Re: 18weekvs16weeksemester

[Michael Bowen <fizzbowen@MINDSPRING.COM>]

Leon Leonardo wrote:
> Greetings,
>
> We at El Camino College may be forced (?) to change
> from an 18 week semester to a 16 week semester against
> the wishes of most the science and math faculty, as
> far as I can tell. Our new calendar will keep total
> class time the same as it was under the 18 week
> semester.
>
> THanks, Leon R. Leonardo

We did this in the Ventura County (California) CC district about eight
years ago, also against our will. There was no provision for
increasing class time; the semester was simply cut from 18 to 16 weeks
in order to finish fall semester before Christmas, and the number of
class hours per week remained the same, as did the number of holidays.
The only way to squeeze everything in was to increase most 4-unit math
and science classes to 5 units. If you do this, do not tell your
curriculum committee that you are doing this to make up for lost
hours; come up with another rationale or they will likely reject your
request for the increase. Most faculty in what I call the "3-unit
disciplines" simply don't understand the time crunch in math and
science; in fact some of them routinely miss several "sick" days per
semester and have no difficulty making up the lost time. They think
we're "featherbedding" when we ask for more time per week.

It's not a pretty picture but we have to live with it. You'll get used
to it after a while, sort of. Just don't get sick, and forget about
attending any mid-week conferences unless you can get a qualified sub
who can do more than just baby-sit.

--MB