Ourview
Working
students are overlooked
Cal State Long Beach provides many services
and facilities for its student population.
However, the university falls short of providing
enough classes for the working student.
While
some students enjoy the financial support
of their parents, many others do not have
that privilege. Some us struggle daily to
provide for ourselves, and often for our
families, hoping that by reaching our individual
academic goals we may provide a better life
for them and ourselves.
One
reason for the disparity that exists between
the number of classes that cater to students
who do not have full-time job obligations
and those who do have them is the times
in which most classes are scheduled.
The
university does provide a few classes in
the evening; however, these are scarce and
are generally lower division courses or
interdisciplinary courses. For students
that work a 9 to 5 job, the fact bares little
relief. Moreover, this proves to further
delay the graduation expectation of those
that have completed most of the pre-requisites
and general education courses and need only
to work on their individual majors.
The
problem seems to lie with the individual
departments and colleges within the university,
not the institution itself. Many professors
commute to CSULB and avoid teaching in the
evenings or early mornings. The result is
classes saturated with similar time slots
consisting of late to mid-morning to early
afternoon. But if we look at the Fall 2003
and Spring 2003 class schedules few departments
offer early morning or late evening classes.
All
for the convenience of professors who understandably
would like to spend good hours with their
families. But what happened to customer
service? Yes, customer service. For
even school is a business, for which students
are the customers and help provide funds
for the salaries of our professors. Shouldn’t
departments seek to provide enough schedule
flexibility for its working students?
The
parking structure can allude to the fact
that we are not experiencing a shortage
in student registration. However, we should
be aware of the fact that many students
do look for alternative schooling such as
private universities that cater to the working
class like University of Phoenix and ITT
Institute or even sister universities like
Cal State Dominguez Hills, whose classes
are structured to meet the needs of students
with families and financial responsibilities.
Nevertheless,
students should not have to settle for an
alternative. We are very fortunate to attend
one of the best state universities in California,
for which many academic and sport departments
have distinguished themselves in the quality
of education provided. Although other universities
are able to meet the schedules for full-time
working students, Cal State Long Beach should
be able to hire and call for the cooperation
of their staff in providing a better service
to them.
Graduation
ceremonies held a few weeks ago were sign
a of the dedication and sacrifices college
students make every day as we struggle to
maintain our GPA up while balancing our
personal, family, and for some us, our professional
lives. The opportunity to reach those goals
with the least obstacles as possible should
be provided equally by having enough classes
to cater to all type of individuals.
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