Merriss: Grad students need love too
Issue date: 9/20/07 Section: Opinion
For many people, returning to school for a graduate degree is an important decision and one that causes many questions to arise. Will I be able to handle the workload? Will my job interfere with class time? When are classes even offered?
Recently, it seems that the most problems involve the last question - when the classes are actually offered. For most degrees, such as business, education or English, graduate classes are only offered at night, the two most common being 6:15-9:15 or 4:30-7:30, to make it more convenient for those returning.
But in truth, it makes it harder on the students returning for education classes when, if they are already teachers, they do not leave their jobs until around 4 p.m. and have to be in class ready to learn by 4:30. And what if these students are part of the majority and do not get off work until 5 p.m. each day? Are they supposed to repeatedly leave work early if their class is only offered at 4:30? I personally know a few students who are thinking seriously about leaving JSU to attend schools that are more accommodating to their graduate students.
My question: What about the students who return full time to pursue a degree and do not have a daytime job? Almost no consideration is given to these students when making up the schedules of when classes are to be held.
When classes meet only at night, it gives the full-time students no option but to find a daytime job and forgo whatever night job they already have due to their new obligations. Let's be honest, good-paying day jobs that will work around your schedule are few and far between, especially in a college town like Jacksonville.
There are a few programs, like political science or history, that do offer a mixture of day and night class times, but there are not nearly enough. Most of these classes are only offered at one time slot, so it makes it impossible to have some sort of a normal schedule. You could have a day class that meets on Monday, Wednesday and Friday and a night class that only meets on Thursday.
I mean, is it that hard to add a graduate section to 400 level classes? There are some that already have this feature, but why can't it be more widespread? I realize that this would mean a little bit more work for teachers, but I bet when they were pursuing their graduate degrees they would have liked to have options instead of having to take a class at a certain time because it was only offered at that time. Plus, that would broaden the spectrum of what classes were offered each semester. Sure, at least half of graduate hours have to be at the 500 level, but when only one or two 400G level classes are offered a semester, it makes it kind of hard to balance it out.
Come on, people. Yes, the majority of students here are undergrads, but let's try to remember the other part of the population. We pay tuition too.
Toni Merriss is the Editor in Chief of The Chanticleer. She can be reached at (256) 782-5701 or at chantyeditor@gmail.com.
Recently, it seems that the most problems involve the last question - when the classes are actually offered. For most degrees, such as business, education or English, graduate classes are only offered at night, the two most common being 6:15-9:15 or 4:30-7:30, to make it more convenient for those returning.
But in truth, it makes it harder on the students returning for education classes when, if they are already teachers, they do not leave their jobs until around 4 p.m. and have to be in class ready to learn by 4:30. And what if these students are part of the majority and do not get off work until 5 p.m. each day? Are they supposed to repeatedly leave work early if their class is only offered at 4:30? I personally know a few students who are thinking seriously about leaving JSU to attend schools that are more accommodating to their graduate students.
My question: What about the students who return full time to pursue a degree and do not have a daytime job? Almost no consideration is given to these students when making up the schedules of when classes are to be held.
When classes meet only at night, it gives the full-time students no option but to find a daytime job and forgo whatever night job they already have due to their new obligations. Let's be honest, good-paying day jobs that will work around your schedule are few and far between, especially in a college town like Jacksonville.
There are a few programs, like political science or history, that do offer a mixture of day and night class times, but there are not nearly enough. Most of these classes are only offered at one time slot, so it makes it impossible to have some sort of a normal schedule. You could have a day class that meets on Monday, Wednesday and Friday and a night class that only meets on Thursday.
I mean, is it that hard to add a graduate section to 400 level classes? There are some that already have this feature, but why can't it be more widespread? I realize that this would mean a little bit more work for teachers, but I bet when they were pursuing their graduate degrees they would have liked to have options instead of having to take a class at a certain time because it was only offered at that time. Plus, that would broaden the spectrum of what classes were offered each semester. Sure, at least half of graduate hours have to be at the 500 level, but when only one or two 400G level classes are offered a semester, it makes it kind of hard to balance it out.
Come on, people. Yes, the majority of students here are undergrads, but let's try to remember the other part of the population. We pay tuition too.
Toni Merriss is the Editor in Chief of The Chanticleer. She can be reached at (256) 782-5701 or at chantyeditor@gmail.com.
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