As college students, we make decisions every day, like whether or not we can spare the time for one more episode of our favorite Netflix show before we write our nine page paper, or if $5 is better spent on gas than a Starbucks drink. However, it’s not very often that one small decision can shape your college experience as a whole.
Deciding between pursuing a Bachelor of Science or a Bachelor of Arts is one of the few exceptions. Whichever one of these you choose as a freshman, follows you all the way through your time at school. While it seems simple enough, considering that the only difference is one requires a foreign language and the other requires math, the real question is why do students need to choose in the first place?
College is not only about learning your field of study and gaining detailed knowledge in that area, it is also about making sure you have a basic knowledge in many areas, which is why everyone has to take prerequisites.
Whether or not a student is required to take language or math classes is based on what type of Bachelors degree they are pursuing, however writing is required across the board.
Furthermore, according to the University of Oregon Admissions website, transfer students are required to meet foreign language, math and writing requirements, while many other students go through their time at school never having taken a math or language course.
Every degree should require students to learn some level of math and some amount of a foreign language. The basics of a language should be taught with the idea that if you are in a pinch you could break a language barrier enough to get directions or report an emergency. On the other side of things, math is comparable to foreign language in the sense that no matter what profession you are going into it will pop up eventually.
Kylie Davis, a communications disorders and sciences major, said, “An art major doesn’t need to know calculus.”
While she may be right about calculus that doesn’t mean basic college math wouldn’t help. An art student at some point could need to know how to calculate profits and losses while marketing their pieces.
Some would make an argument that college students learned enough math or language in high school to get them by, but this isn’t simply about getting by. It’s about learning to be a well-rounded student ready for anything in the workforce.
Art major Leisa Boles said, “If math is required students should be required to understand basic math that would help further knowledge in things like taxes, paying bills and understanding the fundamentals of math used in everyday life.”
Essentially, Boles is describing a basic level of math, taught in all bachelor degrees in which students would actually learn applicable math as opposed to calculus, unless of course you are getting your degree in a math-related field.
Boles went on to discuss foreign language. “Learning a language prepares one to learn more than communication,” Boles said. “It improves ones understanding of how others communicate, as well as the understanding of other cultures.”
Understanding other cultures is an important part of being a student because we are surrounded by so many different cultures while we are here at school, and will be as we enter our preferred career paths as well.
While one could argue that, no matter what path you decide to take, you can still take math and/or language classes, it can be difficult for students to take these classes if they are not required for their major based on the lack of time. Most college students want to get their degree done and over with as fast as possible so as not to pay more than they have to in tuition costs.
This decision between a B.A. and a B.S. bears more weight than you might think and it is necessary to treat it as so, not to mention it is worth considering revision of the way these degrees are structured in the first place. Let’s not make these decisions the same way we decide to watch another Netflix episode, but think about them from a long term view and make sure we are making the best decision possible.