Pro: Abundant courses for success Con: Academic stability is the key

JUSTIN MIRANDA Reporter @RoundupNews

More classes should be added to Pierce College during the winter and summer sessions because it helps students transfer and graduate faster, gives more flexibility, saves money, and keeps students’ brains active.

Students need to complete a total of 60 transferable units worth of classes. Many of the transferable classes are very popular and they are hard to get in to sometimes for students.

According to communitycollegereview.com, one of the main reasons why 60 percent of community college students never transfer is because of overcrowded campuses.

By adding more classes during the winter and summer intercessions, students enroll into those pesky chemistry classes that are usually full during the regular fall and spring semester. This gives students more flexibility when planning their schedule throughout their college career.

If fewer classes were available during these times, that would cause the popular classes to be full, therefore some students won’t be able to take classes they need. If more students had options to take classes during the winter and summer semester then they wouldn’t have to worry about crashing classes during the fall and spring semester.

One of the most significant benefits of the addition of more winter and summer courses would be a quicker progression out of community college to a four-year institution. A majority of students plan on transferring to higher education and often have a limited time limit to complete their major prep requirements. If more classes were added during the intercession semesters, then that means more classrooms to hold more students, rather than filling a load of students in fewer classrooms.

With more room to breathe in classrooms, instructors will be available to help assist students more easily. This will also help reduce the class sizes for all semesters and help give instructors more personal attention towards students.

If classes seem to be impacted, then students will have a chance to be taking extra classes in another unnecessary semester. When students take classes, they not only pay for the class itself, but other necessities too. These necessities include semester fees, food, and transportation. According to the Pierce website, an average of $1,098 is spent on transportation during a semester. jmiranda.roundupnews@gmail.com

If students were given more options, then students wouldn’t have to take an extra semester just because they couldn’t take it during the winter and summer semester. Not to mention this also wastes valuable time for students too.

If more classes aren’t available to students, then students won’t have an active brain during their winter or summer vacation. According to unigo.com, one of their reasons to take summer classes is because it will keep students’ brains active all year round. Most students forget about schoolwork during their vacation and return to their studies with a foggy mind.

If more classes were added during the summer semester, then students have the option to choose to study and focus during the summer keeping their brain active. This will lead to better grades and motivation for the student in the following semester.

Adding more classes will not only benefit students, but instructors as well.

It’s a win-win situation for both students and professors if more classes were available for the winter and summer semester.

GINA WONG Reporter @ginabwong99

Pierce College should not offer more summer and winter classes because these classes are conducted at a faster pace, and the longer class hours may not be ideal for all students.

It is important to remember that these intersession courses are only five-weeks long and because of the short amount of time, multiple lessons are taught in one day as opposed to it being stretched out over two days in the week.

This means students will need to stay focused throughout the whole session and stay on top of their assignments because even though the class is only a month long, it goes by really fast, and before you know it, it’s over.

For instance, if a student took an English class, they would be assigned an essay every week and only have a few days to write it up, as opposed to having at least two weeks to work on it during a regular 15-week semester.

The same can said for tests because in this session students will be tested on the material every week and will not have as much time to study and prepare.

This can take a toll on a student’s mental health because stress levels will rise when they realize

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Also, studying for exams will be a pain because twice the amount of subject material will be jammed into one test.

According to an annual survey conducted by the American College Health Association, of more than 63,000 students at 92 schools, it found that over the last decade anxiety has overtaken depression as the most common reason college students seek counseling services.

As the results showed, students reporting a feeling of overwhelming anxiety has increased to 62 percent in 2016 from 50 percent in 2011.

In addition, the longer class hours and class meeting days of Monday through Thursday every week may cause trouble for students who have jobs.

This is because for general subjects the classes are three hours long, but when it comes to the science and math courses such as Chemistry 101 and Statistics, they could go on for five to six hours long. Even though a break is given at the halfway point, some students may lose the ability to hold their concentration for the duration of the class.

Meanwhile, attendance is highly essential to a student’s grade in the course and understanding of the material being taught because one missing day is like a missed week in the regular semester.

However, now it seems like students are not that interested in taking summer and winter courses because coming off a stressful fall or winter semester they may want a break.

Another reason why Pierce should not offer more summer and winter classes is that it is struggling with low enrollment numbers in the fall and spring semesters. Instead it should focus on bringing up the numbers in the time where classes should not be cut.

According to a Los Angeles Times article, summer and winter courses were offered to accommodate the students who were unable to get classes in the regular semester which was a huge problem back in 2012.

It also states that Pierce had to offer an abbreviated winter session at one point, leading up to it not being offered the next session due to budget cuts.

Now, the money being allocated towards offering more summer and winter classes should be going toward classes offered in the fall and spring semesters when there are more students on campus.

Keeping courses simple, steady and balanced will ultimately make many students’ lives easier when it comes to meeting their academic criteria.

[PROTEST from front]

Club President Emiliano Acosta said that confrontations like this had never happened at their events.

“This was the first time something like this happened,” Acosta said. “I think because of the nature of the club, we get a lot of people with different views, so it did get a little hectic.”

Aula retrieved his sign from the trash, although he said it was damaged from the impact. He continued to stand outside and silently observe until campus security arrived to question him.

Daniel Levi was one of the students participating in the discussion, and he called campus on Aula. “I called the sheriff because they told me that this wasn’t a free-speech zone,” Levi said. “He had the sign up for everyone to see in class and they were getting uncomfortable.”

Campus security told Aula that he had to take the sign down because he was not in a free-speech zone. Aula obeyed, and proceeded into the classroom to join the debate.

Aula said that the only thing he regrets about his encounter with campus security was that he did not mention classroom, Aula shared his opinion with the class.

“The first thing I said when I had the opportunity was ‘please look up what an Islamist is,’” Aula said. “Congresswoman Omar is an Islamist, and I think it’s alarming that more students don’t know what an Islamist is.”

Levi said that he was glad Aula joined the discussion.

“He came inside the class and actually talked and showed his opinion on Omar,” Levi said. “Hopefully he’ll come back and share his opinion instead of just standing outside with a sign.”

Aula said that despite the one hostile incident, he had a pleasant experience at the discussion.