It would seem to be a simple exchange: college gives students an education in a field of their choice, student gives college enough money to buy a house with, and all is right with the world. However, the field of study is not entirely up to the students.
General education requirements supposedly serve to allow students to fully realize their potential in a given subject if that student is an undeclared major or is struggling to find what they are really good at. They also show that a college university is well-rounded and caters to all factions of study. The whole spiel is all well and good, but it just does not make any sense.
For starters, why are students forced to pay for courses that do not correlate with their field of study? If student X wants to become an engineer, why must they be forced to take a poetry or music theory class to satisfy a humanities credit? If X wants to major in creative writing, why must they know meteorology?
This sounds good on paper when universities claim they are trying to build up well-rounded individuals, but society does not care about all that. If one were to go see “Hamlet,” the topic of calculus would surely not be a factor. If one were to go to the doctor’s office for a physical, the doctor is not tasked with knowing 19th-century literature. Society breeds experts in certain fields, so why do our universities not do the same?
Universities also claim that requiring students to take general education courses will help those who are undecided with their future get a better grip at what they are good at or passionate about. Sounds swell, but what purpose does high school have then? Kindergarten and middle school teaches kids the birds and the bees, but high school is where kids begin to figure out what they are good at. Besides, if student X flunked history throughout high school, why would learning about America during the Civil War again make a difference?
Furthermore, just because some students do not know what they want to do yet does not mean that everyone else needs to learn everything they learned in high school again. Besides, academic advisors, guidance counselors and parents are all tools in place to help place kids in areas where they can do the most good or develop the most skill and passion.
Lastly, gen-eds are talked up a lot by universities and faculty, yet there is no passion in them when it comes to the student body. Gen-ed courses are regarded as less important than one’s concentration courses, the first courses students elect to skip and typically the courses that lower a students’ GPA the most.
So, if gen-eds do not contribute to what a student wishes to learn about, are not echoed in society, do not apply to all students and are the courses no one seems to care about, why are they a thing? Asking for a friend.
