It is hard to imagine that an introduction of something known as Illinibucks that allow people to move to the head of the line by the campus to ever be possible due to various issues. People would want to use these Illinibucks mainly for the purpose of priority registration of classes. Currently, class registration is based off of class standing in which seniors are able to register earlier than juniors, sophomores, and freshmen in that order because they have an urgency in terms of graduation and therefore, need to get into the classes they need. Also there are those who have great academic success and they are known as James and Chancellor scholars and they also get priority registration before everyone else as a reward for their hard work. These scholars often have to do demanding supplementary assignments in addition to their already demanding coursework and thus, are compensated with priority registration.
Now if Illinibucks were introduced into the fray this would cause many headaches and undermine the whole system of priority. Essentially students would get a set amount of Illinibucks from the campus and they could use it to get priority class registration privileges similar to those of the James and Chancellor scholars. This would essentially diminish the reward of the honors program as people could pay their way for the same service as opposed to spending time and doing hard work. Furthermore, if everyone had priority registration on a first come first serve basis by spending the Illinibucks, freshmen, sophmores, and juniors may take up classes that seniors urgently need which may cause them graduation headaches. Additionally, if everyone uses these Illinibucks at the same time to register for classes the servers could crash as the registration process takes place online. Also different classes may require different quantities of Illinibucks for priority registration and setting these prices would require extra work from the administration. Furthermore, it would be difficult for administrators to set these prices as they have no set guidelines. Ultimately, I would use my Illinibucks for class registration priorities over anything else as everyone needs to do this and I often have problems registering for the classes I need; however, there would just be too many issues to make this work.
Another plausible use of Illinibucks would be to use them to avoid physical queues. For example, if you are extremely hungry or if you are running late you may want to use Illinibucks to bypass the queue and purchase whatever you need in a restaurant or even the Illini bookstore. Additionally, a large market may form over Illinibucks. People may sell or purchase Illinibucks for actual dollars. This would allow people to pay their way with anything. This would allow those students who come from wealthier families a much greater likelihood of bullying others in terms of priority. Furthermore, if many people use Illinibucks at the same time there may be disputes regarding who gets priority first. Ultimately, introducing Illinibucks would not be a good idea and would disturb social order and make processes less efficient.
Now if Illinibucks were introduced into the fray this would cause many headaches and undermine the whole system of priority. Essentially students would get a set amount of Illinibucks from the campus and they could use it to get priority class registration privileges similar to those of the James and Chancellor scholars. This would essentially diminish the reward of the honors program as people could pay their way for the same service as opposed to spending time and doing hard work. Furthermore, if everyone had priority registration on a first come first serve basis by spending the Illinibucks, freshmen, sophmores, and juniors may take up classes that seniors urgently need which may cause them graduation headaches. Additionally, if everyone uses these Illinibucks at the same time to register for classes the servers could crash as the registration process takes place online. Also different classes may require different quantities of Illinibucks for priority registration and setting these prices would require extra work from the administration. Furthermore, it would be difficult for administrators to set these prices as they have no set guidelines. Ultimately, I would use my Illinibucks for class registration priorities over anything else as everyone needs to do this and I often have problems registering for the classes I need; however, there would just be too many issues to make this work.
Another plausible use of Illinibucks would be to use them to avoid physical queues. For example, if you are extremely hungry or if you are running late you may want to use Illinibucks to bypass the queue and purchase whatever you need in a restaurant or even the Illini bookstore. Additionally, a large market may form over Illinibucks. People may sell or purchase Illinibucks for actual dollars. This would allow people to pay their way with anything. This would allow those students who come from wealthier families a much greater likelihood of bullying others in terms of priority. Furthermore, if many people use Illinibucks at the same time there may be disputes regarding who gets priority first. Ultimately, introducing Illinibucks would not be a good idea and would disturb social order and make processes less efficient.
I think your James/Chancellor scholar argument was interesting, I assume you are one of them. As a James Scholar myself I have front of the line registration access, so of course I would oppose a new system. Do you think people would really work less hard for honors without the benefits? I don't think so.
ReplyDeleteYou seem to embrace the status quo as optimal, although you talk about your difficulty getting into the classes you want. Might it be that an Illinibucks system would bring forth a supply response (more offerings where students want them) by indicating where the demand for that is greatest?
ReplyDeleteYou are right about server loads for Banner. I believe the current priority system exists in part to maintain a maximum load that is sustainable.
I think a few people would be inclined not to apply for honors if they had fewer critical benefits. The Illinibucks system could bring a supply response by offering more seats in classes that have more demand and that be quite enlightening to understand which classes require more seats. Figuring out specific prices for each class in terms of Illinibucks would be hard to do though.
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