SEMO Theatre Elitism?

The theatre and dance department at SEMO recently announced that they will be capping their majors at no more than 50 freshmen recruits per year with the total expected active majors to be about 150.

Some folks might think this smacks of academic elitism.

Not me. I think it is smart to limit the overall number of students in a major and requiring said students to have some pre-existing ability before being allowed to pursue that major. It keeps professors from wasting their time trying to teach some no-talents.

It keeps out the rif-raf.

Not just anyone can grow up to be president. Uh, that might be a bad example. How about, not just anyone can grow up to be an astronaut? Oh shoot, Linda Godwin graduated from SEMO and she's an astronaut. Ok, here's one. Not everyone can grow up to be an astro-ornithologist. I'm almost 100% certain that SEMO has never graduated anyone who studies birds in space.

Anyhow, I think limiting the number of students in a given major is fantastic and not out of line. Universities already limit their over-all enrollments by using standard tests like the ACT and SAT.

Perhaps SEMO could go one further and start telling students what majors they would be allowed to take when they initially enroll.

In the old days, this position might have been called the Major Maitre d, but that title might not appeal to the marketing savvy younger generation who is in the education pipeline.

Bachelor Of Science Barista would be catchy. I can hear it now:

Felix: 'ello, I am Felix, your BS Barista. May I take your major?

Sally: Hi, I'm Sally and I'd like to major in Theatre.

Felix: I see. Do you have any theatre experience?

Sally: No. The high school in the small town I was raised in the Bootheel had no facilities for speech and theatre. My town didn't even have a movie theatre. But acting has always been my dream.

Felix: Hmmm. So sad. Dreams are over-rated. Bootheel you say. Lots of cotton down there. Have you considered agriculture? Perhaps, with a nice home-economics minor?

Sally: No. I don't want to be a farmer. Or study home-ec. I want to act!

Felix: I'm so sorry, but we've already reached our cap for this freshmen class. The last spot was taken by a student from Kansas City who attended a big high school that had a speech and theatre department. They tell me he was the lead in 2 plays his senior year and can sing like an angel. May I interest you in an earth science degree?