2008 Woodie Awards
Academic enslavement
Issue date: 9/15/05 Section: Viewpoints
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A couple of weeks ago, one of my professors gave an assignment to his class that really got me thinking. Each semester on the first day of class it has become a tradition of sorts in which he asks his students to write a paper on their interpretation of academic slavery. Once I started thinking, it began to flow like water. I immediately thought of several ways students are academically enslaved.
One area that I think students can identify with the most at the beginning of the year is financial aid. For instance, on the first day of school on my fee receipt, it showed that I owed money to the university. Now if anyone were to look at my fee receipt, they would have clearly seen that if my financial aid had been changed from estimated to applied, everything would be fixed. Because of this balance I was unable to get a book voucher or register for classes. I felt as if shackles were being put on my ankles and hindering me from freely walking into the school year and jumping into reading the materials for my classes. Eventually, my issues were resolved when I finally got to speak to someone in financial aid. Another way that students are enslaved is by class cancellations and droppings because there are fewer than 10 students in a class. What usually ends up happening is the merging of smaller classes into one class, but this only offers an "underground railroad" stop until a student can reach freedom (acquire their degree) and can prolong the graduation process.
Another obvious category that can contribute to students' enslavement is professors. One way begins with the first day of school with the syllabus. In some professors' minds, they already have the days planned out when they want to have their test. If you are a student who has numerous classes on one day, you have already been enslaved to possibly have numerous tests on the same day and there is nothing that can be done about this unless the professor changes his/her mind or pace of teaching.
One area that I think students can identify with the most at the beginning of the year is financial aid. For instance, on the first day of school on my fee receipt, it showed that I owed money to the university. Now if anyone were to look at my fee receipt, they would have clearly seen that if my financial aid had been changed from estimated to applied, everything would be fixed. Because of this balance I was unable to get a book voucher or register for classes. I felt as if shackles were being put on my ankles and hindering me from freely walking into the school year and jumping into reading the materials for my classes. Eventually, my issues were resolved when I finally got to speak to someone in financial aid. Another way that students are enslaved is by class cancellations and droppings because there are fewer than 10 students in a class. What usually ends up happening is the merging of smaller classes into one class, but this only offers an "underground railroad" stop until a student can reach freedom (acquire their degree) and can prolong the graduation process.
Another obvious category that can contribute to students' enslavement is professors. One way begins with the first day of school with the syllabus. In some professors' minds, they already have the days planned out when they want to have their test. If you are a student who has numerous classes on one day, you have already been enslaved to possibly have numerous tests on the same day and there is nothing that can be done about this unless the professor changes his/her mind or pace of teaching.
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