Characteristics of Honors College

As recommended by the National Collegiate Honors Council (NCHC), one of the requirements of an Honors College is that “The curriculum of the fully developed Honors College should constitute at least 20% of a student’s degree program. An Honors thesis or project should be required.”

At SAU, the number of course credits required to graduate varies from 124 to 128 depending upon the major. Honors College students must, in addition, take 24 credit hours (nearly 20%), fulfilled from Honors College classes. Of these, 18 out of 24 credit hours involve general education courses such as English Composition I and II, World History, World Literature I and II, Art Appreciation, Psychology, U.S. History, Philosophy, Environmental Geology, and Honors Seminar. Alhough these are general education courses, separate class arrangements are made for honors students so that the class size becomes small and active discussion is possible. The remaining 6 credit hours depend on the major that a student chooses. They involve the coursework in specific majors like Biology, Psychology, Chemistry and many other subjects. These classes are also mostly conducted separately from general classes for honors students.

Starting from the Spring 2010, an Honors Thesis option will likely be introduced and will be broken down into Honors Thesis I and II .These courses will carry variable credits ranging from 1 to 3 credits depending upon the nature of the thesis. These courses will also help students gain more knowledge and skills about the specific subjects that they cover.

In these ways, the Southern Arkansas University Honors College has met this specific requirement for Honors Colleges of constituting 20% course credit and including an honors thesis in its curriculum. It has also met most of the other requirements for Honors College as described by NCHC.

Restructuring the Education System- Singha Raj Dhungana

The current American undergraduate system should be restructured. The system of educational majors that we are using today first appeared in the 1877 Johns Hopkins University catalog. Many years have passed and educational institutions still have the same system of predefined majors and minors. The world has changed and so have the needs of the people. The education system should be changed while taking into account the interests of students, demands of time, and of the job market.

Many of the American colleges and universities provide a liberal education. In liberal education, the ideal is for students to develop their critical and rational thinking skills in science, arts, literature, math, psychology and philosophy by studying a general curriculum while at the same time concentrating on a specific subject; their major. Instead of studying the same general education courses, students should be allowed to navigate through the curriculum on their own and select the courses that best fit their interests.

The establishment of new industries and the development of new technologies have changed the job requirements for workers and the types of work available. Students who enter college or universities with the dream of getting good jobs after graduation get frustrated when they discover themselves unfit for the new jobs. To cope with this problem, students should be trained on the latest technologies developed in their field of study and should at least be educated about them. The best way is to include internships in such industries as a major part of the curriculum.

Another major problem is the tenure system. When professors get tenured (hold positions in their departments for long time) many develop a kind of autonomy. These professors do not want to update themselves and do not want to retire from their jobs, creating scarcity of teaching jobs for new graduates. So, the tenure system should be replaced by eight-year contracts which may be renewed or terminated depending on the performance of the professors. If professors update themselves with the latest technologies and developments, they should be promoted. At the same time, there should be a retirement system for professors who refuse to update their skills so that those who do work hard are rewarded.

The baccalaureate colleges, which are known for their traditional teaching methods, should adopt new policies so that they can develop students who are more capable of performing jobs. They could do so by reducing the number of undergraduate years to three and then coupling that to a two-year master’s degree. In the undergraduate years, they could teach the core subjects and help students gain the basic skills and concepts necessary for coping with the real-life issues. Later, they could promote more practical approaches and offer internships during students’ graduate years. This exposure to new approaches and internships along with exposure to real-life issues will better prepare students for jobs at businesses and nonprofit organizations.

There should be collaboration among education institutions to ensure that the students get better learning options. As described by Mr. Mark C. Taylor in his article ‘End the university as we know it’, it is possible to have a system of teleconferencing between two or more colleges where each college can help the other in whatever department it is good at. For example, if a college is good at molecular biology and another good at modern physics, faculty from the first college can teach molecular biology to the students of the second college while faculty from the second college can teach modern physics to the students of the first college. That way, the students will benefit and the cost of running courses will also be lowered for both of the colleges.

Introduction of technology in teaching can also revolutionize teaching methods. Technology definitely makes the teaching-learning process easier. For instance, students can take online classes or get help from their professors through computer immediately instead of waiting to get appointments. Many small problems could be quickly addressed in this manner. Also, the use of audio/video samples can elucidate concepts for courses that require close listening or viewing.

Thus, restructuring the education system is mandatory to enhance and facilitate the teaching and learning process. The new education system should aim to be a liberal education in true sense, respecting the interests of students and still be job-oriented while making maximum use of available technologies and resources.