The Crimson White Print Edition - August 24, 2023

opinion
1B
It’s actually good to change majors and drop classes
Chance Phillips
Contributing Columnist
If you’re thinking about
changing your major, do
it. If you start feeling like
you should drop one of your
classes, do it.
College is a period of
personal transformation for
every student. Many incoming
students leave their high
school friends and their
hometown to spend years in
a new city, maybe in a new
state. They will likely change
as much as their environment
did.
There’s no reason to
believe you picked the best
major for you when first
registering for classes. I
came to The University of
Alabama planning to major in
computer science. I dropped
it to a minor after I realized
I was spending my time in
computer science classes
reading political science
papers on my laptop.
Now, I’m pursuing a
master’s in political science
through the Accelerated
Master’s Program and am
considering adding a second
major in economics. For me,
continuing to study computer
science would have been a
major waste of time.
Your major in college
should help you get a job,
expand your horizons and
ultimately help you learn
about something you’re
interested in. If spending
a few hours every week
learning about something
feels like a chore, how will a
40-hour work week in that
field feel?
Also, thanks to general
education and elective
requirements, you’ll be
exposed to subjects you
probably never considered
learning about before
you started your college
education.
Back when I was still a
student taking online courses
through the University’s Early
College program, I took JCM
200: Journalism and Social
Media to fulfill a humanities
requirement. That course
struck a bit of a chord with
me. I didn’t end up switching
my major because of it, but
it’s quite possible I might have
never sent my first piece to
The Crimson White if not for
that experience.
A lot of the education you
receive from college is
actually about learning
your limits, not memorizing
textbooks chapter and
verse. After college, you will
need to be able to both set
and maintain a work-life
balance that works for you
and helps you flourish.
Per the U.S. Department
of Education, around onethird
of students pursuing
a bachelor’s degree change
their majors. If you decide
to change your major, you
won’t be the first or the last.
The same is true for dropping
classes. In a 2019 poll of 1,200
college students by ad agency
Zion & Zion, 41% said they
had dropped a class in the
first couple years of college.
Dropping classes, like
myBama is the university’s platform where students can access a multitude of pages
and websites. CW / Natalie Teat
switching majors, is often two without delaying your
seen as an admission of graduation.
failure. On the contrary, it’s It should also be perfectly
actually incredibly weird to acceptable to drop a class
expect you won’t need to drop because of personality
any classes during your time conflicts, with the professor
in college.
or with your classmates.
We all register for classes Maybe the professor relies
months before a semester too heavily on pre-recorded
starts — months before we lectures — if it prevents you
could possibly know how from properly absorbing the
stressful our personal lives material, why shouldn’t you
will be. Why would we expect drop the course and try again
to know how busy our jobs with a new professor next
might be, or even just how semester?
hard those classes will be that In my opinion, a lot of
semester, so far in advance? the education you receive
Maybe you’re thinking from college is actually
optimistically when
about learning your limits,
registering for classes and not memorizing textbooks
sign up for an 8 a.m. class. chapter and verse. After
Should you have to waste college, you will need to be
your time and your money able to both set and maintain
after you realize you can’t a work-life balance that
make it to a morning class on works for you and helps you
time to save your life?
flourish.
If you’re unable to derive Determining whether
the full benefit from a course or not a course is worth
you are taking, why should staying in is one important
you pay $545 in-state, or way to help develop those
$1,425 out-of-state per credit skills. Maybe that course
hour, only to sort of learn the on the politics of organized
material? It’s not a personal labor looks fascinating, but
failure to just wait and try you know you would be
again next semester. Luckily, far too swamped between
it’s likely that most of your extracurriculars and your
required courses can be other required courses.
pushed off a semester or
If you can make those calls
before you register for classes,
that’s great, of course! But if
you can’t, and you bit off a bit
more than you could chew,
consider dropping a class and
make the experience a lesson
for next semester.
Besides the mental stress
of having too much on your
plate for a semester, we all
have to worry about our GPA.
Staying in a major you can’t
focus on, or in a class that is
just not working for you, will
leave a nasty blemish on your
resume and could make it
harder for you to get into grad
school, if that is a path you
are considering.
Luckily, you can drop a
course for months after
classes start and receive a W,
which doesn’t affect your GPA.
If you drop a course within
the first week of the semester,
you won’t even receive a W
on your transcript, as if you
never took the class in the
first place.
This semester, please
question the decisions
that you made in the past.
Consider if your current major
and your current course load
is really working for you. If
you need to switch majors
or drop classes, I for one will
welcome you to the club.
