I didn’t know what to do with this topic at first, because I really like the way my college is set up. I like that I’m required to take certain core classes, and that there’s a great variety of classes in my major, too. My major is also a low-credit one, so I’ve been able to take random classes that interest me instead of just uniform subjects.

I guess I’d change the schedule a little. I’d rather that we ended a week or two later than we do in the fall semester and that instead, we’d start a little later and get a full week off in the middle of the semester. And as for spring break, I’d like it to be exactly in the middle of the spring semester- this year, it was early and jarred my mental schedule so much that it took nearly a month before I was accustomed to school again. Granted, it wouldn’t work with the holiday of Passover then, but I don’t mind missing a few days of school for my holiday- and spring break would feel like a real vacation instead of a few days in between the beginning and end of Passover.

As for the actual classes…I repeat, I do like the way that the Brooklyn College core classes system is set up. But some more variety would be nice, too. Instead of being required to take Classical Cultures, Music, and Art in the arts section of the cores, I’d rather be able to take any three classes of my choice in all the various arts sections, and the same for the history/philosophies and the sciences. English 1 and 2 should still be requirements, in my opinion, but I’d rather see them lumped into one class and the second required English class, again, be any English class of your choice.

Here’s where I get unrealistic. In my ideal college setting, each student would be required to spend a week of each semester somewhere abroad. Classes would be filled just like they would normally, and it wouldn’t be required to go certain places for your major. I’ve been dreaming of exploring the Amazon Rainforest since I was eight, and I’d love to spend a week there as a student- I’d even take that instead of that week off that I mentioned earlier. It would be a great way to broaden horizons and really explore other options and venues, getting a little sampling of everything without dwelling on one particular area.

As for my major…I’m a psychology major, which means very few credits are required and the classes are almost all fascinating, but I know that not every major is like that. I can’t change that, only because there’s a reason why certain tracks require so many classes, but I’d like to see an additional requirement to take a certain amount of extracurricular classes. In my opinion, college shouldn’t be just about getting a degree; it should be about learning, about studying things that you’ve never known and you might never need to know.

I mentioned in the forums that I love intellectualizing the nonintellectual, and I’d love to see more classes that do just that. I know that these classes do exist, but they’re not nearly as common as I’d like them to be, and are too often overlooked. Why not have a class on the meaning of Harry Potter? On the cultural importance of B movies? On the psychology behind the X-Files? There are thousands of thoughtful books on these topics, and I think that there’s much to learn in classes based on what we do recreationally.

Class size is something else that I would change, if it were possible. I think that classes with ten or fewer students are the most helpful in many settings, and though it isn’t feasible financially, in my ideal college, the classes would be tiny. Everyone would be forced to interact with the other students and the teacher, and speaking as a student who has struggled with focusing in class in the past, classes like this would be beneficial to many.

Overall, though, I wouldn’t change. I like our school system as it is, and I enjoy college very much. Of course, I’m not objecting to yearly treks up the Amazon…