Provide at least three reasons why every student should be required to take general education courses. Explain your rationale.
General education classes give students an exposure to a variety of disciplines that allow them to develop the skills necessary to pursue their major. Catherine Seraphin states that general education requirements help students prepare for the “unknown” (n.d., p.4). College is a different world, it is different from high school and life. General education classes allow students to grasp the critical thinking skills and create skillsets that are necessary to succeed. By taking general education courses, usually within the first year, students become prepared for university-level education.
General education classes also give a cohesion in the education process. By taking classes such as English, History, math, and science students are giving a “global understanding, cultural awareness, or ethical thinking” (Wehburg, 2010, p. 9) to students. These classes allow students to start their education process with an interconnection with each other and a structure to be able to pursue or change their goals.
Finally, general education classes allow students to become better people overall. Austin blogs that general education classes
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helped him/her become a “better citizen, employee, spouse, and parent” (2011, para 3). By acquiring the skills necessary to succeed in general education courses students increase their critical thinking skills, allows them to become innovative and analyze what they are being taught. This translates to being able to come up with different ideas and analyze what they are doing in their job, community, and home. Students are able to question what is being told to them by politicians, advertisers, sales people, etc. and analyze motives and actions. They are able to apply what they have learned in their general education classes to their life. Describe what you have learned from at least two specific courses (e.g., philosophy, history, or psychology) that illustrated usefulness in your daily life. One illustration of usefulness in daily life is just after I took an environmental science class.
Not long after I had finished the class a state ecology worker came up to where I work at the Christmas Tree farm, he was discussing the biome of our area, obnoxious plants, EPA guidelines, and the sediments along the roadside ditches and irrigation. As we were discussion these various topics, it occurred to me that had I not taken this science class, I would be totally lost and not be able to follow what he was discussing. Not only was I able to follow the discussion I was able to contribute and make some recommendations for our farm to ensure that we following the EPA guidelines and helping the environment in the
process. Another illustration is one that I use consistently. The Informal Logic class taught me the different types of fallacies that are used by others. During this time of choosing a new President, these skills are invaluable. I also use these abilities when advocating for my children in the school or medical systems. I also combine and use inductive and deductive reasoning with my children (and occasionally, husband), showing them that pros and cons of their arguments and allowing them to come to conclusion.
General Education courses may be one of the most hated requirements in college by students. These courses are required amongst all college students regardless of one’s major or minor. General Education courses may vary with schools but usually consist of: the arts and humanities, social science, natural science, mathematics, and writing. These courses should be optional; students should be able to take them at their own interest such as with elective courses. Without General Education courses it is understood that students will not have completed or received credits needed to graduate. Required college courses should be based solely on one’s major or minor. Students should not be required to take general education courses for the simple fact that they are deemed “important”. General Education courses causes more money, unnecessary time spent taking classes that do not correlate with one’s major, and also lower grades. However, general education classes are said to be the basic skills needed for college students.
Secondly, college is where a person goes to discover him/herself. This is one of the many goals of the college system, and that discovery process is hindered by unneeded, mandatory classes. Students should be able to try many different classes to discover what interests them the most, not to be fed knowledge that they very well might know already (and is perhaps of no interest to them). If required courses were eliminated, it would free up much time that students could then use to pursue their own interests. College exists to help people become unique individuals, not to put every person into the same standard mold.
