General Education Courses Unnecessary

JANET YU & BINTA DIALLO

STAFF WRITERS

For as long as students can remember, they have been required to complete a set of general educational courses (math, science, etc.) in college. Although this may seem beneficial, these courses can prove to be a waste of time for students in the long run. Instead of completing general education courses, students should focus primarily on the subjects that they will need to excel in the career they choose.

General education courses force students to divide all their school time between several subjects, causing them to be unable to exert the maximum amount of energy into the subjects needed for their desired careers. For example, a student interested in a career in law will most likely not use most of the lessons taught in their math classes in their future career; however, since general education classes are a requirement, they would be forced to spend an equal amount of time working on math as they would  on Public Policy, a subject that they might be more interested in that would benefit their major.

Getting rid of mandatory general education courses would allow students to do their best in classes that will benefit them in jobs relating to their major and help them in the future when they go into the workforce.

Studies have shown that students focus and work better in classes that cater to their interests. According to a study done by Northern Star, a news source, students that do not enjoy a certain class tend to do worse in that class, resulting in poor performances, which in turn may lower the chances of pursuing the major they want. This could discourage them and cause them to give up on their major and their future plans. It would be more beneficial for students to take on classes they want for their major, allowing them to dive more in depth and help execute their plans earlier on. In addition, because they have more experience, they would   be more prepared for that field of work.

Although general education classes are meant to help students broaden their horizons, many of these skills that students are forced to learn can be useless in the long run. Architects may not need to know about covalent bonds and an actors may not need to know how to calculate the area under a curve. If students want to focus on their majors, they should be able to without having to fill their schedule with general education classes.