An updated student course guide

For most, the biannual scramble to select courses is one of the most fun — and most stressful — times of the year. Students have to maintain a delicate balancing act, meeting distribution requirements and departmental, while simultaneously ensuring their courses are entertaining, insightful and informative. They ask for advice from anyone they can think of — the senior who managed to have class only once a week or the student down the hall who never does any work and has somehow still completed two certificates. This isn’t an easy line to walk, and there are semesters when mistakes are made, regrets are had and courses are dropped.

The University and USG periodically release different resources to make this search process easier, such as the Student Course Guide or online course evaluations. Many students. however, don’t take advantage of these resources, as the sheer number of courses and different opinions can be overwhelming. In this vein, as a self-appointed Course Czar, I have compiled a list of courses to help certain student organizations that may need some advice. I hope these groups will put serious consideration into my suggestions, as I only have their best interests in mind.

For the Princeton Debate Panel: ENG 230: Public Speaking. There are many reasons why members of the PDP should take this course. First, lecture is only once a week. Second, the final consists of a public oral presentation. For students who like to spend their weekends waxing eloquent about important political and moral issues of the day, what could be better than having 120 other students hear your voice? Third, you get to read Pygmalion, ensuring that you will now be included in the upper echelons of society and can effectively bicker Ivy through your newly refined mannerisms. Runners-up for this course include Whig-Clio and the Princeton Southern Society.

For the Jadwin Jungle: SLA 411: Mass Spectacles, Sport, and Patriotic Projects in Stalinist Russia. I wouldn’t normally suggest that student groups should take a leaf out of Stalin’s book, but the Jadwin Jungle has been floundering as of late and could use a valuable lesson on sports from the USSR (barring Russia’s performance in this year’s Winter Olympics). I can see no better way to increase turnout than some good old-fashioned rehabilitation and public-struggle rallies aimed at the men’s basketball team. Runners-up include SmashCraft Heroes and the football team.

For Students for Education Reform: POL 525: Comparative Bureaucracy. Dealing with the crippling bureaucracy of school systems and teacher’s unions every day can be pretty depressing. But nothing is a better pick-me-up than studying it comparatively and understanding that you aren’t the only ones facing inefficiency, corruption and political infighting. Runner-ups include the Office of the Dean of Undergraduate Students and the USG.

For The Daily Princetonian: JRN 445: Investigative Journalism. There really isn’t much more that needs to be said about this one. Runners-up include the Princeton Tory and the Nassau Weekly.

For the USG: WWS 300: Democracy. This course may be limited to WWS concentrators, but I don’t think the members of USG would have a problem fulfilling that requirement. Democracy would introduce the USG to a number of fundamentally visionary concepts, such as limits on the rule of the majority, how to organize democratic institutions, and my very own favorite, election reform. Runners-up include the International Relations Council and the College Republicans.

The University and professors have put a great deal of thought into designing these courses. I seek to offer concrete suggestions for different campus groups that will be able to get the most out of them. In the next few weeks, as students work on their JPs, catch up on readings from before spring break and complete applications for interesting and high-paying summer internships that were due last November, I hope to make life just a little bit easier by reducing the time required to search through the 1,141 courses offered next semester.