Southern's class requirements

Missouri Southern State University has offered affordable distance learning for over thirty years now. They openly encourage non-traditional students to take advantage of the online and evening classes. I am glad to be attending this University, despite the long, tiring, days I spend working, studying, and taking care of my family. I know that when I finally get through, I will have a better life with less worries, and more family.

There are some areas that has come to my attention, which could use some improvement. Availability of classes for one thing. I have attended night class for both my A&P 1 and 2 (Anatomy & Physiology) classes this year. Both classes were full of students, most of which, were non-trads in some sort of medical field. One fairly big, important, class I need, and I'm sure most if not all the other students need is Intro to Chemistry. There are only 2 Intro to Chemistry classes I found in the schedule; both are only offered in the late morning on campus. Obviously this is not a class that should be taken on-line, but surely there is enough demand to have an evening class. I have also considered taking it as a Summer course, but I found in my Southern Catalog that it is offered as F,S (Fall, Spring) No Summer class offered. Now this is my first year, so I am hoping they offer more Summer classes than I am finding. I only found two courses I need offered in Summer according to the catalog. I am greatly anticipating the Summer class schedule, If they don't offer more classes, I will be attending school much longer than I had hoped.

Another thing that has proven aggravating to me, is their list of required courses. MIDS was the biggest joke I have ever been through, and I am just sure there are many who agree. If you attended the orientation like you were supposed to, you got all the information that MIDS is designed to teach. Not only was it a waste of money, I actually lost time 3 hours every week, that I could have spent on a class that mattered, or my family. It's no wonder they require that course though; they don't need to hire real professors. My "instructor" was more like an ADD 10 year old from you know where. The University still gets paid for every credit hour just like any other course though.

Math is a good course, it helps improve problem solving skills. There is no reason a Nurse needs to go through Math 130. Why??? There are a few equations I actually used during my little time in Engineering, mostly to rescale objects. I am not going to need to know the square root of say...137 when I'm a nurse! Then there are core classes that let you choose which one you prefer. Once you choose the 1 or 2 from each required category however, you still end up having to choose about the same thing. I would really like to take Spanish. It seems to me it could take over one of the literature choices, and it would contribute to my career choice.