Not enough time spent in majors
K.C. Vetter
Issue date: 5/4/07 Section: Opinion
- Page 1 of 1
College, for most students, is no longer a four-year trek. Many slack off, let partying overcome their lives or can't settle on a career path.
Like a majority of college students, I changed my major. Coming here in Spring 2003 on an athletic training scholarship, I spent most of my days in Brophy taking core classes, very few gen-eds and learning to identify every bone in the human body. A year and a half later, I changed my mind and switched to journalism. Now, May 2007, I'm donning that cap and gown, ready to make the transition into the real world.
Something doesn't seem right.
It should not be that easy to get a college degree.
Off-hand, I can think of only 12 journalism classes I had to take in order to complete the requirement. Do the math and that's only 36 credit hours.
Sixty-three hours, however, were compiled by taking gen-eds.
The general-education requirement varies between colleges within the university: Music education majors, for example, take substantially fewer because of the in-major workload they need to complete in order to be competent in their field.
So why do journalism majors need to take so many? Sure, taking a variety of classes helps broaden our horizons so we can write over a range of topics and be knowledgeable over what we're reporting, but that's not the indicated purpose.
The designed purpose is to waste our time and money and keep us here longer than we need to be. Most majors could easily be out in two years if we were only required to take classes relating to what we plan on doing for the rest of our lives.
The idea of taking gen-eds isn't the problem. The structure behind it is just a little faulty.
Why not cut down the choices and focus them around majors?
Journalism majors, for instance, should be required to take several political science courses since the two majors essentially go hand-in-hand. Yes, as a part of the general education curriculum there are a handful of political science options, but many students - myself included - aren't intelligent enough to figure out these are core classes they should be taking.
Gen-eds are a remembrance of high school. Analyzing a short story or structuring molecules in chemistry class is completely useless unless you plan on being an English teacher or chemist.
Since the system won't be changed, learn from my mistakes: analyze your major and choose gen-eds based around things you may actually need to know. Had I figured that out sooner, I probably wouldn't feel the need to go back for a second undergrad degree in political science.
Like a majority of college students, I changed my major. Coming here in Spring 2003 on an athletic training scholarship, I spent most of my days in Brophy taking core classes, very few gen-eds and learning to identify every bone in the human body. A year and a half later, I changed my mind and switched to journalism. Now, May 2007, I'm donning that cap and gown, ready to make the transition into the real world.
Something doesn't seem right.
It should not be that easy to get a college degree.
Off-hand, I can think of only 12 journalism classes I had to take in order to complete the requirement. Do the math and that's only 36 credit hours.
Sixty-three hours, however, were compiled by taking gen-eds.
The general-education requirement varies between colleges within the university: Music education majors, for example, take substantially fewer because of the in-major workload they need to complete in order to be competent in their field.
So why do journalism majors need to take so many? Sure, taking a variety of classes helps broaden our horizons so we can write over a range of topics and be knowledgeable over what we're reporting, but that's not the indicated purpose.
The designed purpose is to waste our time and money and keep us here longer than we need to be. Most majors could easily be out in two years if we were only required to take classes relating to what we plan on doing for the rest of our lives.
The idea of taking gen-eds isn't the problem. The structure behind it is just a little faulty.
Why not cut down the choices and focus them around majors?
Journalism majors, for instance, should be required to take several political science courses since the two majors essentially go hand-in-hand. Yes, as a part of the general education curriculum there are a handful of political science options, but many students - myself included - aren't intelligent enough to figure out these are core classes they should be taking.
Gen-eds are a remembrance of high school. Analyzing a short story or structuring molecules in chemistry class is completely useless unless you plan on being an English teacher or chemist.
Since the system won't be changed, learn from my mistakes: analyze your major and choose gen-eds based around things you may actually need to know. Had I figured that out sooner, I probably wouldn't feel the need to go back for a second undergrad degree in political science.
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