Tapped In: The Bennington Blog — Are the classes hard to get into? Are there enough classes - some departments, like Art History and Education seem to have pretty slim pickings. Could you tell me more about those departments and professors? THANKS!

Are the classes hard to get into? Are there enough classes - some departments, like Art History and Education seem to have pretty slim pickings. Could you tell me more about those departments and professors? THANKS! — Asked by Anonymous

As you may already know the Benningtoncurriculum is designed to be flexible. All of us are utilizing the offered courses as a way to view our passions through a different lens. The school has a cap of 21 students in all discussion based courses (which take up the vast majority of the curriculum). Because of the cap some classes can be harder to get in than others. Straight up art history classes like, History of Western Art with James Voorhies or Art in America Since WWII with Andy Spence, are very popular so they tend to be tougher to join. Most art history students like, Meg Lambert, mix and match anthropology courses, art history, and visual arts courses to create a comprehensive art history concentration.

The best advice I can give you about getting into classes is:

BE PERSISTENT!

If you’re on a waiting list go to the first class! Email the professor, go to their office, tell them about why you want to be in the course. If a professor sees that you’re passionate and hardworking they’ll try to make room for you – and if you don’t make it in one term at least you’ve familiarized yourself with the professor in hopes of joining the course the following term.

Also –

I just wanted to add that I’m in an incredible education course right now with Peter Jones. It’s titled Discourse and Compassion and we’re taking a close look at conversations within the classroom. We even get to observe classes at theNorthBenningtonGradedSchoolto add context to our readings. Going out into the town and experiencing high school, middle school, and elementary school classrooms will most likely be a large part of education courses atBennington. You’ve gotta get out of the classroom to learn about the classroom!

-Michaela