Class
sizes becomes issue
By
Oscar Montealegre
On-line Forty-Niner
Too
often students have to experience and endure
the crisis of not being able to enroll in
a class because not enough of the same classes
are offered, and the ones that are available
tend to fill up quickly.
According to Richard Outwater, acting associate
vice president of Planning and Academic
Resources, “class availability is a really
complicated issue that ranges from general
education classes to graduation classes.”
To relieve the class availability problem,
Cal State Long Beach faculty first anticipated
how many freshmen were going to be enrolled
in the new semester. Then after they calculated
an almost exact estimate, they increased
the number of general education courses
to achieve a relative balance.
However, Outwater noted that incoming freshmen
is where the crisis hits first.
“This semester has been much better than
previous years regarding class availability,”
Outwater said. “This was achieved because
we were able to first be aware of the problem,
and second we were capable and prepared
to manage the situation.”
Fewer freshmen enrolled this semester than
anticipated. Therefore, the number of general
education classes that were not filled to
their capacities increased compared to last
fall semester.
Nevertheless, there is no concrete proof
that class availability affects graduation
rate. There has been no credible and comprehensive
study that evaluates the consequences of
the class availability crisis and if it
really affects the students path to graduation.
Junior transfer student Danny McAnarney
has not experienced any problems in enrolling
in any of his required general education
courses, however he noted, “I am worried
about the classes that are only offered
once a semester, because if you are not
able to get that particular class then all
of a sudden you can be behind a semester
towards getting a degree.”
Danny Vivian, president of the Associated
Students Inc. said, “Class availability
does affect graduation rate and student
retention. However, I think there are more
factors involved than just class availability.
… However, I do not like the fact that some
classes are only offered once a semester,
or in other cases that some classes are
only offered once a year.”
Each department has its own college council
which is made up of representatives of student
organizations. The objective of these college
councils is to lobby their demands to the
faculty of the respected departments. For
instance, the college council of the business
department hold surveys and polls that illustrate
when students want their classes, how many
courses of one should be offered and even
influence the general make-up of the classes
required in order to graduate with a degree
from the College of Business.
Just two weeks ago A.S.I. created a committee
of college councils. It is a student senate
sub-committee that consists of the college
council’s presidents and two senators of
the A.S.I.
“The reason behind the implementation of
the Committee of College Councils is to
get all the college councils on the same
page. We want to decrease the gap that has
been formed between the college councils,”
Vivian said.
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