Demand for art courses exceeds supply
Radhika Garland
Issue date: 2/4/10 Section: News
To a Smith student interested in studio art courses, senior Marguerite Davenport's experience from the first day of class might seem familiar.
"I went to the first class of Drawing II on Monday and there were a lot of people in the room," Davenport said. "The professor didn't seem happy. She was already saying that there were too many people in the classroom. By the end of the class around seven people probably left."
Studio art has been, and continues to be, one of the most robust departments at Smith, with 12 faculty members and 58 students. This year 24 studio art majors will graduate from the program. Yet, students say there never seems to be enough classes to satisfy the many students who hope to take a studio course each semester.
The number of students who arrive on the first day of class regularly surpasses the required 14 to 18 cap. Those who are unregistered for the course or who are on the waitlist are given the highest priority if they are a senior studio art major, and next highest priority if they are an art major or minor.
Printmaking professor Dwight Pogue recognizes that people from other academic disciplines take art courses but emphasizes the need for a small class size.
"We want all majors to take our courses, so we try to save a slot for them," Pogue said. "It would be ideal to have the classes a little smaller, but then if we did that we wouldn't be serving as many students."
Some non-majors, like Davenport, have been disappointed by the method of prioritization.
"It seemed that students who had the opportunity to take Drawing II later got in the course because they were a major or minor," Davenport said. "Students who did not have the opportunity to take the class later should have prioritizy."
Faculty can reinforce the disparate treatment for non-majors, Davenport added.
"I was also kind of upset that the professor didn't seem to care whether or not I had tried to register," she said. "When I did check after the class it said that I was waitlisted. But just the fact that she didn't ask, that she didn't consider whether or not I registered, that bothered me."
"I went to the first class of Drawing II on Monday and there were a lot of people in the room," Davenport said. "The professor didn't seem happy. She was already saying that there were too many people in the classroom. By the end of the class around seven people probably left."
Studio art has been, and continues to be, one of the most robust departments at Smith, with 12 faculty members and 58 students. This year 24 studio art majors will graduate from the program. Yet, students say there never seems to be enough classes to satisfy the many students who hope to take a studio course each semester.
The number of students who arrive on the first day of class regularly surpasses the required 14 to 18 cap. Those who are unregistered for the course or who are on the waitlist are given the highest priority if they are a senior studio art major, and next highest priority if they are an art major or minor.
Printmaking professor Dwight Pogue recognizes that people from other academic disciplines take art courses but emphasizes the need for a small class size.
"We want all majors to take our courses, so we try to save a slot for them," Pogue said. "It would be ideal to have the classes a little smaller, but then if we did that we wouldn't be serving as many students."
Some non-majors, like Davenport, have been disappointed by the method of prioritization.
"It seemed that students who had the opportunity to take Drawing II later got in the course because they were a major or minor," Davenport said. "Students who did not have the opportunity to take the class later should have prioritizy."
Faculty can reinforce the disparate treatment for non-majors, Davenport added.
"I was also kind of upset that the professor didn't seem to care whether or not I had tried to register," she said. "When I did check after the class it said that I was waitlisted. But just the fact that she didn't ask, that she didn't consider whether or not I registered, that bothered me."
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A.S.
posted 2/04/10 @ 1:41 PM EST
The key to getting studio classes is registering ahead of time. I have never had trouble getting into a studio class because I had the 100-level requirement from my first year (ARS 163, the pre-req for classes such as ARS 270 and 282). (Continued…)
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