Dear CHASS ,

I am entering into my senior year in the psychology department and plan to graduate in the spring. I am writing you today to announce a grievance: I am not being challenged.

 I have taken 20 classes in CHASS during my tenure at N.C . State and I have never been challenged by a single one of them. This is not to say CHASS is a joke or a partier’s major; it says nothing about the difficulty level of any of the classes. I have in fact taken classes that severely taxed me; however, difficulty alone does not establish a challenge.

I am not alone in this sentiment. In talking with a fellow senior in the political science department I found the same feelings of apathy towards his accomplishments in CHASS , he currently holds a 4.0. His G.P.A is an accomplishment, and as such, should inspire pride and not be met lackadaisically. His accomplishments, like my own, have been marred by the lack of challenges he has faced in CHASS .

A challenge in academics is beyond statistics. It cannot be found in grade distributions or hours studied. A challenge is an opportunity to throw yourself into something. In academics this requires an assignment that goes beyond regurgitation of facts or neatly defined ideas. It necessitates that you be able to go outside the box and be rewarded for it. Finally, it necessitates a certain level of difficulty.

I recognize that college is what you make of it; however, this does not quell my complaint. Every time I have been presented with the opportunity to rise to a challenge, all outside of CHASS , I have taken it. My problem lies in that I am not being presented with opportunities in CHASS . All I am gaining out of my classes in CHASS are factoids and grades.

CHASS’s design does not inhibit it in the least from providing challenges; it has the potential to provide a rewarding, challenging experience. I cannot provide you with a list of changes to CHASS that would produce a challenging class or assignment. There are certainly elements that can put CHASS on the right track.

Classes assign projects that are free from the traditional rubric. Allowing students to engage in the material however they please. Professors allow their students to provide them with something outside of their expectations, facilitating their exploration in a topic rather than confining its scope. Generally if it sounds like some new-age teaching mechanism, I’ve found it proves more challenging than the staples of academic evaluation.

As for the staples of academic evaluation, these are not challenge inducing in the least. Multiple-choice tests, by design, can only vary in difficulty; they can never provide a challenge. Essays limited in length proves to wet an appetite for a subject, never proving satiating. Projects and presentations, as generally outlined, serve as verbal essays. Demanding a superficial and strictly directed analysis of a subject.

What I wish is that I may be presented with a challenge or two before I leave. I hope that I may be given the opportunity to throw myself into a project that provides that feeling of accomplishment long after I receive my grade and that the feeling of accomplishment is not found solely in the grade.