Having a system with "Illinibucks" would surely be interesting with its fair share of logistical kinks. I believe one of the most crucial yet potentially problematic components of this idea would be that every student receives the same amount of Illinibucks. If different students received different amounts of Illinibucks, there would be issues of fairness and the value of Illinibucks per unit would be unstable. On the flip side one could argue that giving every student the same amount of Illinibucks is unfair. It's a fact that not all students value school equally and not all students perform equally either. If one student values and prioritizes school over all else and another student is unmotivated and dreads going to class, it's not unreasonable to say that they would value their Illinibucks differently. Despite how much they personally value their Illinibucks they still have the same amount which perhaps isn't entirely "fair".
One of the most stressful processes all students at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign go through is the registration process. All students have specific classes they want to take and it can be frustrating when those classes reach full capacity. The Illinibucks system could potentially be used in this scenario. Students could "pay" with their Illinibucks for a spot. However a new set of problems would arise such as not having enough teachers to accommodate popular classes. Often times the reason classes fill up is because the demand of students wanting to take the class is larger than the supply of teachers available to teach the class. A possible way to solve this would be by removing the "pre-specified price set by the campus" parameter and allowing students to bid on classes with their Illinibucks and the students who bid the highest are given a spot. If all students are given the same amount of Illinibucks to use, a bid system would allow for students to show how much they want or need to get into a class. However, students generally don't only need one class and if they spend too much of their Illinibucks in one place they will be left dry in others.
Even though it may seem fair to use an equal Illinibucks system, priority systems aren't void of logic. It's true that registration may seem unfair because some students have advantages, however aside from specific cases such as ROTC students and athletes the priority system does operate on some logic. Students with higher standings (i.e. more credits) have higher priority and get to register sooner which makes sense because a senior, who may NEED a few classes to graduate that year, should be given that priority to make sure they finish their college career. Complaining underclassman will eventually get their chance to register before the underclassman a few years later so it balances out.
As I continue to meet more and more people in college I've come to realize not all students value school at the same caliber. Giving students the same allocation of Illinibucks completely disregards this fact. I believe there aren't many practical candidates of use for Illinibucks because first come first serve and priority "things" either push students to strive for the top and show their dedication or reward students for their efforts. An example of this would be the job and internship market. Students that are punctual and show early interest or have high GPAs should be prioritized as a result of their efforts. Ideally you shouldn't be able to "pay" your way to success (even though this is the case in many aspects of life). While it's true that sometimes first come first serve or priority systems can be unfair, students that work hard to be first or gain priority would have their efforts to reach the head of the line diminished by Illinibucks. Having an Illinibucks system where you are given the potential for advantage simply because you are a student at the university doesn't seem earned and devalues hard work and effort to an extent.
If there was an inevitable Illinibucks system I would spend my Illinibucks on thing related to class performance and grades. Perhaps if there was a way to spend Illinibucks to allow for extra credit opportunities or private tutoring those would be my top priorities of use. Even being able to be skip the line at office hours to receive the attention of the teacher faster would be useful. Of course, this could cause problems such as students who didn't work as hard receiving higher grades because of their Illinibucks usage or there not being enough teachers to hold private tutoring despite student demand and willingness to spend their Illinibucks. However, in an ideal and hypothetical world I would spend all my Illinibucks to increase my grades. Extra credit opportunities, private tutoring, and office hours priority seem to be the best use of a university granted and exclusive currency.
Considering the parameters of all students receiving the same allocation of Illinibucks and that all prices are pre-specified and non-negotiable, different issues would arise if administered prices were too low or too high. If prices were set too low, students would be able to spend their Illinibucks frivolously without consequence and theoretically just be receiving handouts and unearned advantages which is arguably a disincentive to working hard (a priceless internal ability). In addition, if prices are really low and students feel no usage consequence then everyone will be "moving to the head of the line" and it's a clear paradox for everyone to be at the "front of the line". I imagine a long line at the bookstore where the person at the back uses his Illinibucks to get to the front, but then the new person at the back of the line does the same and so on until the person who first used his Illinibucks to get to the front is shifted to the back again. On the other hand if prices were set too high students may feel like their purchasing power is weak and wont be able to gain very much from their usage. This would devalue the Illinibucks and if prices were set very high relative to how much students are allocated then Illinibucks may seem valueless.
