How many college courses are there that aren't a whole number of credits? At Hofstra University, there are many classes in the Dance department and the Physical Education and Sport Sciences department that are not a whole number of credits. There's also a 0.5 credit course that Drama majors take every semester.
Aren't those usually labs that pair up with a course? I think one way to IMPROVE college is to remove the silly electives. college should focus you on your chosen degree, the concept of "well rounded" should not be in a college program. Why would a say, Computer Science major, need to take art classes? The "rounding" should have been achieved up through High School. Focus college on the major you want, this MIGHT possibly shorten a 4 year degree to 3, or heaven forbid, allow more classes in your major!
At Hofstra, some labs required separate registration but were counted as the same course as the lecture. Other labs were counted as separate courses worth at least 1 credit. None of the labs were listed as 0 credit courses. I wonder what happens if a students passes a lecture but fails a co-requisite lab or vice versa. Also note than 0 credits does not satisfy what I was asking for because 0 is a whole number.
We never had any non-whole numbers, just 2, 4, and 8. And two were just for half-semester classes, and 8 for some big grad-level courses (I mentioned in another thread our TV News Producing lab-style class; journalism grad students had the same thing but spending two 8-hour days in the studio each week and producing a 30-minute newscast for 8 credits). But I also went to a fairly small school so there weren't a whole lot of classes that were offered just for the hell of it and not as a requirement for someone somewhere, so it's not like I could take the Andy Katzenmoyer options of Golf, Music Appreciation, and AIDS Awareness (well, okay, I did take a music class like that, but only because I double-minored in music and history). While I'd agree that some required electives (seems like a contradiction) should be removed, I think there should be options out there. I would have loved to have taken an extra journalism class or extra history classes or more music classes, but Introduction To Ethics, Movers and Shakers, and Eastern Religions filled "requirements" that I didn't give a flying Philadelphia fart about. If a student has an interest in a certain topic, but not enough of an interest to major in it and didn't have the opportunity to explore it in high school, having the ability to take a class in it for a lower number of credits (like 0.5 or 1) is a nice option to have.