As a senior at Rensselaer, I have already made it through all of my required courses along with plenty of free electives. After getting through it all, including a full dose of the classroom experience here at RPI, I feel somewhat qualified to talk about some issues I that have with the current system.
I’d like to tackle the issue of the Institute’s current 4x4 curriculum. Back when I was a freshman, Rensselaer instituted a program which basically said that a normal schedule for each student would be to take four four credit-hour classes over the course of one semester. This would add up to 16 credits, and would make students’ lives a lot easier, or so they thought.
Originally, you had to take five, three credit-hour classes to fit a normal schedule. One disadvantage of the new system is that it requires students to sit through two hour class sessions twice a week. While many students may be used to this by now, it still is very frustrating to lose your attention span five minutes past the first hour of class.
Even with the occasionally provided “10-minute breaks” after the first hour of these two-hour lectures, the content of the lecture becomes dull enough that many in the class are much more disinterested than they had been just an hour in.
In addition, with primarily four credit-hour courses, students are limited to taking four classes as opposed to five, ultimately limiting their scope of their education.
I will admit that having the 4x4 system in place allows for students to have a lot more “time off” when they are not in classes, due to the smaller number of courses on their plate. However, I would also argue that that is not the reason we are here.
I know it has been suggested before, but I propose that we move back to the 3x5 system and provide students with the higher quality and quantity of education that they all deserve.
