The topic for this week was what
would happen if we had a thing such as Illinibucks which could be used to help
students move ahead or forward. Such a concept, which does seem very cool and
appealing to certain students, I definitely feel that such a thing would bring
a negative image to the school as a whole. Having Illinibucks seems as a form
of discrimination in a way. How would we determine who gets them or how one
could obtain more? Is it fair to allow certain privileges to certain students
over others? These are only some of the questions I feel that would come up in
many conversations regarding these Illinibucks. However, these I-bucks could be
used in many different ways here on campus. One could use them to advance
further in the registration line for classes so one could essentially pay their
way up the priority line for registration. Students could also use I-bucks to
get priority to better seats at any campus sporting event. Another major issue
we discussed in class on Thursday was the fact that many students don’t have the
option of registering for classes that are restricted to certain majors until
after a certain date. Having the option to use I-bucks would allow students in
other majors to get the chance to sign up for major courses.
Giving students the opportunity to
move up in the registration process would be very hard on upperclassman. Giving
underclassman the chance to take advanced courses, may take away ones
opportunity to graduate on time. Certain upperclassman may need to take certain
courses and if enough underclassman could use their I-bucks to get certain classes by moving forward in
the registration process, certain classes may fill up faster than what is
normally expected. Thus, an easier course who usually is taken by seniors may
be closed because certain underclassman have used their I-bucks to get into
these classes. Closed classes would only make it harder for upperclassman to
graduate on time causing them to possibly stay an extra semester because the
department may not have been able to accommodate for all the students who need
to take that certain course. Having to stay an extra semester is not only time
consuming for the student but also costs additional money that they did not
plan on spending. Money that they would have spent elsewhere and time they may
have used to work.
Additionally, students who use
I-bucks would have the opportunity to use these I-bucks to get more time with
the professor outside of their office hours. This would give students the
chance to spend more individual time with the professor to excel in a class.
This is fair in a way, however, it is not fair to those students who want to
make use of this opportunity but don’t have the I-bucks to do so. Another thing
that would help with class registration is simply priority. Having the
opportunity to sign up earlier may not only be helpful for one to get into the
classes they want without having to wait, but would allow them to create a
flexible schedule to one’s own preferences. This concept is very similar to
that of getting better seats at a sporting event. Rather than having things
like Orange Krush, students could essentially buy their way into getting better
seats without deserving them like one would by being in Orange Krush,
Therefore, I believe that in order
for something like this to actually work the university would have to give
students equal amounts of I-bucks from the start of their freshman year. This
would give all students the opportunity to spend their I-bucks wisely and all
have the opportunity to see where it is they want to save them for verses where
they want to spend it. The question then arises on whether or not students
could get more bucks and if so how do they obtain more? However, this in many
cases would or could be very unfair. Thus, I think that best thing to do is to
not have I-bucks as we could face many problems with inequality with it.
I thought it was interesting that you focused on the fairness angle. In the prompt it wasn't specified whether all students received the identical allocation of Illinibucks or not. If, for example, seniors got more than juniors, juniors got more than sophomores, and sophomores got more than freshmen, would that be fair? It seems to me it would be as long as the rules were spelled out in advance.
ReplyDeleteIt also wasn't specified whether the Illinibucks were transferable to other students. If they are not transferable, there would be no way of getting more, within the time period. If they are transferable, presumably you'd see them selling on eBay or traded for cash or merchandise in some other manner.
The concept of blocking upperclassmen from courses they need to graduate is an interesting dilemma. Perhaps, in issuing I-Bucks, the University may not be able to accurately assess when students will take certain classes and the amount of seats they must supply. They probably will be able to regulate it to an extent given that oftentimes a certain number of people need to take a required course before they graduate and they can look at data once this is implemented to see if and how many additional students are vying for the classes. My guess would be that most required courses wouldn’t have huge changes in enrollment; just some students would take in a different semester. This assumes that the I-Bucks needed to get into the course are sufficiently large such that it would deter students who did not really need the class to graduate on time (assuming this is considered to have the highest utility among all students). This also may not hold for more popular classes that are either very interesting or considered easy where they may be a flood of increased interest in enrollment.
ReplyDeleteWhile the I-Bucks may not cause a huge increase in the volatility of course scheduling, if they do, the structure of the University may not be able to readily meet demand. In class we discussed all the things that needed to occur before more sections of a course were offered. This involves a lot of time. The lag time may make the university unresponsive to increased volatility in scheduling.
Fairness depends on the students reaction. I agree will Prof. Arvan that it would work as long as students knew the rules beforehand. However, there is a possibilty that there would be disgruntled students would would want to graduate early and would be blocked by seniors with a larger allocation of illnibucks.
ReplyDeleteIf Illini buck were transferable there would be a large market with priviledged students just paying to get what they wanted and students will insufficient funds be angered that the wealthy payed their way out as it is real life. Those with money have more choices when it comes to market decisions because they have the ability to out bid if they desire it more.