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The Void, Part Two: And So It Goes
Summer Session Enrollment Watch:
ENGWR 100 (College Writing): 19/28 (-1)
ENGWR 301 (College Composition and Literature): 18/25 (+2)
The end has now officially come and gone: the finals are over, my papers are done, and grades have been entered.
I began the semester with two full rosters (25 student per class) plus twenty students on each waiting list. The numbers were as follows:
ENGWR 300 (4 pm): FIRST DAY:
45 bodies showed up on the first day, and I allowed 27 in.
ENGWR 300 (4 pm): LAST DAY:
10 bodies showed up, and 9 have passed the class.
ENGWR 300 (5:30 pm): DAY ONE:
45 bodies showed up on the first day, and I allowed 27 in.
ENGWR 300 (5:30 pm): LAST DAY:
7 bodies showed up, and 5 have passed the class.Over the last several years, I’ve changed the content of my courses dramatically, yet I (along with my peers) have watched student-retention decline at an alarming rate.
Of course, I’m starting to fine-tune the details of my summer-session classes, and as is always the case, I have a new idea about how to keep the disinterested interested.
And so it goes.
May 20th, 2007 at 6:13 pm
What a depressing outcome for anyone concerned about education! Maybe California needs a gigantic, very loud public address system that continually bellows at high volume, “Testing, testing, 1, 2, 3! Hello, anyone out there? Hello, anyone listening? Hello, anyone CARE? Hello? Hello?” Then again, maybe you could break your course down into THREE phases. You know, “OOOOOOONE – You going to get an F!’ Follow that some time later with, “TTTTTTTTTTWO – You’re going to get an F!” And finally, “TTTTTTTTTTHREEEEEEEEEEEE!”
May 21st, 2007 at 6:20 am
It is depressing–disheartening even. The issue I always revisit is who among those I could not let in might have stuck it out, learned something, and gone on.
It’s one of the reasons I wish I were allowed to interview students prior to allowing them into a class. While I might make some errors in choosing, I am relatively confident I could find at least twenty people out of forty-five who would thrive in the class.
It’s also the reason I think the price of classes should be increased: to make the point of it being an investment.
Instead, I’ll just keep scheming to fool as many as I can into staying.
May 21st, 2007 at 10:38 pm
Wow, these stats are depressing. It’s much worse than I thought. Really sad to see. Is there any hope?
May 22nd, 2007 at 6:53 am
QM,
I’m not certain things will improve until education is taken more seriously; however, there is some good news.
Of my remaining students, several are such extraordinary thinkers and writers, I simply sat back and enjoyed their papers.
Realistically, I think they are the students/people I want to be around.
January 14th, 2010 at 4:47 am
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