Who says so? Soon(but not soon enough!)-to-be-former governor Jerry Brown, who says that because professors teach their "pet projects", that "there are thousands and thousands of courses, and then the basic courses aren't available...." That's why students can't graduate in 4 years.
Crazy ole' Uncle Jerry.
Couldn't a much bigger reason be the administrative bloat that's occurred in the past, say, 20 years, which sucks up money for more of those "basic courses"?
Couldn't a much bigger reason be the tremendous number of students who we let into our 4-year universities but who actually need remedial math or English help?
Think about it. If you got rid of students (mentioned above) who are least likely to graduate, and you freed up some of that administrative and program money to actually do some good around the school, wouldn't there be a greater opportunity for students to graduate in 4 years?
But it's all the professors' fault. Sheesh.
Some of it has to do with scheduling. For example, for my daughter's degree she was required to take Anatomy and Physiology, which was only offered in the Spring and second Summer term. Unfortunately all the slots were reserved for pre-med students, even though her degree plan along with others stated that she had to take the course in the summer before her senior year. Had my daughter not been an RA with access to the Dean of Life Sciences' email, she would never have graduated on time. As it was, the dean was very accommodating at opening a new section-his secretary was the one preventing it. But there are also situations where degree plans are changed while a student is in school. My son and my daughter both got caught having to take ONE COURSE in the Fall after their fourth year due to such a change and the university refused to honor their original degree plans. Most of these types of courses are job programs for grad students. It's all about the money.
ReplyDeleteMaybe the enrolling software needs to limit which course a student could take. If it does not meet their graduation requirement, it should not be select-able.
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