courses he planned to take.
One could object to this alteration in policy on the grounds that it penalizes students who register later. "What about that poor first year," you may ask, "who can't get into ECON 371 because it's full of third years?" I respond, "Who cares?" Ambitious course selection should be praised, but we need to keep in mind that most students spend four years at the University, and under a good system, everyone eventually will be able to take most of the courses they want. The hardworking kid can entertain himself with advanced calculus in the meantime.
Reserve space for students who honestly can say that they need to take the course this semester. Give third and fourth years some necessary privileges of seniority. We surely don't want fourth years hanging around for an extra semester just to complete one last requirement, to snatch up the classes we'll need then.
Strongly discourage shopping for classes - i.e., the practice of visiting and getting on the waiting list for more classes than one will enroll in. This last suggestion may work only after the first three are implemented. After all, the current arrangement strongly tempts us to maximize our chances of getting into desirable courses, even at the expense of our fellow students.
People often say, "If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem." I would like to claim for myself the distinction of being both. I make proposals for ways to diminish the scurry for and stress over getting into classes, while being a force for evil.
My presence on several waiting lists as a third-year major in the subject means that some lower-classmen and non-majors have already been turned away. I plead in my defense that I wouldn't have to do this if I just could have registered for all the classes in the fall, but don't listen to me about that.
(Pallavi Guniganti's column appears Fridays in The Cavalier Daily.)
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