2008 Woodie Awards
Course catalogue: for show?
Kristy Banning '08
Issue date: 11/3/06 Section: Opinion
- Page 1 of 1
Did you ever wonder when the courses in the course catalog where going to be offered? If you look in the course catalog under the different classes that are offered, you will see some interesting courses, but you will also find that most of those courses are never really offered. Those fun courses that are interesting to learn from, or the courses that can help you academically and personally that are listed in the catalogue are rarely offered. But this is just the beginning of the problem. I haven't seen many of these classes St. Joe's hypothetically offers, and I also have the hardest time actually getting into classes I want or need. I know that my major isn't the only major that has these problems. Every year the process of registration brings up these ongoing dilemmas.
I personally decided to become an English major for many reasons. I was excited about taking many of the classes offered, and I believed that these classes could help me academically. But as the years progress I have yet to see these classes offered. I have taken the classes I need and now I was looking forward to the classes I want, but I have yet to see classes like Writing for the World Wide Web, Art of the Interview, Writing for Organizations, and Writing for Publication. All I know is that these classes haven't been offered at St. Joe's for the last three years. This doesn't only make students mad; it gets our hopes up. Plus, it makes no sense, why offer such great classes if no one can teach or take them?
I know my major isn't the only one in which courses show up in the course catalog but don't show up during registration time. This type of problem happens with some history courses also. Classes like Colonial Mexico and The Modern Caribbean are rarely offered. This recurring problem also affects philosophy, sociology, psychology, and political science majors. This problem occurs every semester, and probably even occurs in your major.
The other major problem has to deal with classes that are offered. Each of our majors is designed to incorporate specific classes. These important classes are required in most fields of study and are usually seminar classes. These classes are offered, but as registration begins the classes fill up quickly. Most of these classes include freshman seminars without freshman, or sophomore seminars with without sophomores. For example, the sophomore seminar in English is one of the hardest classes to get into. There are not enough teachers, and not enough classes. This point illustrates that not only are classes not offered, there are not even enough classes to take.
The process of getting into classes is exasperating. Specific classes you want or need are not offered on a regular basis or are not offered at all. There may not be a solution to the grueling process of obtaining classes. Most students can think of a couple easy solutions to the problem but those solutions will not appear for a long time. As St. Joe's accepts more and more students the classes are filling more quickly. The course catalog may need to be updated for future reference. As registration approaches, keep in mind that the classes you want are probably not the classes you are going to get.
Kristy Banning is a junior English major. She can be contacted at thehawk@sju.edu.
I personally decided to become an English major for many reasons. I was excited about taking many of the classes offered, and I believed that these classes could help me academically. But as the years progress I have yet to see these classes offered. I have taken the classes I need and now I was looking forward to the classes I want, but I have yet to see classes like Writing for the World Wide Web, Art of the Interview, Writing for Organizations, and Writing for Publication. All I know is that these classes haven't been offered at St. Joe's for the last three years. This doesn't only make students mad; it gets our hopes up. Plus, it makes no sense, why offer such great classes if no one can teach or take them?
I know my major isn't the only one in which courses show up in the course catalog but don't show up during registration time. This type of problem happens with some history courses also. Classes like Colonial Mexico and The Modern Caribbean are rarely offered. This recurring problem also affects philosophy, sociology, psychology, and political science majors. This problem occurs every semester, and probably even occurs in your major.
The other major problem has to deal with classes that are offered. Each of our majors is designed to incorporate specific classes. These important classes are required in most fields of study and are usually seminar classes. These classes are offered, but as registration begins the classes fill up quickly. Most of these classes include freshman seminars without freshman, or sophomore seminars with without sophomores. For example, the sophomore seminar in English is one of the hardest classes to get into. There are not enough teachers, and not enough classes. This point illustrates that not only are classes not offered, there are not even enough classes to take.
The process of getting into classes is exasperating. Specific classes you want or need are not offered on a regular basis or are not offered at all. There may not be a solution to the grueling process of obtaining classes. Most students can think of a couple easy solutions to the problem but those solutions will not appear for a long time. As St. Joe's accepts more and more students the classes are filling more quickly. The course catalog may need to be updated for future reference. As registration approaches, keep in mind that the classes you want are probably not the classes you are going to get.
Kristy Banning is a junior English major. She can be contacted at thehawk@sju.edu.
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