General Education Is A Waste Of Time For College Students

General Education requirements for students results in a longer time to actually work on minor and major requirements. Allysa Pracz, Oral Communications teacher at Northern Illinois University, holds a just and honest opinion that General Educations classes are useless because they may have nothing to do with one’s major. For instance, a college algebra course would obviously have no effect on a student studying Creative Writing. The only question left to answer would be, why do such requirements exist? It could also be understood that courses required in fact focus on what students should have learned in high school. Pracz recalls her freshman year in college, stating, “I remember as a freshman taking classes such as ENGL 103 or COMS 100. Yes, both classes may be beneficial to some, but they mostly just rehash concepts and skills that the majority of students already possess or will pick up in other courses throughout their academic careers.” College students should be somewhat familiar with the basic concepts of many subjects offered, such as writing papers or algebra. It could also be proven that students are not quite interested in classes that they see as useless. For instance, students who major in Apparel Merchandising would have no interest in taking biology courses. Disinterest could ultimately result in bad grades and a low GPA for students.

Located in the 14th Edition of The Norton Reader, an article written by Carolina Bird titled “College is a Waste of Time and Money” can be found. In the article Bird argues that though college may be beneficial for a small percentage of students, but for the majority it is a waste of time and money. The benefits of a college degree can rely on many contributing factors, but for some college is simply a waste of time and money. Though most of the sources used in Bird's article are over four decades old, the argument today is still very strong. One example includes the idea that most students believe that college is the best thing for them to do for their future, and therefore they enroll, only to realize they are not happy and drop out. For other students their dream may have always been set on a specific career, putting college into the plan, but following graduation the job market for their degree is scarce. Within these two examples one would find support for the argument that college is a waste of time and money.

Many students feel that some classes are a waste of time and money because they learn nothing about their chosen field. They have to take classes that have nothing to do with their major but must take the class to meet the core education requirement of the college. If these students receive a less than average grade in a class they feel is unneeded then that lowers their overall GPA.

college for me is to not only shape me into a productive citizen but to prepare me for my future career and life in the real world. Like most students, I think a portion of college should be devoted to career preparation to ensure the move from college to career is an easy one and to make sure I've gained all college has to offer. Throughout my college career, I will take many courses I don't see the purpose of yet they are somehow related to my major. The purpose of these courses, although they seem unconnected and pointless are a major part of my academic success and future career.

Alyssa Pracz, a journalist at Northern Star, makes the point that “[p]rofessors, however, tend to teach the material as if everyone taking the class is planning on majoring in the subject” when, in reality, students just see the class as another general education course. Additionally, students struggle in some of the subjects which have nothing to do with their particular majors. Pracz also states, “As a result, many students' grades suffer, sometimes to the point of lowering their grade point averages so much that they are unable to get into the major they planned on pursuing”. Ultimately, if a student has a huge passion and dream for his life, and cannot pass a certain general education course then his whole future is foiled. General education classes are redundant and do not aid the student whatsoever in cultivating skills required for his future job. Colleges and universities think general education courses are helping students when they actually are hurting them.

The decision to obtain a higher education beyond high school is no longer a question of if, but when. This is the question that author Caroline Bird discusses in her article, “College is a Waste of Time and Money,” written in 1975. This text strives to convince students, parents, and advisors that obtaining a degree might not be in the best interest for those involved. Circling around the idea that college is a requirement and no longer an act of free will. Bird starts the article off strongly by building her credibility through her own personal research and other credible sources as well as appealing to readers through logical reasoning using numerous statistics, but fails to convince readers and discredits her ultimate goal through a disconnect in her use of analogies.

