Picture a world without names, just numbers and bar codes. Masters informing each number what they can do, and when they can do it.

There would be a required time of completion, and a penalty for those who do not accomplish their task in the specified time. Sterile, uninviting, no room for compromise. Scary isn’t it?

The Board of Regents are disappointed in the number of students graduating in four years. In their eyes, it shows a lack of dedication on our part. The masters are not pleased.

There are so many reasons for a student to extend the amount of time spent at college, instead of graduating in four years.

Twenty credit hours per semester, though possible, is an extremely heavy workload. That is about what it takes to graduate in four years. If you add in the “3 hours outside class” that is suggested per credit hour, that is 60 hours per week of just class work.

If someone wants to get a job, or heaven forbid, a social life, very little time is left. Sleep becomes a luxury that is hard to afford.

Learning within the four-year plan has a very limited scope. Not enough time to take something for the pure joy of it.

I always saw college as a place to let my experience widen. The broader our knowledge the more we can fit into that frightening “real world.”

One of the reasons students do not graduate within four years is changing majors. A large majority of students change their major at least once during their college career.

There are various reasons to change majors. That one class you just can not pass. The major is not what you thought it would be. Maybe you are not as good at something as you thought you were.

Once you change majors not all the classes you took will transfer as easily as you had hoped. So you are stuck adding more classes to your schedule.

I believe engineers are already projected to be here five years no matter what —ÿall due to the workload that is placed upon them.

Classes are not the only thing that play a part in college life.

A student may work here at the Daily, or at KURE. They might become involved in the Optimists Club, the greek system or something like that. Floor activities, making friends and much more are all part of the college experience.

There is far more to college than books and term papers.

Why should I graduate in four years? What is waiting for me once I leave ISU?

I know exactly what is waiting for me. A job market populated by baby boomers. Most of whom will not retire for another 20 years.

Not to mention that by the time the boomers retire, those jobs will be going to our children.

One of the few professions that remains open to us are those dealing with technology. But if you do not keep up with the ever- changing technology, you must go out to the pasture. It’s back to school so you can catch up.

But you better be finished in four years.

The other thing awaiting all of us when we graduate is that black plague known as debt. Since we cannot get the decent jobs, we cannot pay off the financial grim reaper.

If I stay in college long enough, the continuous tuition increases will stay at the back of my mind. I do not have to pay my loans off until after I graduate.

What incentive is there to graduate in a designated allotted time?

Placement into classes that are required, that is about it.

Does that really compensate for an increased stress factor? What about the lack of social interaction that is almost necessary to accomplish the four-year plan?

Maybe I am totally off base with this, but I am sure that the four-year plan works for some people.

I know people who need that structure in their life.

I just do not think that it promotes what I always envisioned college to be — new experiences, both scholastic and social, that broaden our minds. I didn’t envision a demanding, controlled environment.

Scan my bar code and see when my education expires. I am Andrew of Design: DPP; how may I serve the collective?

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Andrew Seitz is junior in drawing, painting and printmaking from Dyersville.