About a month ago, I wrote a column looking at the reasons why summer classes are awesome and why people should take them. However, at the time, I hadn’t actually taken any summer classes myself, I was making the argument from the perspective of a student who was used to regular session classes. Now though, I have finished my first semester of summer school and I have a new perspective, and a different argument, to bring to the discussion about summer school and classes in general.
In short, I’ve realized after one summer session that summer classes are not only great, but they are better for some students, like myself, than regular session classes. It is for this main reason that I’ve come to a broader conclusion: credit hour maximums during the summer should be abolished at NC State.
The first thing that I realized at the start of summer session is that I had a much better attitude. The warm weather made me feel positive and at home on NC State’s campus. Also, with fewer students I felt like the university was mine for the taking; all the resources of NC State suddenly seemed like they exclusively belonged to me. In addition, I noticed toward the start of the first summer session that I could focus better, since I could narrow down my workload to a few classes.
All of this made summer session I fantastic, so when the time came to make a decision about summer session II, the first thing I did was sign up for as many session II classes as I could. But alas, NC State policy only allows for two non-health-related courses, meaning that I could only use the advantages that I received in the summer for a fraction of the total classes that I would be taking.
Not being able to take more classes at the peak of your productivity limits the potential for performing at your best. I must settle for only taking two, 3-credit-hour classes for summer session II, even though I would much rather take many more, making the rest of my time at NC State easier.
Students should be able to find the proportion of classes that works best for them given the variables involved in each, but the current system adheres to a philosophy that students should only be allowed to work effectively during certain times of the year.
There’s no room in this policy for students who would rather take three full courses during the summer, since it exceeds the amount allowed. The simple fact is that college gives students a lot of freedom, and that freedom should extend to being able to determine what works best and what doesn’t, even if it means making a mistake to learn what those things are.
I did poorly my spring semester, and it had consequences, so I decided to do summer classes to make up for it. Little did I know that it would change my outlook on classes and credit hours irreversibly. I’ve made mistakes, I’ve changed what I’m doing, and I’ve learned, as any college student should do. But the outdated regulations in place by NC State have caused me to not be able to make a permanent change. The way things are, I simply cannot perform my best.
The policy of limiting how many credits a student can take in the summer is trivial and should just not exist. Without the policy, students who need to change in the way they work will finally be able to make that change, pass classes in environments of their choosing, and benefit the university as a whole.