On the inelastic supply of teachers of a given course, I wonder if that is really the case. On a different student's post, I just argued that for our class, I may be the only one who could teach it on campus, so there supply may be quite inelastic. But for other classes it may be that many different instructors are qualified to teach the course. Sometimes the university will pay an instructor overload pay (more than the regular salary) to get the instructor to teach an additional course. Couldn't capacity be expanded that way? Alternatively, sometimes the place brings in visiting instructors for a semester or a year. And then there is the possibility of hiring new instructors outright. These adjustments take some time to implement. At the last minute capacity might be pretty well fixed as you suggested. But ahead of time, there is more flexibility.
ReplyDeleteThe rest of your post had a kind of moral tone about those students who deserved priority and those student who don't. That the system favors seniors makes sense, as you suggest. But really most seniors are already done with their Gen Eds, so don't compete much with first year students for class space. And it may be that a good initial experience impacts how the student will go about the rest of their time here. So if there is a popular course the student really wants to take that very first semester on campus, perhaps encouraging that would have derivative benefits regarding the student's subsequent motivation that you haven't considered.
In class on Thursday I talked about epiphany as a way for a student to have a transformative learning experience. In my view, better to try to encourage that in first year students than to wait for it to happen in seniors. Thinking that way might argue against the perspective you offered up in your piece.
I'm sure it's true that the supply of teachers for a given course can be and have been altered to accommodate student demand for a course. However, I'm speaking from my own experiences when I say that this definitely isn't the case for many classes. While there may be a large supply of teachers qualified for lower level courses I have found that some upper level courses and very specific courses have high demand, but not enough teachers to accommodate.
DeleteRegardless of if the respective departments have teachers that are qualified and capable of teaching a course there's no guarantee that they'll value the extra pay over their time and efforts necessary to teach the class. An example of this is my violin private lessons class MUS 183. The class is for non-majors and the skill cap is relatively low, but there were only 15 available spots. I know the music department harbors many talented violinists capable of teaching beginners, but their time is simply valued higher elsewhere.
While it's ideal for the university to be able to accommodate high demand classes through increasing incentives such as extra pay as you say, that's often times not the case for whatever reason. Classes that are necessary for graduation such as ECON 203 for Business and Economics majors fills up rather quickly even though the university knows it's a requirement.
With regards to seniors not having to compete with other students for classes I don't agree. When I wrote that seniors should have priority for classes that are required for them to graduate, I wasn't referring to General Education classes. It's true that seniors are generally finished with their Gen Eds. I was referring to core classes that they've either failed to pass or failed to take. I knew an Economics major student who had failed ECON 203, a class required for economics students to graduate, and he would've been put in a rather unpleasant position if he was unable to graduate that year because spots were taken by sophomores that could take it the next semester.
Your point about first year students having good initial experiences that impact the rest of their college life makes sense, however I still believe those initial experiences may be less valuable and reliable than making sure a senior graduates. Many seniors take classes that are either easy or necessary for them to graduate. Being so close to graduation I wonder if a senior is thinking about "transformative learning experiences" more so than what they're going to do once they make sure they graduate. Perhaps I'm rather pessimistic, but speaking from personal experience as well as gauging how my friends select classes I believe the majority of first year students (and all students) take classes that are easy to get a good grade in as opposed to classes they can have "transformative learning experiences". Personally, I believe it's the general case that students receive these transformative learning experiences as a byproduct of their class decisions as opposed to the main goal.