English 1010 Shows Headway Made in Bottleneck Courses

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.

"[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.

"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