When students first attend college, they tend to fall into two different extremes. The first one being students who have their entire lives planned out, and know the exact career they want to go into.
The second one is students who are still figuring it out, and want to spend their first two years trying different things until they find their passion. What bridges these two extremes together is the general education courses that all students are required to take, but are they really that helpful?
Gen Ed courses can be seen as a double edged sword. On one hand, they are extremely useful for students, especially those who come into school as undecided, to figure out what career path is best for them.
At the same time, these courses can sometimes get in the way for students who have a large number of required courses they need to complete in order to graduate.
Junior Shealyn Scott states, “Personally, as an English Secondary Education major, it’s already difficult enough to fit in all of the required courses I’m meant to complete on time… If the first year of schooling wasn’t so frontloaded with Gen Eds, nobody would have to be in a constant state of fear that they won’t graduate on time.”
Personally, I believe that Gen Eds are needed, because they can help people discover alternative career options they had not thought of before, but at the same time, it feels like students are required too many general requirement credits.
For example, why should all students have to take both a physical and an earth science course, when they have taken plenty of these classes throughout junior high and high school?
An alternative to the high amount of Gen Eds required of students would be to allow declared majors to test out of some Gen Ed classes. This would not be a hard switch, considering some dual credits from high school make up for some Gen Ed classes.
For example, if I was not a part of the honors program, my credits from my AP high school English class would have satisfied my English Gen Ed credit.
I think students should have to take a limited number of Gen Eds in their first two years, so they are not overwhelmed with career related work. In addition to this, the number of required credits should be cut down so they do not become overwhelmed with excess work.
There’s a fine line, but the best way to start to make any potential change is by listening to what students have to say about their first two years at college.
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