To the editor:

This letter is in response to the recent articles regarding the mad dash to re-enroll students affected by Katrina. What would happen if the affected institutions offered course credits to those students who wanted to work in the affected areas as volunteers aiding in the clean-up and rebuilding of the schools, towns and cities? Since the goal of any school is to prepare the student for the future, what better lessons could be learned than helping others, while at the same time learning about themselves. Essential class missed? Let the student audit the course for credit later, free of charge.

Too often, students don’t remember what they learned while in school. A semester of “life” credits would be a lesson they would never forget. The iPods, inane cell phone conversations, file downloads and other essentials of college would still be there when they returned. The enrollment figures for that semester would be very telling of our college generation.

It’s too late for this semester, but there will always be the spring term and effects of Katrina will still be with us.

Paul Schultz,

Lawrence