Last term, I was stressed trying to figure out which classes to take. Indeed, with the amount of options out there and with classes ranging from Anthropology 47 (Hunters and Gatherers) to Math 28 (Introduction to Combinatorics), choosing a course load can be overwhelming. Thankfully, there are many tools that have greatly facilitated my search process, including the Student Assembly's course review guide. Despite its critics, the SA guide is one of the most convenient channels through which students can gain a glimpse at the classes that interest them.
I must start out by saying that lately my faith in the system has be shaken, since my searches through the SA guide have not yielded any satisfactory results. Some professors seemed to provoke a number of different flavors of reviews from their students. While some maintained that the professor was the most wonderful human being on the planet, others ranted about how utterly worthless the class was. What is one to do with such ambiguous results? Even worse are the new teachers, those who have not yet been reviewed. This poses a dilemma for some students, since Dartmouth's short 10-week terms force students to pare down their options quickly. After all, we do not have a relaxed class-shopping period like most other schools.
One of the factors that is further hurting the overall effectiveness of the SA guide is the administration's implementation of its very own course evaluation ("College's eval. setup elbows out SA guide," Jan. 8 ). This new online tool replaces the paper evaluations that took up valuable class time. While the administration's guide has enabled individual academic departments to better gauge students' opinions, it has, inadvertently I am sure, caused the SA guide to become neglected by students unwilling to post two different reviews. I was not motivated to fill out the reviews on the SA guide after I had already done so on Banner Student in order to access my grades. Thus we get fewer reviews and consequently less information for those of us frantically shopping for classes.
One of the major complaints by professors about the SA guide is that many students use it to vent pent-up frustration, which discredits the teachers, who immediately gain a terrible reputation with incoming students. Paradoxical as it may seem, this might be one of the most valuable parts of the site, since the reviews are not always clear, or accurate for that matter, but they do give us a distinctive indication of which professors to avoid and which are definitely not to be missed.
Professors are angry that they do not get to respond to the negative press they sometimes receive in the reviews. They themselves want an outlet. I find this rather preposterous, since the teachers hold enough power as it is. This outlet should be for students only, even if some just use it to rant or express bitterness for receiving a bad grade. We must embrace the SA guide since it gives students a voice. After all, what one does with the reviews is his or her choice. Professors should not be paranoid. If they did a good job, they should not have to worry. Besides, students do not put their faith completely in the SA guide. Many will come and sit in on classes and few students will choose their classes based on what some random member of the Class of 2006 said about a professor.
Ultimately, it is true that the SA Guide's credibility seems to be declining. As Tina Praprotnik '09 rightfully pointed out, some of the criteria offer a very narrow description ("Misguided Course Guide," Jan. 9). I would not go as far as to call the SA guide misleading or false. Obviously, we are a very diverse bunch here at Dartmouth and thus have different standards and different expectations. The actual comments are the most interesting and probably the most valuable part of the review. We must not forget that until a better solution is found, the SA guide remains the most convenient tool when searching for classes. We should try to improve the existing foundations, not discredit them.
