Freshmen classes need to be restructured
Some classes at Central Michigan University are fit for the village idiot.
Students should not pay upwards of $20,000 in an academic year to take dumbed-down classes. I’ve been very discouraged by the content of introductory and 100-level courses, as well as the attitudes toward them from both students and faculty.
Although freshman semester is a transitional period, the idea that introductory and competency courses need to be overly simplified for student success is absurd. It is creating issues for students such as myself who truly value an education.
CMU should provide students with the academic resources they need to succeed, but not decrease expectations. It is an insult to our intelligence.
Consider an introductory course you’ve taken and the difference in attendance between a typical class period and an exam day.
If grade distribution reports weren’t nixed, you could see for yourself that in virtually all introductory courses, a majority of students pass — even those who don’t regularly attend class.
I do not want to pay for a course that doesn’t even require my attendance in order to pass.
I came here to learn and to demonstrate how much I have learned to my professors. How can I do that when one of my multiple choice selections is “Big Mac,” and exams are designed for students who don’t excel?
An understanding of the material doesn’t do me any good when the exam is aiming to allow time for those students who take just 15 minutes to bluff some ideas, but not enough for those of us who possess a thorough knowledge of the information and are left writing frantically until time is up.
CMU should work with faculty to improve the content and rigor of courses while keeping the excelling student in mind, and should remove professors who do not take seriously the educational and fiscal value of a challenging introductory or lower-level course.
First-year education is not a joke — don’t treat it that way.
Colleen McNeely Brighton freshman
