HERALD EDITORIAL: The lack of classes offered at WMU is unacceptable and needs to be a top priority

It happens to just about every student at Western Michigan University. A course is listed in the course catalog and when registration time comes, the error symbol pops up saying, course is not available.
It seems as though you can’t go through your schooling at WMU without having a class cancelled, having a class offered a semester after you graduate, or having a class never even offered during your four or five years here.

But, it’s not a big deal, we’re only paying to get our education here and we’re only hoping that WMU will prepare us enough for our careers that we’ll be a valuable hire when the time comes. So, no, it’s not a big deal, it’s a huge deal.
It’s not just one department that isn’t offering classes that they should be, it’s many, if not all.

Students are inconvenienced all the time. No one wants to stay at WMU an extra semester for one class that’s offered two or three semesters from now. And they shouldn’t have to.
Whether it’s a screen writing class, a copy editing class, or a methods class, they are all important and should be available for students to take.
There are multiple reasons for the lack of classes being offered. Funding, a lack of professors and a lack of student interest all play a part.

All of these reasons factor into the course offerings that WMU offers.  If a class only has three people signed up for it then it isn’t really worth having that course offered that semester.
This is until it is your last semester at WMU and the course that determines whether or not you graduate doesn’t have enough students signed so you have to wait an entire semester to take the course.
It doesn’t seem fair to have to put graduation on hold for one course that is required to have to graduate but got cancelled.  So, in cases like these the university should offer an independent study in replacement for the course so that the student can continue on.

Now if the issue is lack of funding to pay for the courses then the university shouldn’t tease students by having them listed on the catalogs.
There is no reason why they can’t remove them until they decide to find the funding to bring the valuable course back.

In order to succeed, students need to have consistency and with the switching of semesters, the teasing and canceling of courses students, are unable to plan ahead with their courses.
Something needs to be done so students don’t fall behind and aren’t led to believe that a course will be offered in the fall semester just to find out that it isn’t.
Make our degree from WMU the best it can be, by offering everything necessary to be qualified in our fields of study.

Short URL: http://www.westernherald.com/?p=4377

Posted by HeraldAdmin on Feb 26 2009. Filed under Editorial, Opinion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

Cody Kimball
Web Manager: I'm a Communication Student at WMU, a SCUBA Diver, Boater, Ordained Minister, Notary Public, Web Designer, Film Maker, DJ, and of course a Journalist. Born and raised in Port Huron, MI and a graduate of SC4. http://www.codykimball.com