February 26, 2003 Student
News
English
1010 Shows Headway Made in Bottleneck Courses
From the Utah Statesman
(2/24/03)
 Only
40 freshmen at Utah State University still need to take English
1010, according to the General Education 2002-03 Dashboard.
Heidi Beck, associate registrar, said there was a goal for
every freshman to take English 1010 this year. She said the
university conducted a basic study to see how many sections
needed to be offered, and then the Provost's Office funded that
many sections.
Lynn Meeks, director of writing in the English department,
said the university offered more classes this year, thanks to
second-tier tuition.
In January, the State Board of Regents approved USU's 4.5 percent
Tier II Tuition increase for the 2003-04 fiscal year.
Tier II Tuition will again go, in part, toward increasing the
number of sections in bottleneck courses, according to the Tier
II Tuition pamphlet.
Beck said this is the first time the Registrar's Office has
taken data and applied it to a curriculum plan. The university's
General Education Committee has recommended a study be done
about other general education classes that are bottlenecked,
she said.
The General Education Dashboard, which charts university statistics,
reports that all general education classes have available seats
except humanities and English 1010. There are still 1,591 freshmen
who need to take a humanities course; only 754 have.
"Previously, people were just asking what we could do
to put a Band-Aid on [bottleneck courses]," Beck said.
"Now, people are asking different questions."
She said the difference is mostly because of a change in personnel
and a shift in organizational structure.
"It just makes sense to be doing academic and curriculum
studies now," she added.
Meeks said next year looks bleak, though.
"[The English department is] going to lose about $85,000
in revenue, so it will have a huge impact on the bottleneck
courses," Meeks said. "The provost and ASUSU have
done everything possible to provide more funds, but the Legislature
continues to cut support for USU."
Maureen Wagner, one of the academic services advisers in the
College of Natural Resources, said she thinks a lot of the freshmen
in her department didn't get into creative arts, humanities
and math general education classes, because they aren't specifically
required in their majors.
"Freshmen are scared to camp out to get into classes,"
she said. "Especially when they don't have to take them
immediately."
Wagner said she was frustrated by the lack of general education
classes available.
"I'm not a student, but I work with them day in and day
out," she said. "Having more general classes available
would alleviate a lot of their stress."
Dennis Allen, a senior in business administration, said he's
had trouble getting into at least one class every semester he's
been in school.
"The classes are too tight," he said. "It probably
has to do with the budget, but there's just not enough room
for everyone in those classes."
Brandon Monson, a freshman majoring in public relations, agreed
with Allen.
"It is too tight," he said. "I got into all
of my classes this semester, but last semester it was really
hard."
Allen said over the years he has attended USU, things have
improved in terms of getting into classes.
Beck said some studies that might be conducted to decrease
bottleneck courses (other than English 1010) might investigate
why students aren't taking generals, whether it's because they
can't get in or they don't want to.
Jake Lauritzen, an undeclared freshman, has his own reason.
"There's a lot of generals I just don't see the point
in taking," he said. "I took so much of that stuff
in high school that I don't want to take it now."
Bryce Olsen, a sophomore in political science, had other requests
for changes in the general education program.
"They need some quality classes with quality teachers,"
he said. "Most of the generals are taught by people who've
just gotten out of school themselves or graduate students."
Meeks advised that one thing students can do to help relieve
the bottleneck is to declare a major and meet with an adviser.
"The students who do not have an adviser and are undeclared
are the students most likely to have the trouble getting into
English 1010 and 2010," she said.
By Emilie Holmes; emilieholmes@cc.usu.edu
Photo by Ryan Talbot
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