CLEEP Credit for life experiences. One can earn college credit if acceptable life experiences have provided educational equivalence of the course being CLEEP'd. This sounds high-minded but it provides the faculty with the opportunity to avoid the embarrassment of having someone in a class with experience in the real world.
COMMUNITY COLLEGE Locally operated two year college. Generally this provides a college opportunity to a student who cannot afford to go away to school. It is looked down upon and courses offered are sometimes shunned by "real colleges" when the student tries to transfer them. The student may have fulfilled the academic requirements but because of the lower cost structure, the student didn't pay as much so it must be inferior. The "real" educational system is deprived of the income it needs to continue to operate as-is rather than determining if it can reduce costs and be more effective.
COMPREHENSIVE The only valid exam. The student is actually responsible for all of the material taught in the class, not just a portion of it, as they will be in life. Many students cram for a test and forget the material the next week. The important thing is the grade, the degree, the paper chase, not the education to make the person valuable to self and society, if any of this material or the thought processes are remembered.
CONTINUING EDUCATION This is a real business opportunity for academia. If adults can be convinced they must continue to take classes, or better yet be required by law or employer to do so, the student continues to be a good customer (see PART-TIME STUDENT). The idea is educationally sound, education should be a continuing process, but the emphasis is on taking classes, not a personal program of study, reading, belonging to peer groups, etc. which are also important. These would not create revenue for the college and are thus not the concern of the college.
CREDIT BY EXAM A method of obtaining credit for a course by taking a test to determine the person has gained the proficiency elsewhere. It has no benefit to the college but has been instituted to avoid student revolts.
CREDIT-HOUR The basic unit of monetary value and elapsed time attached to a course.
DROP AND ADD The practice of instructor swapping when students find an easy instructor has been replaced by one who takes education and his duties seriously. This course is dropped and another with a more friendly (less demanding) instructor is added. Education is a partnership between the instructor and the student -- and education doesn't happen if the student's participation is lacking, but this gets lost in the paper chase.
EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES A euphoniums for sports. When an institution wants to improve its image by indicating it is interested in more than athletics it uses this title. To disprove this, student government is always mentioned along with religious groups and academic clubs like drama, math, physics, and journalism. This is window dressing, when the money is divided in the back room, the big bills go to the athletic department and whatever loose change the athletic department can't scoop up and carry is left for distribution among the other groups. These groups frequently provide vital life experiences and educational opportunities but are forced to survive on miniscule budgets.
FEE The money charged. Since academics are purists, the handling of filthy lucre is handled by the Business Office. One exception to this is the honorariums for faculty members who are called upon to speak at events. This money goes directly to the speaker.
FULL-TIME STUDENT A student taking at least a minimum number of credit hours. A student at minimum hours may complete the requirements of a Bachelors degree in five years. Many third year students learn they must attend two more years to accumulate the needed number of credits. To accumulate one hundred twenty eight credits in eight semesters one must take sixteen per semester but this escapes many students. So much for the efforts of high school mathematics teachers.
MASTERS DEGREE A person seeking this degree may be serious about education.
MID-TERM A test given at the middle of the term. This test is significant because everyone can breathe a sigh of relief. If the instructor does not give a comprehensive final, students can begin forgetting the material covered in the first half of the class. Why carry along this baggage?
NON-TRADITIONAL STUDENT As a general rule, a student over twenty five years old but like sociological terminology denoting a group to be given special treatment, it has been expanded to include younger students who have children or did not begin college upon high school graduation. With the current trend, the number of non-trades will soon exceed the traditional students.
