The Law of Unintended Consequences is the only rule that works as designed
Everyone hates to follow stupid, arbitrary, unnecessary rules. But even rules that look good at first usually have unintended consequences.
The latest brainchild to come out of post-secondary education circles (in the US) is a regulation that would limit the number of university courses a student is allowed to drop during their degree.
Let’s put aside for a moment my aversion to anyone telling you what you can or cannot choose to study, especially when you’ve already paid for it in the first place.
As the article points out, this becomes a logistical nightmare: there’s suddenly a whack of more information to keep track of, and they expect that this information will follow you from school to school.
Dropping courses has been the staple of academic advising for as long as I can remember. Not sure whether you can handle a full 5 courses? Sign up for them, and after the first month if it’s too much, drop one and pick it up over the summer. Lost a few weeks due to personal circumstances? Write off the semester (if you have to) and start fresh next term.
There are already deterrents in place for dropping courses like they’re going out of style, your transcript, for one. Academic probation is another.
Anyone who makes a career out of dropping classes isn’t going to be “scared straight” by this new regulation. But, the policy may just mess up the academic lives of those in need of flexibility.
Original article from the Dallas News: College officials say law capping dropped classes may hurt students
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