Young people should vote in the 2024 primary elections
Garrett Marchand
Contributing Columnist
The 2024 primary elections
are now fully underway.
With the first Republican
primary debate on Aug. 23
now over, it is time to begin
paying attention to the
candidates, engaging in the
process, and preparing to
vote in your state's primary
election next year.
As university students,
most of us fall into the
age group with the lowest
election turnout, 18- to
29-year-olds. Many of us in
this age range do not vote
in general elections, let
alone primaries. In fact, the
last presidential election in
2020 was abnormal simply
because about half of the
eligible voters ages 18-29 cast
a ballot.
Despite turning out at
a higher rate than usual,
young adults still fell short
of the 66% average voter
participation in the 2020
election.
When it comes to
primary elections, this
voter apathy is even worse.
According to the Bipartisan
Policy Center, only about
28.5% of eligible voters
participated in the 2016
presidential primaries, the
last election in which no
eligible incumbent
sought re-nomination.
Because presidential
primaries have fewer
than half the number of
voters as general elections
and two major winners,
one Republican and one
Democrat, each individual
voter has a greater impact
on the outcome of these
elections. On the one
hand, this is encouraging
for individual voters who
participate in primaries,
because their vote counts for
more. On the other hand, by
not voting, young people’s
voices are drowned out by
a small minority of highly
engaged, older voters.
Young people often
claim to feel neglected
by campaigns or
disenfranchised by the
democratic process itself.
This is caused, in part,
by campaigns simply not
reaching out to young voters
in the same way they reach
out to older ones, because
young people do not vote as
frequently. There is simply
no incentive to cater to a
group of people who
vote at a low rate.
Even basic
events like
primary
debates are
typically
held on
cable
TV — a
medium
young
people
tend
not to
CW / Shelby West
engage with — including the
debate on Aug. 23 held by Fox
News. There is a bottleneck
of information and outreach
that could engage young
voters in the democratic
process.
This is echoed by a
CIRCLE poll that found only
40% of young people feel
“well-qualified” to engage
in politics. In primaries like
those for the 2024 presidential
election, which polling shows
will likely be a rematch of the
2020 election, many young
voters may continue the
historical trend and decide
they should not vote, partly
because the outcome already
seems inevitable.
However, even if a
particular outcome is likely,
a person not satisfied
with their party’s current
leadership or policy platform
should still consider casting
a ballot this primary season
for another candidate to
signal to the frontrunner
that changes must be
made within the
current leadership moving
forward. Voting in this way,
often called protest voting,
has a similar effect as voting
for a third party in general
elections, like in 2016, when
third-party voting hit levels
that may have cost Hillary
Clinton the election.
In primary elections,
casting a vote for long-shot
candidates who support
issues you care about strongly
shows the establishment that
it is leaving votes on the table
and needs to do more to win
your vote. You should not
vote simply because it is the
right thing to do; you should
vote to make your voice heard
and influence the policies put
forward by each party.
It is easy to say that
parties should do a better
job reaching out to young
people. That said, young
people need to make
themselves valuable to these
parties and force the parties
to reach out to them and
cater to their needs in the
future.
Malcolm X
famously argued
that Black
Americans should
withhold their
votes from parties
that do not protect
the interest
of Black
Americans.
A similar
thing
must
now be
done
with
young
Americans who need to
use their vote in ways
that show their support or
dissatisfaction with the state
of American politics.
With the overturning
of Biden’s student debt
relief program, dramatic
changes in abortion access
nationwide, and the
continued threat of climate
change, young voters are
worried. For many young
Americans, things seem to be
going in the wrong direction.
Older voters will continue
to have an outsized impact
on the future of America as
long as young voters remain
disengaged. As young adults,
college students must vote
in the upcoming primary
elections to ensure those in
power hear their voices.
If young people continue
not to vote, political parties
will continue to have no
interest in catering to the
needs of younger voters. Only
when younger voters begin to
represent a more significant
percentage of those who vote
and impact the outcome of
elections as they did in 2022
will political parties begin to
have the incentive to try and
win over younger Americans.
Your vote matters, but
simply voting in general
elections is not enough. It is
common practice for many
young people to say they like
none of the candidates but do
nothing to pick better ones
when given the opportunity.
Decisions being made in
the United States now will
impact your lives as you get
older, and choosing to remain
disengaged is a dangerous
shirking of responsibility that
lets others make decisions
on your behalf, decisions you
may not agree with.
Choices in how America
is governed start before
the general elections. They
start in the primaries, so go
out and vote in your state's
primaries next year and have
your voice heard.
Primary elections
begin in early March 2024.
Get involved, research
candidates, and, most
importantly, vote.