Everyone always told me to go to college right after high school.So I did. Everyone told me to choose a major that I would enjoythroughout life. So I did. Everyone told me to finish college withinfour years. But I didn’t.
It is almost impossible to finish college in four years when youare going to San Diego State University. When you first apply, youmust declare a major. The smart people go undeclared, while otherspick something that may not be so suitable for them. Then you eitherget accepted with that major or not at all.
Once school starts, it’s like 12-year-olds trying to find JustinTimberlake at an ‘NSync concert. You cannot get the classes you need.Why is that? Well, many students like to change their majors duringtheir career at SDSU, causing chaos to those who have stuck it out inthe major they chose originally. Once the changes happen, thosestudents seem to want every class that already has 20 crashers at thedoor. This scarcity of classes then prevents the rest of SDSU fromgraduating on time.
Now why do these other students’ actions affect you and me? Whenstudents declare a major just to get into SDSU, then change it oncethey’re in, it causes more restrictions in those areas of study. Thatis why almost all departments have some degree of impaction.
Having impacted majors means there are too many students who wantto graduate with a degree (in something they probably won’t useanyway). I don’t understand what genius came up with that idea.
The university is always complaining about the number of studentsthat attend SDSU. As a result, they are trying to get students tograduate earlier and faster by offering Summer session as a thirdsemester. Let me get this straight. You want to get rid of studentssooner, but you won’t let them into a major unless they fulfill somany prerequisites that they hold up the others who are attempting tograduate in four years.
What brilliant administrator came up with that system? Offering athird semester is not the answer to getting students to graduatesooner. We need more sections offered in all departments and we needto cut down the requirements to get into majors. Having so manyprerequisites forces students — unable to get accepted to theirmajor of choice — to change their majors so they can graduate insomething before they have grandchildren.
Here’s a solution: Instead of using what money is available onconstruction costs this semester, why don’t we use it to hire moreprofessors?
If this school would hire more instructional staff, there would bemore classes offered, which means more students could get the classesthey need, which might lead to lower requirements, so that we couldgraduate on time.
If that doesn’t sound like a plan, I guess I’ll just have to writeanother column on the topic in about five years or so.
–Gina Chacon is a journalism junior.
–This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of TheDaily Aztec. Send e-mail to letters@thedailyaztec.com.Anonymous letters will not be printed — include your full name,major and year in school.
