General education classes are something that it seems all college students dislike to some degree. Some people tolerate them while others despise them. Why are we required to take them?
The most common answer usually given by university administrators or educators is that they want students to come out of school being “well-rounded” individuals. I think that’s an outdated, unrealistic view of how students and universities actually operate and how classes work. For any student who comes to college already knowing what they want to major in, gen eds are just a bunch of extra classes.
ETSU students are required to take around 40 general education credit hours to earn their degree, so 1/3 of our degree is from classes that don’t even pertain to what we’re going to be doing after graduation.
At a practical level, a lot of students don’t actively try to learn or participate in general education classes. Many only learn the material well enough to just pass assignments and tests.
Even if good students try to make an A in their gen ed classes, taking classes that they are weak sometimes end up bringing down students’ GPAs, which can have negative effects, such as a loss of scholarships.
All of us know that classes aren’t cheap, especially now. It’s not the same as it used to be, where you could work a minimum wage job and be able to pay for most, if not all, of your class expenses. With school being so expensive nowadays, colleges should require us to take as few classes as possible to keep down our student loan debt and our expenses. Gen eds aren’t essential to our actual degrees, so we shouldn’t have to pay thousands of dollars for them.
There’s nothing wrong with wanting students to learn new things, but if they absolutely have to be required, we shouldn’t have to take as many. If schools cut gen ed requirements down to 12-18 credit hours, then students would be able to take more classes that interest them in their major or be able to pick up minors or even double majors.
The idea of taking so many gen eds is highly out of touch with today’s financial and academic climate in U.S. colleges. Gen ed requirements should be reduced or gotten rid of entirely to better suit students’ needs.
