Abolishment of Seminar Classes

The educational system adopted by the English department at Cadasmus University is unmistakably shaky. This can be attributed to a multiplicity of reasons, the most important of which is the existence of futile seminar classes. Actually, these can hardly be called seminar classes because they, both in the outward form and in the essence, lack the very qualities that make up real seminar classes: a respectably tidy sight, a comfortable atmosphere and a serious discussion wherein everybody takes part. The uselessness of such classes, their lacking in these essentials and the consequent urgency to abolish them are all due to the huge number of students, to the paucity of classes and to the few teachers appointed- sometimes haphazardly- to lecture those poor souls who have begun ruminating on why they should waste their time and effort attending useless classes. Firstly, the numerous hosts of students make it next door to impossible to have effective seminar classes. These classes are supposed to be real conferences in which every student participates in a lively discussion of a certain topic. However, this remains a sheer Utopian impracticable thinking because students are unbearably multitudinous. In a class consisting of at least two hundred students, one feels quite insignificant and in many occasions cannot find a chance to express his or her views of the subject being discussed. The ultimate result of the many voices being unheard is terrible sense of being uncared-for felt by not a few students. It is surprising therefore that these students should show indifference or disinterestedness and will not care a damn to try to make swarms of estranged colleagues draw their attention to what he or she has in mind. The combination of all these feelings within oneself and the resultant preference of self-effacement will naturally create a barren one-sided discussion between a lecturer and a passive, unresponding and frustrated throng of students. Secondly, the small number of classes, as often scheduled, is yet another factor that adds to the vanity of the so-called seminar classes. Necessity dictates that with the wild increase of students, the number of classes should also increase. It is unreasonable to have at large four classes in which students are packed like sardines. The over-crowdedness of students makes the classroom disorderly, suffocating and not at all comfortable. In this agitated state, turmoil reigns supreme; it disturbs the mood desired for a proper study and distracts one’s attention, if any, from the point in question. Such a pretty kettle of fish will in the long run make a good many students

sicken of having to struggle for a seat and of exerting too much effort trying to trace the lecturer’s words which are occasionally dimmed in the buzzes arising every now and then. These disadvantages caused by the decrease in the number of classes and increase in that of the students innovate a sense of resentment against the staff who do not lift a finger to solve this “insoluble” problem. Thirdly, the limited number of teachers who are supposed to teach what may scarcely be called seminar classes increases the futility of these and reflects badly on the students. The fact that one or at best two teachers are responsible to teach students attending in showers and squeezing into crowded classes is unlikely to happen anywhere; nonetheless, what seems unlikely and unnatural elsewhere is quite probable and even welcome in the English department of this university. When in the classroom, the teacher is found over head and ears in puzzle; that is, it takes him some time to decide on what method he should follow in dealing with a sea of indifferent faces. Also he very often gets acrid because of the non-academic and claustrophobic atmosphere he finds himself “caged” in. when it is time to submit seminar papers, he, however imperturbable he might be, is found even more nervous as a result of the torrents of students rushing hopefully to make him have a look on their work. In this bedlam he cannot be expected to have the mood for serious consideration of every paper he receives. Therefore, he either throws them away, as often expected, or turns over the pages hastily and marks them impetuously. All that comes out of this farce is an inevitable series of disappointment and frustration embittering many students who are hankering after high grades. In the light of the above argument, one may justifiably deduce the fact the seminar classes- with full reservation to this term- are not only futile, but also damaging. They are assumed to help the students achieve their ends, but they have proved to be no more than a harmful waste of time. Their fruitlessness is made plain by the growing sense that they have become quite a burden. That is why any change brought about in the English department would better be the complete abolishment of seminar classes.