Wednesday, October 27, 2010

The Class Is Full

That's one sentence I would love to never hear again, but, from the look of things, I think that's a wish that will never be fulfilled.

Now, why would I choose to talk about this today?

Well, if you caught it in one of my earlier posts, I recently moved to the Riverside, CA area and have made that choice to finish my education. Being that I moved after the semester had begun at the local community colleges (where I need to complete a few choice units and major requirements before being able to return to a state college (most likely UC Riverside)), I placed myself on the wait list for eight "short-term" courses which were scheduled to begin on Monday The concept of these short-term courses is fulfill the same unit requirements as their regular counterparts but in a much more condensed manner, and that seemed like the perfect fit for me. As I just moved down here, I have plenty of time to dedicate myself to my studies (I have chosen to avoid full-time employment for the time being so as to distract myself less), and I felt I could handle a few fast-paced community college courses (I'm not trying to sound arrogant, but my experience is that these classes aren't too complicated and could easily be completed in half the time (as done in this instance)). Now, in no way did I intend to take eight classes at once, but I was hoping that, by putting myself on the wait list for that many, I would be able enroll in three or four of them successfully. That felt like a reasonable course load. On Monday, I got myself all geared up for class (absolutely had that crusader, ready-to-take-on-the-world mentality) and arrived on campus extremely early (well before 8:00am). Every instructor was quick to inform me (as well as the rest of those eagerly waiting in the wings) that the class was full and that there would be no more students added from the wait list. Well, I can't say "every instructor" because two of them told me to wait a couple days and "see if anything shakes loose." Yesterday, I got an email from the first teacher apologizing for not being able to allow me to enroll, and today, I got the crushing news from the second. So, it looks like I wont be able to, even minimally, lessen the distance between myself and a diploma until January.

Now, why did this happen?

Over the last few years, budget deficiencies in education education of California have caused there to be less class seats available in public facilities than there are students willing to take them. Now, I wont call these budget deficiencies "budget deficits" or "budget cuts" because, in some areas, that's not the proper explanation of the situation. The state simply has less money dedicated to education than we could use. Once again, I say "use" as opposed to "need" because people can and do survive and prosper without these opportunities, but that doesn't mean they aren't beneficial. Lately, this problem has become more and more apparent as the situation spreads to more institutions and the gap between amount of available class seats and amount of desired class seats has increased dramatically. Now, this problem is definitely not restricted to public universities in California or public schools in general. It's a part of a growing problem that definitely reaches private institutions as well as every notable aspect of society and economy of which I can think. Today, though, the part that hit me is the deficiency in California community colleges. I could go into great detail about why this is such a problem, but, in reality, most people are already aware. When there is less money available than you (or the government) wants to spend,  you have to cut some line items back. Sure, you can go about digging a nice pit of debt, but in time, you have to make some cuts. That's not going to make some people happy, but it has to be done. Cuts have been made across the board, but students are definitely feeling the hit. What it seems to come down to is being one of the first to register (the second your "registration time" comes up) and knowing exactly in what classes you need to enroll (and, of course, hoping that the course doesn't get cut later for lack of enrollment or some other reason). It's a rat race, and, in the end, there will always be some losers. There are not going to be enough classes, and those that lag to register will be left high and dry. Sure, there is some blame to be placed on those that delay their registration to the last minute, but even some that register in a somewhat timely manner are going to be left out due to this spectacular problem that is this shortage of funds.

As a note, I am not trying to argue a solution or try to get people to take my side on this. I am merely offering a little opinion mixed with some facts about a problem our society is facing (brought on, of course, by recent personal experience).

I should be grateful for having the opportunity to go to college or to further my education to any degree, and I truly am. I do feel blessed to have such opportunities, and I think my interest in partaking in them attests to that. I have the great fortune of having such mountains of opportunity (that seems to be the word of the paragraph), whether they be educational, material or moral, and I cannot help but mention, once again, that I am grateful for that. In this case, I don't deny that it was my fault. I am usually quick to register and do what I need to get into the classes I wish to take, but, this semester, that was not plausible. I moved after the semester had begun, and I did my best to afford myself the greatest chance of success, but it looks like that will be postponed until the end of the calendar year. In the end, I really don't blame anyone but myself. There really isn't blame to be placed on anyone for shorting me on something that I don't, necessarily, have the right to have. It's just what I called it before, an opportunity, and it's one I should only ever be grateful for having and not irate for not having. I will do my best to grant myself every opportunity I can in the future, especially with regards to education, but I still felt like talking about it.

I would be very surprised if anyone persisted and read all of what I had to say (it was so long that I don't think I even want to take the time to review it before posting it (maybe edit it later)), but if anyone should choose to, I would like to thank them.

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