The University 's Argument For Requiring 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.

Colleges are everywhere—they are advertised middle and high schools, television ads show people satisfied with their college experiences, and parents ask their children what school they want to go to. In today’s society, college is expected for many, a necessity for others. People are told the only way to further a country is to educate. With tuition being a part of college, many question if college is worth all the money when there are jobs that only require a high school education. Despite the cost of tuition, a college degree is worth the time and effort—people with degrees experience lower rates of unemployment, more job opportunities in skilled fields, and greater personal gain. Though there are other factors in determining whether college is worth it, these are huge factors in whether the time and money is worth spending.

About century ago, the United States had the most educated workforce in the world, thanks to the movement that made high school free and available for everyone, but today many nations exceeded that level. According to “Education at a Glance” report of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, U.S. college graduation rates rank 19th out of 28 countries studied by the OECD, twenty years ago the United States was first among OECD member countries, since that time more countries focus on increasing the number of college graduates; therefore, U.S. falls behind the competition (Weston.) This clearly indicates that the United States’ tertiary education needs a serious initiative like Obama’s plan to push up the college graduation

After someone completes high school, their first step is figuring out what kind of career they want to pursue. Most careers require a college degree just to apply. At this point, they should decide what their major is going to be and see what college is best for them to attend. Every college requires “general education” classes that the students must pass to graduate. Taking these extra mandatory classes is just time lost that college students will never get back.  General ed classes are also a waste of money, as many students acquire major debt from trying to pay for these required classes. If students were able to only take courses that help them in completing their major, more students would actually finish the classes and get their degree instead of dropping out. Universities should not necessitate students to take these general education courses that have nothing to do with the their major.

Even though a majority of high school graduates enroll in college, 34 percent of students do not enroll in college. The statistic of high school graduates enrolled in college reached a record high of 70.1 percent in 2009; however, this percentage descends each year (Norris). There has been many varying causes that have influenced the decline, but the number one reason seems to be the cost of higher education. Many people believe education should remain costly; in fact, the cost of college continues to rise. Although there are many college scholarship options, the price tag on a degree intimidates most students. If college tuition was eliminated, current and future generations would have better access to education. “Free college has succeeded in Germany, Brazil, Finland, Sweden, Slovenia, and Norway. Our nation's student loan debt has exceeded $1.2 trillion, a debt that well surpasses credit card and mortgage debt (“Why College Tuition”). Free college would, as a result, allow more students to continue their education through college and have a better chance for a successful future.

Second, choosing their own courses makes it possible for students to learn deeper and become more professional in their field. Now there is a hot word called general

A common misconception in our modern society is that the cost of college will pay for itself financially later in life, reaping only hard-earned economic success for students. Again and again society regurgitates the same cohesive message to America’s future generations: fiscal rewards are the most important benefit of attending university. In actuality, the hours of grueling, expensive work reap a multitude of benefits that cannot be priced. College is an important period in our life, offering endless exploration, personal growth and enlightenment about the evolving world surrounding us. The gift of knowledge is far more powerful and important to our culture and advancement as a global community than any number of material profits. I firmly

The United States is a unique place in our world today and one of the remaining true capitalistic countries. Generation after generation in the fifty states have been spoon-fed the idea of the American dream being the main goal to strive for in life. College has become more popular in the past few decades than ever before with more people realizing that it’s nessesary to get a head start on the rest of the field and to begin the journey to the American dream. With a little more than one-quarter of high school

“A college degree is the new high school diploma” (Sanders). The United States’ society values higher education as high school students are constantly told to be perfect students so they can get into an amazing college and have stellar lives. They are told that if they do not get a college degree, they will be stuck in a minimum wage job for the rest of their lives. But, this path to college and a better life is unattainable for many Americans because of the cost. People can pay for college and leave with no debt, pay and leave with tons of debt, or not attend at all. It is necessary and possible for the United States to implement free four-year public college education.

In a dysfunctional system, something is wrong because eleven countries surpass the United States in the number of students graduating from college. Contrary to the belief that a college degree is not worth, Mettler states that we do need more people obtaining a degree as a means to improve their lives. Unfortunately, the wealthy have more changes at getting an education than the less affluent. The main issues that students face on this endeavor are rising tuition rates, which have gone from 42 percent of the income of a family in 1971 to 114 percent in 2011 (HU, 2015).

Many of my fellow students and I believe that General Education courses are non-valuable and cause more strain on one’s education. Two of the most common responses as to why the courses are perceived this way is that the courses focus less on a student’s classes for his or her intended major, which

For the last couple of decades the United States faced some serious problems within its higher education. Despite the fact that many US universities are considered to be one of the best in the world, there are many unknown problems that come with it. Unfortunately, today’s US higher education can’t guarantee its students the bright bridge into the future. American education became very disparate in terms of its quality, causing the decline in its value. For example, regardless the fact that American’s society faces shortage of qualified workers,after graduation millions of students can’t find a job, while others dropped out and were left with nothing (The Economist, 116). This illustrates that American universities become less efficient with every year, that creates a competition between the US college students and better educated immigrants who occupy many vocations. Notwithstanding the low productivity, universities in the USA are very expensive. According to Ben Branstetters in the past ten years the tuition fees have risen by 80%, making schooling a luxury for the nation. Every year the universities become

With winter break 2016 winding down, in anticipation of the upcoming spring semester of classes, I found myself compelled to login to my Creighton accounts and explore what the class material that had already been placed onto Blueline. Glancing briefly at the course layout, I was initially shocked by the large amount of information that had been posted under my Theology 270 class. Examining the rubric, I can honestly say I was less than excited to discover a total of six papers and two tests would be required to pass the class. It would be a lie to not confess that the thought of attempting to possibly switch classes, or even drop the class entirely certainly crossed my mind during my initial judgment of the class. However, now with just a

One of the biggest milestones in a person’s life is going to college. When living in America a child’s entire life is dedicated to education, whether that be public or private. You start school at the age of 5 and work your whole life to turn 18 and graduate from high school. After high school, you have an option to continue your education for as many years as required or desired. College is expensive and is usually the first time a person has to take responsibility

This fits in with the Elmhurst College Integrated Curriculum because it sets us up for the opportunities to take different classes that necessarily don’t pertain to ones major. This in fact makes individuals well rounded and allows them to be great at multiple things not just their “major”. If I was hiring someone I would rather hire someone who has extensive knowledge in every category as opposed to a person who is just talented in one specific area. It goes to show how much endless possibilities someone could be offered for being well rounded.