My thesis for my opinion editorial is that there should be fewer or no general education requirements at BYU. What I mean is that we shouldn't be forced to take classes such as Physical Science, American Heritage, and yes, Writing 150. I don't think general education classes should be required because they force freshman to fill our schedule with classes that most of us will never use, during a time when we should be exploring classes that interest us and trying to figure out what we what to do with the rest of our lives. Let me know what you think about my thesis please. If you have counter arguments or disagree with me, please include them in your comments. Thanks for reading!
Despite the fact that I'm teaching one of these classes that you're advocating we abolish, I don't necessarily disagree with you :-). There's a lot to be said about specializing as early as possible--in Europe, people essentially choose a "major" as early as High or Middle School. Of course, because GE requirements are so widespread, there must be some reasons why people advocate it--think about what those reasons could be, and try to refute those arguments to strengthen yours. A good place to start, of course, might be Andrew's blog (I see you've already stopped by there, which is great). Keep up the good work.
ReplyDelete-cbh
Hello Connor. I'm glad you gave people permission to stalk you in your blog. That makes it seem a little more okay to do. haha But as for your thesis mine is kind of similar but i agree with you. A counter argument may be that the reason you must fulfill generals is so that you ARE exposed to all the different options. As opposed to some kids who go straight into their major and never experience a college level class in certain other subjects. Just a thought. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks Sara, I have thought about that, and it is a reasonable counter argument. What I say to that is don't we learn best when we are having fun with what we are learning? Most of the general education classes at BYU aren't fun, actually they are usually pretty stressful. I have found a lot of fun classes at BYU that have opened my eyes to many different career paths, but none of them have been general education classes. I believe that taking requirements for general education classes out of the picture will leave more room in student's schedules to take those fun, interesting classes so they can explore subjects that they have been wanting to learn about. It gives you much more freedom with your schedule. After all, you are the one paying for these classes, shouldn't you take the ones that you want to take?
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree with the two out of three classes you listed (I think Writing should stay--you'll always have to write, in some way, shape or form. Even engineers, business people, political leaders...not just English majors or things of that sort). But I do agree with your overall topic, that it is our right to choose which classes to take. Its our money, our time, our lives, our future. Good luck on your paper! It seems like it will be great!
ReplyDeleteI can see your point, especially while being enrolled to classes that don't play to my strengths, however these requirements are what help us become well rounded in our knowledge. I learn more in one semester of my college classes than in three years of high school. I would take the approach to keep the important and basic ones, however make them manageable. BYU GE's are incredibly difficult. 100 level classes should be doable for every student regardless of their strengths.
ReplyDelete-ER
Lizabeth, you definitely have a point, and your solution of making GEs managable is a valid one. However, my OpEd is about how most of those classes are irrelevant and will do us little good in the future. You can take easy GEs, but that doesn't change the fact that you have wasted your credit hours on an unnecessary class, where as you could have taken a class that interests you or is necessary for your major. I would rather take a hard class that I like or that I will use than take Music 101 with an easy teacher and get an A.
ReplyDelete