History Seminars Should Be Shorter

Currently, all of the seminar classes in the history department are three hours long. I would like to propose that history seminars be shortened to two hours. I make this proposal for two reasons. First, most students just cannot concentrate for three hours straight. I myself have taken these three-hour seminars and found them tiring and sometimes boring. Also, when a seminar lasts that long, people stop concentrating and stop learning, so the third hour of a three-hour seminar is a waste of everyone’s time. Two-hour seminars would be much more efficient.

Now listen to two students discussing the letter.

-I totally disagree with Tim's proposal.
-Why?
-Well, look, Tim’s my friend but he’s not you typical student, he stays up late partying every night, week nights, too.
-If he parties every night, no wonder he can't pay attention.
-Yes, and most students aren’t like that, they come to class prepared and rested and they can concentrate.
-So you're saying the problem is really Tim.
-Yes, he was in one of my classes last year, and whenever I looked at him, he was actually sleeping.
-I guess if he’s sleeping, he can't really know what's happening, what other people in class are doing.
-Right, and you want to know what does happen in that last hour of seminar? In a lot of seminars that I've been in, that's when things get interesting.
-Really?
-Yes, that's usually when students get really involved in their discussion and start exchanging important ideas. And if the history department actually did what Tim suggests, well, if they did that, what would happen is you lose what might be the most worthwhile part of a seminar.