I was certainly no different, and if I could start my four years over, there are many things that I would have tried to change about Princeton. The issue I feel most strongly about is restructuring Dean’s Date and finals period. I wrote a guest column about this two years ago, though it did not bring about the immediate change I thought it might. My argument — just in case you do not read the column every night before bed — is essentially that having University-scheduled exams randomly distributes students’ work loads for them and creates a high variability in the amount of time students have to prepare for exams. If students scheduled their own exams, they would be able to determine exactly how they want to split up their time. In my perfect Princeton, Dean’s Date would be at the end of a three-week finals period, and finals would all be take-home and available on Blackboard for those three weeks, taken at the students leisure (with time limits and outside resources put at the professor’s discretion). This practice would allow every student the exact same amount of time to complete their final assignments and examinations and seems the fairest and least random method of dividing work. But no one will ever have their perfect Princeton, so instead of arguing for the implementation of a specific policy, I will simply endorse some form of self-scheduled exams at a high level.
Unfortunately, I have fallen prey to Princeton’s four-year constraint. I wrote the aforementioned column at the end of sophomore year, discussed it once with Dean Malkiel, but then dropped it off my to-do list as the commitments of junior year rolled around. This year, when I eventually had some time to pursue it, my impending graduation made the effort seem pointless.
The problem is that, as a student’s knowledge and ability to solve a problem increases, their incentive decreases. That is where I (and this column) come in. It is too late for me to make this change, but it is not too late for me to create additional incentive for someone else to make it. So, modeling off the Millennium Prize, which offers a prize of one million dollars to anyone who solves one of seven open problems in mathematics, I will be also offering a prize. I am offering $1,000 to a student or group of students that is instrumental in a restructuring of finals period that includes self-scheduled exams. Seriously. I hope the money is only the icing on the cake for those who may take up the challenge. Just as those eager to make a fast million are unlikely to take up advanced mathematics, I find it unlikely that someone will pursue this prize as a money-making endeavor. After all, there are certainly easier ways to make $1,000.
As a soon-to-be alumnus, I will be frequently asked to donate for Annual Giving. And while I will donate a token amount of $20.11, or something cute like that, my singular donation will not make much of an impact on Princeton. But by contributing $1,000 for the sake of Princeton in this manner, I hope to make a donation worth far more than $1,000 in my mind. The challenge is open to all members of the Class of 2012 and following. Construct an appropriate policy that includes self-scheduled exams, talk to the right people, gain support from students, administrators and trustees and effect change. Then look me up on TigerNet, and if Dean Smith can vouch for you, I will write you a check for $1,000.
I have been told by a certain maternal alumna that you do not attend Princeton for four years — you attend it for your entire life. With that mindset, maybe I do have more than four years to change Princeton for the better. Once I have my diploma I cannot propose a USG referendum or serve on the Honor Committee, but the opportunity to encourage change remains. By offering this token prize, I hope to create discussion on the issue and encourage students and administrators to evaluate if the best possible system is in place. Until I can afford my own building, room, or even a brick on a walkway, this is the greatest gift I can give to Princeton.
Simon Fox Krauss is a computer science major from Haverton, Pa. He can be reached at skrauss@princeton.edu.
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