Ask Mrs. C – Class Petition Question

The semester is getting ready to begin in colleges across the country. In Southern California, students will be having difficulty getting their classes, and they will be petitioning to add classes during the first week of school. Consider the following question asked by more than one frustrated student the first week of school and my response given at that time. How might you respond to such a question? Would you have anything to add?

 

Question

Dear Mrs. C,  

I wasn’t able to register for my classes on time, so I tried to petition. I tried for 6 classes yesterday and didn’t even get 1!! It is so unfair. In one class, the teacher said there was no room, but there were like 5 empty desks. I need that class! She is so mean and selfish! Why wouldn’t she add students?

~ Unhappy with No Classes

Answer

 

Dear Unhappy with No Classes.

It is a frustrating time for everyone in colleges today: instructors, staff, and students. Why wouldn’t the instructor add students? I’ll give you a couple of reasons that courses have caps or limits.

First, one teacher can only effectively teach so many students during a semester. If the class has more than the suggested amount, the students do not get as much quality time with the instructor, so the students’ education suffers. Grading gets delayed, the material isn’t covered, questions aren’t answered, etc. Moreover, classroom size makes a difference too. If there are too many bodies in a room, it can be hard to handle the volume and the heat and stuffiness. Finally, no matter how passionate a professor is about her profession, it is, in fact, still a job that requires work and provides financial reimbursement.

How would you feel if you, or your parents, or another loved one went to work, and the boss said, “Look you have to work for 5 extra hours this week, but I can’t pay you any more. Oh, not only this week but for 16 more weeks too. I need this! Hey, don’t be mean, ok?”

Would you do it? Most people wouldn’t, yet hundreds of college instructors do just his every semester. Basically, any instructor who adds students over the limit will not get paid for the time and effort spent on those students.

I can’t answer why your professor wouldn’t add any students, but I can tell you it is doubtful she is simply being mean. Yesterday with a full class of 25, I had 18 students trying to add. There were no open seats. I might, maybe, be able to add one or two, but no more than that. I am not mean or selfish. I am a professional trying to ensure equality of education and a successful semester for everyone in the classroom, i.e. the students and myself. I am also a real person trying to pay bills as I teach 3 writing classes at 3 different Southern California colleges. Regardless of the fact I would like to teach everyone in the world how to write better just because I love it, that would not be practical nor possible.

It is difficult right now in California colleges; the climate has changed. As you have seen, it is no longer sufficient to come the first day and just petition. There are simply too many people trying to get in and not enough spaces. Today’s college will require different steps for success. We might not like it, but this is the way it is now. You will have to get your classes early and pay for them on time, so you keep them.

I hope it works out for you. Good luck.

Effort Never Wasted

Nothing we learn in this world is ever wasted.

~Eleanor Roosevelt

If you are reading this blog entry, you are hopefully enjoying the newly designed Coleman’s Classroom. What do you think? Pretty, isn’t it? As you navigate the pages, you might think it was effortless. Wow, would you be wrong! To create this site, I had to learn something new, and we all know hard that can be! Now, I have created websites over the years. There was a site with Frontpage, another with Dreamweaver, yet another on Google Sites… I have learned various blackboard platforms as well as a whole summer learning how to use Canvas. All of that learning should have added up to an easy peasy new web site design, right? Well, not really.

Luckily, one of my former students, Siva Joseph, is a professional and was willing to give me some lessons with this new WordPress platform. (Thanks again Siva! You are amazing!) After the first lesson, I was set! I went home and spent hours and hours (over 30 hours total!) working on the site. I met with Siva again, who graciously told me that now that I knew what I was doing (sort of!), we could begin for real. Then, we pretty much deleted all my work and spent 5 hours rebuilding the site. Ouch! It kinda hurt, you know? All my previous experience and all my work… gone.

Hence, I decided to draw on the strength of Roosevelt’s words.  Moreover, I realize that all the time and effort wasn’t wasted, but was actually the foundation for this new site and the sites I will build in the future. Also, it will help me relate better to my classroom students. In that time though I made many mistakes, I learned a lot. Once Siva had helped me set up the new site, polishing it was so much easier. Decisions came faster. Overall, it was a more pleasant experience and I am quite pleased with the way it came out.

At the end of the day, I am glad for all my previous effort. It refreshed for me the lesson that my writing students go through every semester when they spend hours on a paper, and I gently explain that it is off topic or still needs development. “But I spent so much time,” they cry, “it was such a waste!” Now, I can relate my own similar experience and reassure them that in the end, they will be better off for the experience.

 

What experience have you had that feels like a waste? It wasn’t.

How might that help you in other ways or in your future? Think about it.

Lucas and Mrs. C

An instructor driven to facilitate students’ educational achievements, Catherine Coleman is a college English and ESL instructor, helping students improve their writing since 1999. A student striving to become a physician, Vietnamese-born Lucas Nguyen immigrated to the USA in 2008, graduated from UC Berkeley, and is currently pursuing his goal of becoming a physician at the University of Iowa, Carver College of Medicine.

Together they have collaborated to create this pragmatic guide based on their experience in applying to medical school in order to help others similarly succeed. Within they provide indispensable information for each stage of the application process with practical advice for selecting appropriate schools, preparing the personal statement and activities, and interviewing strategically. Additionally, the step-by-step checklists and structured charts contain invaluable data from 134 American medical colleges. Overall, this guide aims to provide essential techniques for students’ success in their own medical school application process.