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Feature.

IS THERE AN ALTERNATIVE TO THE MID-SEMESTER EXAM DATE DISCLOSE?

By Dylan Hackett,
News Editor

Giemns up for courses
at Douglas is a

fairly uncomplicated
process for the seasoned
student—you mull
through the relevant
department lists,
perhaps highlight the
instructor with the
highest point score on
ratemyprofessors.com,
and then proceed to
select the courses that
operate after noon before
the other “Lazy College
Senior” mimeograph
copies do. After the
second week or so, you’re
sliding through the
groves of what becomes
your weekday schedule
for the next three months.
Barring your manager’s
scheduling at your part-
time job, a secondary
duty carried out by half
of Canadian college and
university students,
your life’s schedule in
an average semester

is fairly inelastic and
uncomplicated—until
exam period.

Students of Douglas
College aren't privy to
their final exam dates
until midway or even
further on into their
semester—heck, I was
just given my final exam
date early last week
12

for one of my courses.
Would student life be
easier if exam dates were
available at registration
date?

“Tt would help
me because during
Christmas time, I’m on
a schedule for work but
I can’t give my work
availability until I know
my final exam schedule,
which, in this year,
wasr’t until late October,
early November,” claims
Justin Lee, Douglas BPEC
student and Canada Post
employee.

Students often have
other duties beyond

66

those related to monetary
and educational
investments. Canadians
in the traditional college-
age census brackets

are the most likely
demographic to spend
time volunteering with a
rate of 58 per cent. With
time constraints cited

by Statistics Canada

as a primary barrier to
volunteering, the niceties
of many volunteering
roles can be affected

by schedule planning
plagued by delayed

disclosure in concurrent
activities—in many cases
of college youth: school
and work.

“T coach hockey in
Vancouver as well. If
we’re in a Christmas
tournament, which we
usually are, it helps
to know my exam
schedule,” said Lee. “It’s
a big snowball effect. I
can’t coach until I know
my work schedule. I
won't know my work
schedule until I know
my availability. I won’t
know that until the exam
schedule comes out.”

International

students, making up 10
per cent of those enrolled
at Douglas, have ready
cause for contention on
the matter. Studying in
another part of the world
is expensive, and when
international students
are made to book flights
with limited notification
in the busiest flight
season of the year, costs
can mount higher than
they should—money
that may as well be put
towards future tuition.
With administration

placing a key focus on
international education,
isn’t making life for
students trekking across
the globe to study

at Douglas a natural
priority?

“T would absolutely
love it if my students
knew when their
exam was. I have so
many international
students who want to
go home and see their
families,” said Jasmine
Nicholsfigueiredo,
English instructor
at Douglas College.
“They’re away for a
year, or two, and often

Students of Douglas College arent privy to their final
exam dates until midway or even further on into their
semester

Christmas is the only
time they can see them.
They pay a lot of money
for tickets, $300 or $400
more sometimes because
they can’t book until
November. If they book
in September, it’s cheaper
and they’re guaranteed a
return date that doesn’t
make them late for
classes. We get a lot of
international students
who say, ‘I couldn’t make
it back January 2 or 3
because all the flights
were booked and I had to

EXAM DATES, WORK SCHEDULES, AND PRICEY FLIGHTS

 

book later.”

Douglas faculty have
a stake in the matter with
others supporting early
exam date disclosure.
Previously, the Douglas
College Faculty
Association, Local 4,
the union representing
the instructing staff of
Douglas, have discussed
the disclosure of exam
dates.

“Instructors
understand that the
students we have now
are different than the
students we had 15 or 20
years ago. We understand
they’ve got other lives
outside their school,
and we do have to try
to accommodate that as
much as possible—and
if by getting the exam
schedule up and posted
early, that helps them, we
should probably be doing
that,” said Susan Briggs,
English instructor and
former president of the
DCFA.

In a world of
perpetually rising
tuition rates, with less
government support
to financing post-
secondary education
putting a burden on
students, the opportunity
cost of an uncertain
December puts further
strain on students’
personal budgeting and
scheduling. Is this the