For students, the best thing about graduating from high school is joining college where they are now able to choose what they wanted to study further. However, the beginning of college may somehow seem so boring for some students as they are not able to immediately study the specific field they have chosen. This is because freshmen need to comply general education requirements right before getting to study their chosen field.
Overview: What is General Education?
Though schools are different from one to another, generally, general education consist of as follows: English, Science, Mathematics, History, Social Sciences, and Arts.
General Education’s objective is for students to learn things that are beyond their major interest. It is an experience in college where they would have the chance to acquire broad knowledge in other fields.
One major goal in attending college is to uncover one’s potential through learning information that is beyond the field of their study. Learning outside the box allow students to practice their critical thinking skills.
More often, universities and colleges are pushing students beyond their limit in order to accomplish this goal through the implementation of general education. However, students are not seeing its benefits and they feel unhappy taking this course.
And because of this unhappy feeling, students are complaining about the need to comply general education requirements. Additionally, students feel way too far from what they should experience in college; they have this feeling of not able to connect directly in the real world. Up to the point of questioning the need of including this course in the curriculum.
Students are not able to see how it would help them in their working life.
Now, should students be forced in taking General Education?
This certain concern has already been known by colleges and universities. Many are rethinking on about General Education, thinking if it is necessary or can be taken away from the curriculum.
Some of the schools are re-evaluating on the importance and impact of general education. There are schools that they let their students identify their goals and have been interviewing, asking, what they are taking out from their courses.
For other schools, they have carried out unique course with the same goal of exposing students to different disciplines. With this, students are able to acquire knowledge that is way beyond what a student normally gets in the first two years in college.
To summarize, general education takes a huge part in students learning in college. It is the first step for them towards gauging their interest, also leading to the conclusion or finalizing themselves on what degree they are suited for.
Nevertheless, general education must be presented with relevance to students goals and prospectives. Educators must be able to present the course with value and be able to prove it.
