We all have instructors we like, as well as ones we’d rather avoid. In planning our schedules each semester, we try to keep this in mind to avoid anything that would make for an unpleasant experience. Now, imagine after all that hard work of creating your schedule months in advance, you come to the first day of class and the instructor you wanted is now teaching somewhere else, and the one you truly despised is now teaching your class.

Another scenario is finding out less than a week before the semester starts that one of your classes has been cancelled. When this happens, you have to scramble to find another class that fits your schedule, or, as in my case, completely redesign your schedule before the classes you need to take get are completely filled.

Honestly, I don’t know which is worse. When classes get cancelled, it’s a great big pain, and can sometimes cause one’s hopes of graduating the next semester of being destroyed (this almost happened to me), but when the instructor for a class gets switched, it can turn into a real nightmare.

Some of us have had the experience where we scheduled our semester trying to take the classes with the teachers that we like, and then on the first day of class discover that the person teaching it is the one we would rather avoid.

When we sign up for a class, we expect to get the instructor whose name shows up for teaching the class. So when a teacher decides to not teach that class, and we find out that somebody else is teaching the class, it’s pretty misleading.

What’s worse is when the class has already started and you want to drop it and take another class, you lose 20% of what you originally paid to take the class, which really isn’t fair.

Furthermore, if we had known that the replacement instructor was going to teach that particular class, we more than likely wouldn’t have taken it.

In this case it’s unfair to charge students the fee. Instead, students should be able to drop the class without any penalty.

Another option would be to notify students well in advance that the instructor who was originally going to teach the class wouldn’t be teaching it. That way, students would have more than enough time to come up with a new schedule for the semester.

In the case of a class being cancelled at the last minute, the results aren’t always in the student’s favor.

Personally, this hasn’t happened to me until this semester. I received an e-mail the Monday of the week that class was going to start saying that one of my classes had been cancelled. I had to think fast and completely redesign my schedule. Since I acted fast, I was lucky to not get charged with any fees for dropping classes.

However, it’s irresponsible on behalf of the college to notify students that their class has been cancelled at the last possible minute.

Instead, why don’t they establish an end date for registering for classes? We already have a start date, so an end date could be a good thing. Students would have an actual deadline, and faculty and staff could see which classes have the least amount of enrollment, and students could know well in advance whether or not they need to change their schedule.

Until this happens (which is pretty unlikely), I suggest that you have a backup plan. Find a class that is required for graduation, and sign up for it. That way, if one of your classes gets cancelled, or you have a class with a teacher you don’t like, you’ll have something to fall back on. However, if everything goes well, just drop the class before it starts and you’ll be well on your way.