Many people think gen ed classes are a waste of time and should not have to be taken. I think gen ed classes can be a very helpful resource for multiple reasons. Gen eds are a great way to show students what options are available for majors and minors. Gen eds are also ways of getting enough credits to graduate. Here at WLC students need 128 credits to graduate. Students will not be able to gain that amount of

“Think of it like a layer cake. Starting at the bottom, you have the core network, infrastructure, and fabric, and on top of that you build.” This quotation by author, Joy Deja King explains that with everything one does, they have to start at the bottom. One cannot accomplish anything until building a good, solid foundation. This quotation applies very well to education. Before a job comes college, before college comes high school, before high school comes middle school, then grade school, kindergarten, and preschool. This is because one must learn the basic fundamentals necessary for the next step in life. This is exactly what general education courses aid with in college. These general education courses teach basic skills required for

Recently, a dispute in the Midwestern university concerning if we should keep are General Education Courses or get rid of then and have a 2-year college. 45% of the curriculum committee want to get reed of General Education to go to a 2-year college. But 55% are wanting to keep the GEC so the students can in rich the knowledge that the world can give, students also are introduced to different ideas to explore. But what if the General Education Classes are removed students don’t get the knowledge that they need to succeed in the world. Because students don’t get to have solving, reading and speech skills that any they apply for uses those exact skills. Although, not having GEC would only take 2-years to learn, but without GE Courses students wont progress to their potential and learn to their fullest. Their four, I the dean of Midwest university has decided to go with having GEC so the student can learn whatever they want.

“Leon Lefkowitz, chairman of the department of social studies at Dental High School in Valley Steam, New York, interviewed 300 college students at random and 200 of them didn’t think that the education they were getting was worth the effort.” (Bird 220). The idea of continuing education after graduating high school can be very questionable for some students. Many students side with Caroline Bird and her theory that education serves very little purpose in the job market in her essay “College Is a Waste of Time and Money”. But inevitably, students believe that post-secondary education is beneficial in their careers which are the views of Martin Luther King in his essay and article “The Purpose of Education”. In my own views, depending on the field you are getting into, post-secondary education is not needed to establish a successful career. Students should not think they will guarantee themselves their dream job if they decide to continue post-secondary education.

After all, they say, the purpose of college is to learn a trade, to prepare for a profession. Sticklers for rigorous class schedules claim that students can gain skills and diversify their knowledge in extracurricular activities, and that students shouldn't be coddled with fun, flippant courses. There is one main point that this viewpoint overlooks: college students work hard. Virtually every college student recognizes that they are being granted a valuable (and expensive) educational opportunity. Any student who is taking a full load of major-oriented courses will take those courses seriously, devoting huge amounts of time and effort to each class. These students simply don't have the time or energy to engage in-depth in as many extracurricular activities as would be necessary to equal the benefit of one elective class. Extracurricular activities are not graded and do not help a student pass the GRE, so they often fall by the wayside. In contrast, an elective class must be completed, once started; this allows a student to gain the above benefits and skills without sacrificing career-oriented schoolwork.

Colleges should require students to take liberal arts classes but the students should be able to choose which liberal arts class they would like to take. Whether a student takes a literature, art, history, or even a philosophy class, they will benefit from it in many ways. Students learn a lot from practical and technical training but they could learn so much more with liberal arts classes. Taking liberal arts classes can help a student develop grit, relate to real life situations, and help overall development.

To start off should high schools require students to take college level classes at the end of their high school career? In most places schools will have students take college level classes their senior year to prepare them for college what these classes end up doing is cause them to under estimate college because the classes that are taunt are dumbed down to be high school ready. But the exact opposite can happen and students are put through a class that a high school student would not be prepared for causing students to fail and not graduate.

Many of the users think that prerequisites should be offered as electives arguing that students have already completed 12 years of school to learn general subjects such as math, history, English, and science. College should be for specialization, college students should have the opportunity to capitalize on their strengths, without being required to exercise their weakness. For instance, an Engineer major should be offered the opportunity to play sports or music but not required to take them, because the learning from these classes will do little to nothing for his engineering profession. The biggest issue seen is that many students waste time, money, and effort, the amount of money required to pay for classes that one is forced to take is a lot. One student, from the online debate, stated his concern of not wanting to take a chemistry class but instead wanted to be educated about his chosen working

In like manner, taking general instructional courses costs a lot of money. That is a lot of money that I could have been used to put toward my car or paying my rent while at school. School is costly to the point that it is hard to legitimize taking classes that finally don't help me in my employment. In the wake of graduating, I'll be looking with the errand of paying off the lion's share of my commitment total through student loans. It would be essentially less requesting to do this if the four years and a huge number of dollars were spent creating skills that are vital to my ability to look for after my normal calling way. School should be a period spent focusing on and getting some answers concerning what I am will enhance the circumstance whatever is left of my