General Requirements

As I finish up this summer semester, I am thinking a lot about general requirements. It could have something to do with the fact that I am taking zoology and currently writing a research paper about the effects of Zinc on senescent leaf decomposition in urban streams, which is not something I would research on my own. I am questioning the importance of general requirements. I am a Pre-Physical Therapy major, and I have spent a semester of my life studying organisms that can only be viewed under a microscope. I do not believe the isopods I am studying will ever need a physical therapist, so why do I have to study them? My wife and I discussed this the other night, and she told me that she believed the idea of a general education dated back to the Greeks. Washington University has a theory on general requirements that states they provide a foundation for a major, realize individual student potentials, prepare for membership in the community, and facilitate integration of knowledge. Middle Tennessee University has this to say about general education requirements, “The General Education Program helps provide students with the common, hallmark qualities of an educated person, the skills and interrelated knowledge that are the foundation and scaffolding for an academic major and a future career.” The University of Wisconsin says this about their general requirements, “This core establishes a foundation for living a productive life, being a citizen of the world, appreciating aesthetic values, and engaging in lifelong learning in a continually changing world. These requirements provide for breadth across the humanities and arts, social studies, and natural sciences; competence in communication, critical thinking and analytical skills appropriate for a university-educated person; and investigation of the issues raised by living in a culturally diverse society.” I understand that there are some basic skills that everyone needs to come out of college with, including basic math, the ability to read, write, and speak clearly, and general knowledge of culture, but I think that sometimes colleges take the idea of a general education too seriously. While I understand the idea of being “well-rounded,” I think colleges over estimate the amount of knowledge retained from these classes. My wife took Physical Science while at Missouri Southern, and she did not retain most of the important concepts taught in the class. It wasn’t that she did not do well in the class; she made a B, but she did not see the class as important, so she learned things for the tests, then quickly put them away in her mind. I think this is how a lot of students treat the gen. ed. requirements that are not pertinent to their major, and I think colleges are oblivious to this. I have heard numerous people criticize colleges for using gen. ed. requirements strictly as a way to get more money. If this is the case, I would prefer spending more money on classes pertinent to my degree than wasting time and money on classes I am going to forget as soon as I walk out of the door. Don’t get me wrong, I am not slamming my Zoology professor or class. The professor does a wonderful job of tying micro-organisms functions into a larger scale to make it pertinent to those of us who are not Biology majors, but I wish I could take a class that just focused on organisms directly tied to my major instead of a class that tries to tie those organisms in when possible. I think the purpose of a college is to educate a person in the field they are pursuing, not to try and make them better citizens by being well-rounded. A person can become a better citizen on their own, let colleges focus on education.