The Fall 1994 Course Selector Guide earns an "A" for ideas and potential, but falls in the "C" range for effectiveness.

The guide, put out by the Undergraduate Student Government Academic Assembly, highlights excellent general education classes at the University. Information regarding costs of materials, percentage of people who drop or fail the course, average class size and students' and professors' comments can really help students decide what classes to take.

Academic Assembly should be commended for taking the initiative and following through on the project. It obviously took a lot of work, but a few improvements could send it to the head of the class.

A course selector guide cannot truly guide students if it has no critical comments. Positive statements abound in the booklet, giving vague quotes from students about how wonderful a class is or how challenging exams are. How does it help students to know exams are "challenging?"

Students need specifics. What is challenging about the tests? Are the questions picky? Is the professor a hard, but fair, grader? Are the tests impossible, but worth it because the class is great? Say that -- this is what students want to know before they schedule.

Students want to know if a class is easy, but boring or if it contains dry material brought to life by a dynamic professor. Maybe the guide should tell if interesting material is suffocated by a professor who doesn't seem to want to teach a general education class.

Students and professors can also help improve the guide by answering questions on the surveys. Faculty members must not be afraid to say what makes their classes worth taking. And students should speak out and tell us exactly what they do when talking to their friends.

An "A" for effort is OK on the first edition, but work on these suggestions for the next run. The good ideas must be developed to make the course selector guide an indispensible tool to hack through the vines and obscurity that surround the jungle of general education classes.