I am earning my degree this semester and I am so grateful. However, this gratitude does not extend to the college as an entire entity, but instead is to the professors that teach here.

I found something that I want to continue to do for the rest of my life. This is directly because of the compassion, dedication, knowledge, and ability of those who teach at OCCC.

Push comes to shove, I suppose that I am grateful to the college that it is open and that it is relatively affordable.

But I think that the individuals that are higher in the decision-making process have begun trying to “optimize” the process of obtaining a degree at the expense of the student.

I will admit that I did well in my eight week classes, but that is only because of the professors that I had in them. This accelerated rate almost doesn’t give students the time to breathe let alone reflect.

I have to juggle multiple assignments from each class that have the same due dates, work multiple jobs, and numerous other activities.

This all keeps me so busy focusing on them that I’m not focusing on myself.

Do I even like the material that I’m studying? Can I see myself doing this as a profession? Would I be happy and/or satisfied?

These are important questions that students need to ask themselves and ideally at this level of study.

While it’s true that there will be more classes that have the 16-week schedule starting in the fall, it’s not enough. Instead of 80% being 8-week and only 20% being 16-week, this should be 50-50.

Quit forcing these changes on students, lack of choice should have concluded when students left K-12 since college isn’t required like lower levels of education.

And while we’re on the subject of choice, let the professors that know the material that they are teaching decide whether their class can be eight weeks and still maintain the same quality.

Education can’t be forced into optimization like an assembly line. It’s time to stop treating it like it can be.