By Jacob Br?tt
Brigham Young said, 'Education is the power to think clearly, the power to act well in the world's work and the power to appreciate life.' From these words comes our school's slogan, 'Enter to learn; Go forth to serve.' These words bring us pride and a hope for the future. But some would question whether our proud slogan is being fulfilled. Students are given fewer opportunities to learn and more expectations to serve in the real world. BYU should offer more online alternatives, without fees, to already full-time students who work and are limited by time and money.
Today the average BYU student works, part or full time and attends classes. This is no longer uncommon. We work to pay for school and housing while struggling to keep up with assignments. If the opportunities were presented to us 'time deficient' students, we would gladly opt for an online class or two per semester to help create flexibility in our schedules.
A normal BYU student's schedule has many conflicting expectations. Conflicts occur with school classes and assignments, work, church callings, social commitments, dating for the not-yet-married ('not yet' being especially stressed at our particular university) and family for those building new families as many BYU students are. Put it together in one day, every day, and schedules become a bit complicated. This is the understatement of every student's life.
An additional tragedy of our limited time is that many general education and prerequisite course lectures are nothing but a textbook review. When a teacher is ineffective in bringing new insight or clarity to concepts presented by the text, then time is being wasted. Instead of having a book review three times a week for an hour, with an additional three plus hours of reading per week, students could read and do additional review at their own convenience. Students are resourceful and can find time to study at night or in the early morning before classes and work, or during breaks at work and at meals. Help sessions could also be provided for online students to answer questions that arise from the online material.
Other than the few online courses offered by the university, the only other alternative available to BYU students is BYU's Independent Study Program, but these courses are only offered with a fee. The cost is $130 per credit. Three hundred and ninety dollars for three more credits is a lot to a student who already pays $1,810 per semester on 12 credit hours, especially since they could take the same three-credit course for no additional charge with a paid professor in BYU facilities. Fees are necessary for production and staffing of online resources, but normal university tuitions could be shared to benefit those students who are already attending fulltime.
Either the university should offer more standard online classes or cooperate with the Independent Study program to deduct course fees from students' normal tuition costs. Students are already trying to afford the rising school costs with extra work, again eliminating more of what little time we have for lectures and studying. We begin to see a perpetuating cycle of educational costs on time and learning.
We need to help the administration hear our concerns. Let them know that we depend on them just as the future of the world depends on us. As this university's great founding prophet, Brigham Young said, education is power; so let us have some power in choosing our education!
Jacob Bratt is a junior from San Antonio, Texas, majoring in pre-nursing.