Cancelled honors classes limit students on availability
By: Chris Campbell
-Staff Writer-
Every student wishes to have something to add to their resume that makes them look better than everybody else. Community colleges give them another chance at becoming a desirable candidate for a good university. In the past, the honors program has provided for students the best that Meramec has to offer: exceptional relationships with one’s professors, advice, and, above all, recognition. In spite of the fact tuition has been increased, there have been more classes dropped. This makes honors students suffer due to scheduling issues.
At STLCC–Meramec this fall semester, you will no doubt be aware of many changes; increased tuition among them, but the most pertinent here is the increase in the amount of students needed to make a class. In the last year, there have been more classes dropped due to low enrollment than ever before. Now, however, the requirement for a class to be worth a professor’s time is 15 rather than the previous 12. But if smaller classes are dropped, what hope is left for the intimate classes the honors program promises?
The point of the honors program is to include those students who are the highest achieving and hardest working into classes which allow discussion and, hopefully, relationships to last throughout one’s career. In order to have a relaxed classroom atmosphere, the class size is limited to allow for a more engaging discussion.
In April, when registration opened for the fall semester, there were several honors classes being offered: Composition, Oral Communication, Macroeconomics, Sociology, American Politics, World Literature, Library and Online Research, and a few more. But as we near August 20th, all that remain are a bare minimum including Composition 1 and 2. For those honors students who have already taken these two classes, the remaining options only count for select few liberal arts majors. Alas, for the rest of us who are not English majors, there are no honors classes available this semester.
This may not seem like a big deal as there is still the option to do an honors contract in any class. An honors contract is basically a research project or the equivalent of an eight page research paper on the subject involved with a presentation which will count for honors credit. For most students, this could suffice. However, this sacrifices the whole point of an honors class. Sitting in a class with 25 other students who just wish to get by and have no direction is not where the top students wish to find themselves. Sure the vast majority of students need counseling to decide what major and/or career is for them, but honors students usually have definite goals already in place.
The honors program, due to the efforts of honors coordinator Dr. Eric Meyer, has grown in the last few years to include a couple hundred students in various honors classes and fulfilling honors contracts. Yet this fall, the honors program has taken a step back. Meramec was on the rise as one of the best schools in St. Louis with a thriving honors program, but now, it is quickly becoming a less desirable institution than it was just this time last year. Honors students used to have several options of classes to meet others with their same motivations toward education and a drive for their futures. Now, these students might as well look for another college. It seems that this community college only caters to the general population and does nothing for the students wishing to excel and create those relationships working professionals need.
There are some classes that are limited to ten students. Even two of the honors classes were not cancelled despite being having less than 15 students. The solution is simple: either be consistent, or just allow the honors classes with several students enrolled to make regardless. If the goal here is to help those high-achieving students and, thus, make the college look better, STLCC should not condone the restraint of the honors program.
