In college, there are a plethora of classes you can take. However, the classes that just always seem to get in the way are core classes. These classes are basically classes we already took in high school, but a lot more intense. They are essentially an opportunity for students to bet how little they can pay attention and still pass the class.
I am wasting money on classes that I do not need, and studying information I will pretty much forget the second the test is over. These classes do not apply to what I am passionate about nor to what I am actually in school to learn, so why make it a requirement to take them? My major is musical theatre, so instead of taking more classes to further my acting technique, I am being forced to take Geology and Our Hazardous Environment classes. I don’t know any audition situation where they are going to ask me to bring a 16 bar cut of a song along with a chart comparing and contrasting felsic magma to mafic magma. So instead of working on a song for an audition or learning more about different acting styles, vast gaps of my time are spent trying to understand college algebra I’ll never use again and write papers about the death penalty in different states.
I do believe that some of the core classes I have taken have been beneficial to me. For example, I have learned a ton in my World Literature class taught by Jacob Jewusiak (if you need to take a World Lit, he is the best!) The class is actually lining up with my Theatre History class, and at one point we were discussing the same topic at the same time. So, since my Theatre History class is discussing almost the same topics, my need for World Lit isn't really necessary.
I believe that the only required classes should be those concerning our majors. Students should actually want to learn and advance their studies, not dread waking up for am 8 am literature class that will essentially drag their GPA down because they did not want to take it in the first place.Grades will go up when students are taking classes that they are actually interested in.
College should be a chance to figure out who you are and who you want to be. Of course, different types of classes should be offered for students who are undecided and maybe need a little time to figure out what they are interested in, but I disagree that requiring classes not concerning our majors should be necessary. It would open up a lot of time to allow students to grow in the majors they have chosen, and maybe we wouldn’t feel so bad paying tuition money if we knew it was going towards something we were excited to show up for.
So no offense to people who study math or those that find volcanoes interesting, but I do not want to spend my time cheating on clicker questions and just scraping by to finish a class. I want to go to college to learn and be immersed in my studies, not try to figure out how many days I can miss without failing. So cut the crap, and just cut the core.
