The School for Me

My Tuesdays begin at 12:00 with Math class. This is a pretty good starting time for me as I can stay up pretty late the night before, as I like to do, and not feel exhausted when I begin my day. Though I don’t believe every class needs to start at noon or later as that would inevitably lead to more night classes (no thanks) I think it the vast majority of college students like to start their day later than they did in high school or middle school. When the time comes to select classes, we rush to the computers to ensure that we won’t get stuck with an 8:30 or God forbid 7:30 class. Students don’t want to be there, most teachers don’t want to be there, so I would love for a school to phase out early morning classes so that is no longer a concern for anyone.
Because of this adjustment, my ideal college would also serve breakfast until at least 11:00. As it is now, I could wake up two hours before my class starts and still have very little time to go out and eat, especially if I wanted to shower beforehand. It’s always good to eat a good meal before starting the day, so let’s make that a little easier for everyone.

As for the class itself, one unlikely objection that I have is that our homework does not get checked and therefore does not affect our grade. I understand that it is very difficult to check everyone’s work in a class as large as mine, and I have admittedly taken advantage of this policy many times, I think that in the long run it hurts my peers and I. For one thing, there is little incentive to do the assigned work when there is no immediate benefit for having it completed and no punishment for neglecting it. It is easy then to put it off or ignore it altogether, but then we are forced to cram before quizzes and exams. Not to mention, these in class assignments are the only thing we are graded on. Having homework count towards our grade could be a saving grace for students who are genuinely trying to learn the material but still struggle on tests. My ideal college would have all tangible assignments count towards our final grade.

At 4:30 I go to my second and final class of the day, Research Methods and Analysis. When people learn that I’m taking this class they often ask what we do there and what we learn about. I usually have no idea what to tell them. It’s not such a difficult class, but I tend to wonder just how it relates to Government and International Politics (it is required for that major) and I get the distinct feeling that I’m not the only one in my class who asks that same question. Perhaps it is inevitable that we won’t always see immediately the benefits of taking a particular course, but if that is the case then professors need to be able to tell us why this is going to be important in the long run. If they can’t do that, then the course should probably just be dropped. The Administration Office should make an effort to hear what students have to say about the things they are learning and re-examine the merits of courses that receive widespread criticism. There’s no use in having us take classes that are just there for filler.

On a more general note, my preferred school would encourage professors to seek feedback from their students rather than just lecturing and hoping they all absorbed the necessary information. I want my teachers to try and get to know me and how I think. I want them to know my name. I want to feel comfortable with the people around me and not like they are strangers who simply happened to take the same class that I did. A good way to do this, in addition to teacher to student communication, is student to student communication. Group projects, peer reviews, jeopardy games; there are plenty of ways to help kids get to know one another. For this to happen, there must be professors who understand that one of the things we all want out of college is to meet interesting people. They have to create a positive, laid back environment that encourages us to listen to others, respect each other’s opinions, and make an effort to get to know as many people as possible.

With this in place, my last wish shouldn’t be too hard to fulfill. That is that the students at my ideal university would not be as bound to certain cliques or social groups as they are in many schools. I think that by interacting more during class, we could learn a lot more about the people we go to school with and build friendships that would have otherwise never formed. No stereotypes or pre-conceived notions about others based on how people look or dress or whom they talk to. We aren’t all going to be best friends with each other, but we can at least learn that there is more to all of us than what meets the eye, and we all probably have more in common than we realize.