A Better System

The inconveniences of shopping period--cramming into a Sever classroom with a hundred of your closest friends and then darting across the Yard hoping to grab the last syllabus of a class meeting at the same time--are tribulations we have learned to live with.

Exploring a couple of courses at the Kennedy School of Government (KSG) this semester, however, I experienced first-hand its "shopping days" system: an alternative approach to shopping worthy of attention. The KSG shopping system holds some advantages over our own and may be looked at as a model in modifying the College's organization of shopping period.

On the Kennedy School's two shopping days (Thursday and Friday), classes scheduled for all days of the week hold introductory meetings. Tuesday-Thursday classes meet on Thursday; Monday-Wednesday-Friday classes meet on Friday. Class meetings during shopping days begin with a half-hour introduction to the course by the instructor, followed by 15 minutes of break and question time.

Following this break, the instructor repeats the half-hour introduction given 45 minutes earlier. Students interested in two classes meeting at 10 a.m. can thus catch the full presentation in both courses. This system benefits students, instructors, and the academic calendar in four significant and noteworthy ways.

First, students are able to catch the full introduction. Shopping days allow a student to hear the full introduction to two courses meeting at the same time. Having heard one presentation, he or she has time to move to another lecture hall and attend the second session of another class.

At the college, by contrast, attending one class during shopping period necessarily means missing out on the introduction to another course. Even if we wiggle our way out in the middle of the hour to scramble to another lecture, we unavoidably lose out on its opening. The KSG system demands no such trade-off.

Second, the option of attending a second session naturally reduces crowding in both the first and second presentation. If a course is overflowing with shoppers, a student can come back 45 minutes later for a less crowded repeat introduction. Having two sessions essentially allows twice the room's capacity to attend the course without uncomfortable crowding.

Third, lectures during FAS shopping period are disturbed by the shuffling of students in and out of the hall as they head to and from other courses of interest. The added noise and commotion can throw a lecture off track and hinder an instructor's presentation. Such shuffling is greatly curtailed by the alternative shopping days system. Students sit attentively throughout the presentation, knowing that time is allotted for them to leave after 30 minutes and catch the other course of interest in full.

Finally, professors can hit the ground running. Under the shopping days system, instructors in their first official class meeting can begin lecturing on the subject matter in earnest. The shopping days meetings fulfill the functions of general introduction and discussion of the syllabus.

On the first day of classes (the Monday after shopping days), the lecturer can tackle the subject matter of the course without stumbling through administrative details. Instructors also have the added benefit of knowing at the first lecture with fair certitude the number of students who will be in the class. Nearly all students interested shopped the introductory sessions, and those committed to the course attend the first lecture.

The condensed schedule of shopping days allows a week's worth of shopping in two days. The time needed for course selection is thus reduced and the uncertainties of shopping period shortened. An extended add/drop deadline keeps open the door of choice, but more informed decisions can be made earlier. Condensed shopping, coupled with adequate time for add/drop changes, brings students closer to certainty without prematurely binding them to a schedule.

The chief drawback to KSG's shopping days is that time is set out for shopping which instructors otherwise might want to use as a full lecture period. Experience has shown, however, that many first College lectures are devoted to a course introduction and review of the syllabus--the very functions of a shopping days meeting.

The college should look to the Kennedy School as a model for an organized shopping period. Shopping may be inherently hectic, but modifications in scheduling can facilitate the process and alleviate a few of its troubles.

Aamir Abdul Rehman '99, a social studies concentrator, lives in Cabot House. His column will appear on alternate Thursdays.