Praxis of Interior Decoration: Dormitories

I worked on the 1989 and 1990 Course Reviews, the UCSC student guide to classes. The latter year we had some spare time, so we wrote some fake course reviews and put them in the book under the entry "College Zero." This was my contribution. I later wrote a fake narrative evaluation for this course, as if I had been a student in it.

(This was actually a tradition carried forth from an earlier round of Course Reviews -- the book was suspended in 1981 or so and only revived in 1989. "College Zero" refers to the practice of giving UCSC's colleges numbers instead of names, until somebody with big bucks donates money or property to name the college after themselves. The colleges originally were the main academic units and still have some courses under their auspices.)

College Zero

23C (Winter) Praxis of Interior Decoration: Dormitories. P. Ceptor.
enrolled: 23; response; 23; 100%

Respondents, while appreciating the sincerity of the instructor ("Pam's really cool"), generally felt that the material covered did not go beyond the rudiments of the discipline. 52% agreed that "We covered the basics and only the basics." Comments include: "We spent a lot of time on bunk beds vs. separate beds, posters, and about proper replacement for those yucchy dorm chairs -- it was really introductory" and "We didn't go into the advanced stuff: I wanted to learn about moving lounge furniture into the rooms, stacking the desks on other furniture, and walls to separate doubles." However, 9% disagreed: "the section on lofts went over my head."

Forty-six percent mentioned that the required laboratory materials ("Some are born crate, some achieve crateness, and some have crateness thrust upon them") were expensive, but one advised "don't buy them from the bookstore if you can help it; check behind the dining halls." However, 39% felt that the lab work was the best part of the course: "They sure do stack!"

Students suggested that this course would be improved if, in addition to going further into the subject, it would cover proper check-out procedures. One added: "And why is it being offered in Winter? We need it earlier!"

INC/LTD/CO