General Ed absorbes time teaching many skills that wont be used, it is widely accepted to require its teaching in schools, and if it would simply be included in the classes already being taken, students could focus on the carrer they are persuing. This proves that if general ed was eliminated from the requirements then students would be better off. Besides, if students could accomplish their career goals faster they would not accumlate as much debt because they would be paying for less classes, and text books which can cost over a hundred dollars each. Removing general Ed from the degree requirements would be a logical action with many
General education classes are focused on expanding the intellectual horizon of students. Many of the classes for general education don’t have anything to do with specific career choices but are required regardless. While this seems to be nice and good on the surface, it has problems. If colleges only cared about letting students expand their horizons instead of helping people graduate in a timely manner, there would be many more “college surfers”. Those people go to college aimlessly in order to pass the time. They do not have a definite goal and are not able to get a degree in order to graduate and contribute as a member of society. This would mean that taxpayers are wasting millions of dollars for nothing. Although it is important to keep learning as you grow older, there also needs to be a bigger purpose to life than just class cruising. Also, as stated before, if college was for everyone to learn and grow and there wasn’t a focus on grades then the college degree would have no
(Graff, 245) So, we are trained to think that math, English, and science are the end-all of education and while they are important, they have the same basic lessons that we can apply to any other thing of interest. The general idea is to be able to analyze and think deeply, no matter the topic, so schools should offer students more opportunities to take classes that interest
The other way general education courses are very helpful. Is if, for example, you excelled at science in high schoo...
While it is nice to get more educated, your goals as an adult are usually more specific. Whether you are looking for improvement at your workplace or looking to switch it out completely – you know what you want. This is why it is important to realize what the benefits you get out of taking particular classes are.
Making basic education available provides the conditions for a well-informed population so that we can maintain a society comprised of individuals who have the basic skills required to join the labor force. In particular, an education that provides skills to serve the labor market is vital for individuals, the economy and our society. The reason we continue to subsidize higher education is to produce benefits beyond those that arise from the student through training and
My first reason why general education classes should not be required in college is because the topics that they are learning have already been taught in high school. In an article by Jessica Williams, she summarizes it by saying, “We spend 13 years in ‘general education’ courses. Why are we wasting time rehashing what we already know we aren’t interested in when we could be spending that time adding to our resumes” (Williams). For a majority of students, if they take a class where they have already learned the material or even have a grasp on the subject, most likely, they will become bored and uninterested in their sch...
The purpose of a liberal education is to provide exposure to multiple topics. This general education is commonly referred to as “the core curriculum” because all students no matter their intended major are required to complete the courses in order to graduate. Having course requirements is especially beneficial to an undecided major. It creates an opportunity for the student to get a taste of many different concentrations and decide in which department he or she may excel. General education courses are influential to students that have an intended major. An article by MSNBC reported that approximately half of all college students change their major after entering college. A required class may develop one’s interest in pursing a career...
Pracz, Alyssa. “General Education Courses are a Waste of Time and Money.” Northern Star. Northern Star Online, 13 April 2011. Web. 24 March 2014.
Tagg, John. “Why Learn? What We May Really Be Teaching Students.” About Campus. 2004. Print.
Schools currently have a required curriculum, that limits a student's personal choice, by forcing him or her to take classes that are not suited to their aspirations. Typically, the standard material for most schools consists of mainly the "core" classes, like English, math, and science. Yes, it is essential to know and understand these classes to a standard level, however, these so-called "standards" have become more pressing by the year. In order to grad...
Things such as, social skills, time management, how our ancestors lived, how the entire earth was formed into what it is today, and a look into how you’ll be treated in the real world; as a responsible independent worker. While i'm not saying that some these reasons are untrue as I have already addressed them in paragraph three, that doesn’t necessarily mean that the curriculum doesn’t need to change. Yes, in a sense, school does “teach” you social skills and while there's not a class for it, you are encouraged to accept new people into your life instead of blocking everyone out. It's the same deal for time management, while it's not taught, you are encouraged to, “Use your time wisely” as all of my past and present teachers have said before. But on the other hand, you don't need to be taught how the world was formed or how we evolved into the human beings we are today; if you're going to be anything other then a scientist or something in that range, chances are you will never need that information again.
For long periods of time, education has been important to the development the different scientific, moral and ethical fields of the humanity. In addition, it has been recognized by some governments as a human right, but in some places around the world; education is not accessible for everyone. Many people believe that having an educational system without any cost would mean a better educated society, whereas others argue that this would not be possible. To develop a better educated society, governments should establish a totally free education system for the following three reasons.