Personally, I am sick and tired of the attitude that states that this two-week period at the beginning of the semester either should be reduced to one week or altogether eliminated. What does that imply? That we should just plunge recklessly into courses with random instructors and then regret the decision a month into the semester? That it isn't important to see how strikingly dissimilar a course's rubric can be from the course itself, or how often the syllabus outshines the actual stuff of the course? That it isn't important to size up a professor's weaknesses and even strengths and then estimate how that might either damage or greatly augment your erudition process at the College? Yet, lately many members of the community seriously contend that this two-week period is unimportant. How absurd.
To understand just how short that two-week period actually is, let me provide a contrast to our Add/Drop. At several colleges and universities across America, "shopping period" is not only up to three weeks long in some cases, but no work is assigned. During this time, students feel out the professors' style and review the materials and scheme of the courses. Let me say it again. Professors assign no work. Conversely, at Amherst, if a student takes Add/Drop seriously and, as I did this semester, does not finalize his or her decision until the last Friday of Add/Drop, that student will be almost hopelessly behind the game. Imagine a student enrolling in Organic Chemistry in the second week of classes. That student will likely be behind for at least a month. And for what? For taking seriously the meaning of his or her educational experience? Please.
I do not think we need to institute a three-week Add/Drop period. Two weeks is sufficient to the purpose. But at the very least couldn't we ask professors to assign a minimal amount of work during this time so that we can truly shop around? If people are concerned the semester will shorten, then why not use the last week of Interterm as one of those two weeks? I concede that this is an awkward solution for the problem, but it's all I have.
I am absolutely convinced, however, that many students are disappointed that Add/Drop does not realistically afford them a well-deserved opportunity to safeguard their educations. This is serious business. It is alarming that so many students find themselves unhappy with at least two of their courses semester after semester.
On one last quick note, does anyone find inconvenient the glitch in the first semester concerning seminars that only meet on Wednesday? The first session meets in the second week of classes since the Labor Day (Monday) meeting is held on the first Wednesday. If you are truly trying to shop and you discover you do not like the seminar, you're screwed. You can frantically try to find another class in the final two days of Add/Drop or just sink into a Wednesday class you're less than enthused about. We can do so much better than this.
Simmons can be reached at mjsimmons@amherst.edu