https://www.chicagomaroon.com/article/2018/6/20/core-profiteering/
This is totally news to me. Given this is an op ed at Maroon, I will take its content with a grain of salt. Current College students, will you please chime in and let us know how prevalent this is?
News flash! Socialist centrally planned schemes for distributing scarce, desirable resources in a “fair” manner tend to produce black markets in which market value is the key criterion of fairness.
It can’t possibly be hard for the university to crack down on course-place sales, given that registrations go through a central system. They could let students surrender a place, but then allocate that place randomly to members of a waiting list. Or, of course, they could try to match the number of slots available in each course to demand, Heaven forbid!
But why do something that easy when you could do something much more fun? Here’s my modest proposal: At the end of every quarter, curve everyone’s grades so that people in the highest-demand classes are disadvantaged (slightly) and people in low-demand classes receive a slight advantage, and grading in all sections is more or less fit into a standard distribution. If people knew that was going to happen ex ante, it ought to smooth the demand for particular classes right out, so that at the end of the day the adjustments might not even be necessary.
No clue how you can enforce payment even if you are Add/Dropping right next to someone else and they get the course. What if somewhere else on campus someone was dropping the same course? What if you drop and it doesn’t work? Then you are both hosed.
Curious as to some real-life examples to explain how someone ends up in this situation. It’s totally easy to finish up the Core and the FL requirement in two years for most majors - perhaps for something pre-req. heavy you put off Sosc. till 2nd year and Civ. till third. That’s been standard practice and nothing in the pre-reg. materials last year suggested otherwise (many fulfill Civ during study abroad). If you are closed out of Fine Arts, Sosc. or one of the core sciences as a 3rd or 4th year you have brought that difficulty upon yourself, most likely. They are CORE for a reason.
Pretty prevalent. Admin knows and knows who’s been doing it b/c it was all done on semi-public facebook pages. It was pretty dumb of the kids since the consequences for this range from suspension to expulsion. And they clearly hadn’t even tried…idk, emailing the prof to express their interest in the class and asking if the prof will sign a consent form or just waiting to see if a spot would open up, they went straight to offering money.
The dumbest part is there isn’t actually much of a class shortage (class crunch is more accurate). These were literally all kids trying to buy their way into high demand GPA-boosters/the easier core classes.
The CS department, which actually has a class shortage, gets around this (and makes sure everyone can graduate) by allowing NO add-drops and having a central system that ranks people by priority.
@HydeSnark - big oopsie for them.
In my days (1980’s) the Graduate School of Business used an auction model for students to register/bid on classes. Every student had a set number of points. So if you really, really wanted Merton Miller Finance class, theoretically you could spend almost all of your points in bidding for his class. But then you would have no points left to bid for any other popular classes and you would be stuck with whatever classes that were still available (and by implication not popular). Given that it was business school and U of C fervent efficient market proponent, it was hardly surprising there was actually a market for classes.
PhD students, however, had five times as many points as MBA students. So PhD students could basically get any class they wanted.
Selling and buying MBA classes in this manner sounds fine to me. I am not sure about paying actual money to get in an easy Core class in The College.
^^ I was shut out of Miller’s class for the reasons you mention, @85bears46. I agree that the auction made complete sense given the diverse preferences the students had for particular professors and the enormous popularity of some. Also, I’m sure there was discussion amongst the student body about who was an easier grader, etc. Such an allowance for potentially selfish consumption value in a professional school seems reasonable given the diverse goals and training of the class. The students are all adults, the faculty are all excellent, let preferences be the guide as long as there is a sufficient number of courses actually available when needed.
For the undergraduate Core, it’s a different story as everyone is supposed to be acquiring the same essential tools. If instructors have disparate grading practices (guessing this is less a reality than imagined; however, some might be particularly great instructors, and others not-so-great) this disparity can easily be remedied by imposing a grading standard for each subject (Core Bio, Fine Arts, Sosc, etc.). This is what @JHS was getting at. Obviously you can’t necessarily adjust for quality differences - but one part of growing up is to learn to deal with difficult situations or people as they arise, rather than to buy your way out of it. An instructor who is rumored not to give out A’s as a matter of principle is one who might present a unique learning experience despite that B+. Anyway, he/she is only one instructor. GPA’s are cumulative and are going to reflect overall effort and aptitude. No amount of money will compensate for a lack of either.
Also, good luck to anyone trying to buy their way out of a hard Law or Med School class. Better to break those privileged habits now while the students are young.
Nobel Laureate is not necessarily the greatest teacher. With due respect to Professor Miller, his Finance Class wasn’t the most inspiring I took at the GSB. So @JBStillFlying you did not miss out anything ;).
This may sound like a heresy or even total betrayal of the GSB tradition: I found Professor Robert Blattberg’s Marketing class far more illuminating than Professor Miller’s Finance class. This proves each student’s individual learning experience may sometimes vary significantly from the norm of the reputation of the school.