Besides books, teachers, and bored students there’s another element to every college class in the country. Rarely discussed by those outside of college, the syllabus is the most fundamental important document in college. Its value ranks far above any textbook or term paper. The syllabus sets the rules of the classroom. It tells the students what to expect. It outlines the instructor’s plan for education. It’s a contract between student and teacher (at least that’s what my professors say at the beginning of every semester).

That being said, a professor can do pretty much whatever they want (thank goodness for tenure!). Quite often teachers unilaterally make changes to syllabus. Most of the time it occurs when a teacher falls behind and decides to 86 an assignment (which gets zero complaints from students). On the rare occasion a teacher decides to add something to a syllabus, it can be a sticky mess (after all it’s a contract).

My teacher decided he wanted to add something to our syllabus. Apparently his carefully created plan for the semester failed to have an assignment that assessed our learning for the first third of the semester (question: how does one assess something that doesn’t exist?). . . . . .