Professors Should Spend More Time Teaching

In “UC Cuts Freshman Class 7% for Fall” (April 21), Susan Wilbur, the University of California’s director of undergraduate admissions, claimed: “We don’t like turning away students.” If the leaders of the UC system are genuinely concerned about providing higher education to all eligible Californians there is a simple solution to this problem. Require professors to teach more. Typically, professors teach two or three classes per quarter, although it is not unheard of for them to teach less and sometimes not at all. That is eight to 12 hours per week in the classroom. If a university were to require each professor to teach four classes per quarter, the system could accommodate more students, and professors would still spend only 16 hours per week teaching. That is far less classroom time than an elementary or high school teacher.

Jordan Fisher

Huntington Beach