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Why general education courses are unnecessary
Importance of general education
Why general education courses are unnecessary
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Have you ever taken a class in college and asked yourself why you must take a class that won’t help you in your major? Have you ever wondered why math major students must take a dance class, or an art class that aren’t related to their majors to earn their degrees? After taking so many unrelated courses to a major I want in high school, why must I repeat the same process in college? College should prepare you for your career. We want to excel in our chosen fields. Many college students face many problems throughout their college years. Required general education courses shouldn’t be one of them. We took general education courses in high school. College should be the next step in our lives that prepare us for the future. General education courses …show more content…
I am required to take Calculus based physics courses to complete my A.S. transfer degree in Computer Science on top of more unnecessary courses not related my major. Physics is a difficult class, and it requires a great deal of time and effort just to get a passing grade. I would be happy to take physics, but it won’t help me become a better computer programmer. It gives unnecessary stress to an already big workload. I spent more money to courses I don’t need for my major just to earn my degree in computer science. I would have liked to earn my associate degree for computer science and transfer to a 4-year college, but colleges have put unnecessary degree requirements. I’m in my third year at Modesto Junior College. I have attempted at least ninety credits in college. More than I would have liked because of difficult courses like physics and calculus courses. My knowledge in physics won’t help me become a better programmer. It just causes unnecessary burden to me because of its difficulty. My first course in calculus, the class was full with over forty students, but many students withdrew and had about ten people left at the end of the course. As a result, not passing the calculus course caused many college students to fall behind and not graduate on time. It also caused students to spend more money and time in college because the students who did not pass have to take it again for their degree requirements. Students who are required to take unrelated courses to their major just cause unnecessary
Robert Leamnson’s essay “Learning (Your First Job)” effectively proposes the importance of learning by suggesting ways of making notes, studying, and doing assignments. Leamnson cannot stress it enough, how learning will not be accomplished unless you want to do it. If you do not have the want of learning then there is no point in doing it. High school education is so much different than your post-secondary education. The material that is being learned in the college classes is materials that will be useful for your later career. This essay has given me a better understanding of to how and why I should take college classes
Going to college gives students the chance to step out of their comfort zone, try new things, and discover who they are while pursuing a degree that may, or may not, interest them. In today’s world if a student drops out of college society assumes they are unintelligent, while in reality they could have come to the realization that being amazing at a trade job is better than being mediocre at a desk job. There has to be a way for students to want to finish college and find what they are learning interesting. If something doesn’t change, the system of postsecondary education will become a thing of the
...of the basic purposes of education: career preparation." I don’t agree with this at all. I think that college should really be a little of both. Obviously you go to college to get a degree, which starts you in a career, so that’s the career preparation part of it. But, there’s also so much more to college that helps you with later in life.
College is also about the connections that you make in your major and with your peers. A recent study found that students who were involved in extracurricular activities had a positive impact on how well college has fostered their career skills and development. Why sacrifice all of that for the sake of
While college is about majoring into what your ideal career is, it's also a place of self exploration. "By teaching freedon by example, through the experience of free research, thinking and expression" (source B). Learning the strengths and weaknesses of ourselves through trial and error allows students to make conscious choices that they will continue to make down the road such as problem solving in the real world.
Firstly, not all classes need to be tailored to the student’s chosen career. Just because he or she is not going to go into business or chemistry or whatever the class in question may be does not mean that it could not benefit them to investigate as many subjects as possible. Kirn naively argues that seniors try “to earn a grade they don’t need” as they endure through their final high school year. This is incorrect. College freshmen are notorious for changing their major, and though I cannot say for sure how often young adults change career, I do know that their desired career is not guaranteed. Therefore, continuing to explore while in the late teen years could help later i...
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 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
Instead, they have to take classes that have close to nothing to do with their major, but are only taking these classes to fulfill the general educational requirements. I believe that taking these classes could potentially hurt a student’s cumulative GPA if getting a low grade. Taking these classes are not just a waste of time, but it is time wasted that could have been used towards major classes. Upon graduation, some feel that they are at a disadvantage because more time could have spent on learning more within their field of study instead of time spent on irrelevant
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 transition from high school to college is supposed to be freeing and exciting for students, yet general education requirements make it the opposite. Jaime Wandschneider, writer for Iowa State Daily, says, “From the start of our first semester, general education classes fill the credit count towards our graduation. These courses are supposed to turn young, fresh college students into well-rounded adults”. General education classes do exactly what he says: they fill: they are fillers: somewhat educational and very pointless. Many of the first and second year courses feel like a repeat from high school. As a freshman, I am taking algebra, and I can attest completely that this class is absolutely pointless to me. Does it makes sense that a freshman in college would be taking the same math as a freshman in high school? No, absolutely not, but that is the case for me, and unfor...
College is a huge part of every student's life, and there is no reason to try
A college education opens the door to gain knowledge that high school does not give you. In college students obtain the knowledge of how to become more independent. For example, the students learn to choose their own class schedule, extracurricular activities, and how to organize your time.
Students know what they are good at, so they should be given an opportunity to do what they are good. This can only be done by allowing them to choose courses they are good at, and are interested in. Essentially, it is vital that college students should be allowed to choose their courses because; only they know what they are interested in and what they need. Majority of students pay more attention to the subjects they are interested in and this is the reason why, when joining college, they will want to pursue a course in the subjects.