The Justice

Yes, the University is incredibly generous with financial aid (I myself am here on a large scholarship), but for many families, especially in times of economic hardship, college remains tremendously expensive even with aid. Just as students often work harder in high school in order to earn scholarships for college, some Brandeis students would work harder by taking more courses a semester to graduate early and save a great deal of money.

The second reason the University should allow its students to graduate in fewer than seven semesters is that despite the value Brandeis puts on a broad liberal arts education, some people simply don't need time to explore different fields of study. For many students, myself included, the fact that I do not have to declare a major until halfway through my college career in incredibly liberating. It allows students like me to explore new fields of study and discover what we love.

But for many other students, this period of discovery is a waste of time. There are plenty of people who come to Brandeis knowing that they want to be doctors, and from the moment they arrive on campus they pursue the course of study that will get them to that goal. For such people, it may seem ridiculous that they be required to stay on campus for seven semesters so they can have time to discover what they love to study. They already know. Furthermore, the University class requirements for graduating already ensure that students graduating from the University have a basic knowledge of a broad range of fields of study. Students who graduate early ought to be expected to fulfill these requirements just like any other student at the University.

The last and most important reason Brandeis should allow its students to graduate in fewer than seven semesters is that the University ought to trust us to make our own decisions about our academic life. We are adults, and we ought to be trusted to decide how we chart our courses of study in college. The University can and ought to promote a broad liberal arts education for its students, but it cannot force its students to get such an education.

Some may say that students who do not have an interest in getting a good liberal arts education should simply not come to our University. After all, there are other schools that allow their students the opportunity to graduate in three years or less. I believe that Brandeis shouldn't exclude such students from experiencing what Brandeis has to offer. There is a plethora of reasons why someone may want to come to Brandeis, including our family-like community, the phenomenal extracurricular opportunities and the wonderful faculty members that actually care about undergraduates. Perhaps there are many students out there who value these aspects of our University but for whatever reason want to get out of here a bit early. Why should we exclude bright minds who want to come here simply because we judge them to not share all of our values?

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