Goodbye Fishing and Wellness. Goodbye Recreational OutdoorActivities.

Simpson has decided to delete courses that “lacked a strongeffort from the students” from the May Term catalogue.

Of all the May Term courses offered, there were only a few thatfit into this category. It goes without saying that students whotake Rhetoric and Third Wave Feminism or Medical Terminology takeMay Term more seriously than the usual students in Fishing orRecreational Outdoor Activities.

There isn’t a problem with serious May Term classes.

The problem is taking away the fun ones.

There are students who work hard all year long – students whotake 18 credits, students who are involved in many studentactivities, students who play sports and so on – and these studentsdeserve a relaxing three weeks at the end of the year.

There is value, after all, in learning to play games and fish.College is meant to prepare young adults for life in the “realworld,” and that includes learning the value of relaxation.

For seniors who have worked hard for four years, a fun May Termshould be a basic rite. To take away this last bit of Simpson funfor these seniors is a travesty.

At the same time, there are students who take easy May Termclasses who have not worked hard at Simpson and do no deserve theprivilege of Fishing and Wellness. Slackers seem to be the mainreason less-structured classes were done away with. However,removing these classes robs diligent students of a much-neededoutlet at the end of the year.

Fishing and Outdoor Rec should both be reinstated as May Termclasses. A set of criteria should be established for students toenroll in those classes. The student should show, through theiracademic history, a dedication to learning. At the same time, therequirements of the classes themselves should be re-evaluated. Morepapers and tests could be used to make students take the class moreseriously.

If there were guidelines in place to decide who gets into thefun classes, there would be less of a problem with lack of seriouseffort from the students.