Registration is coming!  Registration is coming!   Wouldn’t Paul Revere be so proud of all the Blue Jay posters and emails exclaiming, “Prepare for registration!” Yeah, I know it’s important to be informed of how and when we can sign up for courses. Yet isn’t that entire process merely a period of impending depression if you’re placed in the group of students that get to choose their classes last? What happens if you’re a first-year who is limited to the academic leftovers? If that’s the case, registration-related annoyance and frustration can be compounded when you learn that honors students in your year get first-dibs on course selection.  It’s no wonder that some non-honors students are unhappy about that. I would feel the same way if I were not in the Honors Program. Although the plan is obviously a relief for me at the moment, I wish everyone could get the classes they want.

For me, the course preference for honors students is just another indication that honors is a distinction.  Whether or not that distinction is good or bad, earned or given, is the deeper point of discussion. Other students have the opportunity to try for the program or even take its courses without joining.  If students want to be in the program, they have the chance to work towards it. When I think of justice, though, I agree that the registration process is unfair if there is evidence that honors work does not reflect a higher academic standard than non-honors coursework.  If honors classes and regular classes are equal in terms of difficulty, it doesn’t seem right to award some students the distinction of registering for classes before the others.

Some non-honors students might have classes that seem to be even more rigorous than any honors classes. To them, it might appear ridiculous to give registration preference to honors students. If honors students don’t work at a higher academic level, they don’t deserve honors privileges. “It’s a little bit of discrimination,” sophomore Victoria Layer said. “It doesn’t give everyone an equal chance,” senior Gina Kurtz, who will soon graduate, agreed. “Knowing it now makes me feel like honors students are then viewed as more important than anyone else,” Kurtz said.  Their concerns are valid, so why do honors Blue Jays get the privilege?

First-year honors student Andrew Kile shared his opinion as to why honors students are given preference.  A major component of honors, significant to this concern, is that it includes a greater workload. While he and I really sympathize with others who are not first in registration, it makes sense that people who have extra course requirements for Honors or other extra academic pursuits are able to secure those courses.  “It’s not about deserving it.  It’s about needing it,” Kile said. People like Kile, with his major and three minors, depend on getting the classes they need to fulfill the requirements of their extra academic studies. “With study abroad on top of that, I need priority,” Kile said.  With such a tight schedule, Kile’s being waitlisted for a spot in a course could mean that he loses the chance to retain an entire minor.

For many others not in the Honors Program, I’m sure the situation is similar.  However, for people who don’t have such plans, one waitlisted course often means that they will have to redesign their schedule. For others, schedules might have to be done away with altogether.  According to Kile, priority should be based on how many things a student wishes to accomplish.

As a current honors student, I’m relieved that I’ll have a chance to get my desired courses. But there are many reasons why I might not stay in the program for the rest of my Etown career.  If I do end up studying as a non-honors student, I’ll also have to wait while the others get their courses. It’s not a happy thing.  However, some people, many of whom are in the Honors Program, need that course security more than others.