[tlug] database design idea... what do you think?

["Micheal Cooper" <cooper.me@example.com>]

College database application, with administration users who frequently
request new things added to the database.

What do you think of the following idea for a way to introduce ad-hoc
attributes for users:

Make table "attributes" in a many-to-many relationship with table
students. Include from_date and to_date to indicate the dates the
student acquired and lost this attribute. Also include field operator
to record the user who entered the data and change_date to record the
actual timestamp of the data entry. Attributes about the student that
need to be tracked (like advanced placement, scholarship, probation,
etc.) are each a record in the table. When the administration wants to
add a new trackable attribute of students (for example,
works-as-computer-lab-assistant), the attribute is added to table
"attributes" . The code contains class "student" which has:
(1) a Get_Attrs() function which makes an array of all the student's
attributes, allowing the application to add checks in later reports
for these new trackable attributes;
(2) an Update_Attrs() function which analyzes student data to give and
remove attributes according to the results of certain checks (i.e. if
(current GPA < 2.5) student.give_attr(attributes.assign("probation"),
date.today()))

In textbook database design, if you are told to add the ability to
track scholarship students, you need a scholarship table, and if you
are asked to track computer lab assistants, you make a campus_jobs
tables. The above idea does not jive with what I learned in my MS
courses, but it seems to make sense.

What do you think?

---
Micheal Cooper, LTL (Loyal TLUG Lurker)
Miyazaki, Japan (GMT+9, no DST)