Take a look back through the courses you’ve sat through in your tenure at the University. No, not the ones for your major; those other ones: The random entries on your transcript, the ones that make you say, “Yeah… I did take that.” These are your general education classes; the classes you had no choice but pay for and take.
Typically, general education courses share a common quality in their ultimate irrelevance to post-grad employment. The University’s current requirements are not structured to adequately prepare students for today’s competitive and specialized job markets. We end up spreading the supplementary academics too thin.
If the University wishes to improve its academic reputation nationally, which is something it should seriously focus on doing, it should reform its general education policies in a way that educates students to be competitive in the job market. The greater the number of professional, accomplished and influential alumni there are who represent the University in top-ranking jobs, the more attractive and marketable the University will be to prospective students and faculty alike. It’s in all of our best interests to boost the esteem, quality and credibility of this institution, adding value to our educations.
Employers are looking for developed skills, knowledge and experience in job candidates, wanting to hire people out of college who have backgrounds with consistency and depth in their coursework. When trying to land a good job, it is much more beneficial for a graduating student to have time and experience invested into academic or trade areas of focus, rather than a wide breadth of general education courses. Unless students choose courses with uncanny foresight throughout their stints here as undergrads, maintaining any sort of cohesion or focus in their non-major coursework is unrealistic. It’s better to work toward developing expertise in several areas than
dabbling in a wide range without useful results.
I’ve heard the classical argument for a general education: By learning to learn well through diverse coursework, our aptitude for learning new material increases. Advocates claim that students wouldn’t develop strong societal and cultural values without subjecting themselves to a diverse range of classes. The truth is, the analytical and creative skills essential to a well-rounded education and values are fostered in countless ways, not just through researching and writing papers on outdated philosophy and obscure jazz musicians in general ed classes. However intellectually stimulating these courses may be, chances are they’re not going to help us get hired.
The type of attractive and marketable skills we need to develop at the University can be learned through the structure of coursework; the amount of collaboration between students on assignments, the amount of creative analysis they’re required to produce and communicate in class. If the University is hoping to teach students to learn well, the diversity of actual classes matters less than the type of work and study conducted in the classes.
But let’s be realistic, like most long-standing institutional policies, requiring students to take certain types of courses will probably never change. Though the way students approach their selection of general education courses should. We can only be better off by learning certain subjects in-depth and thoroughly. Rather than just learning to learn, why not learn to master by focusing on areas of study.
Jumping around the board academically is a grossly inefficient use of time and money for undergraduate students, who are taking longer than ever to get degrees, much to the quiet approval of the University and its accounts receivable. It’s important for us to view ourselves as consumers of a product offered by the University: our education. And in the interest of maximizing the utility of our purchase, we should pick our courses wisely and keep our overall transcripts in mind.
I would encourage freshmen and others still living out their general education, to think critically about how it will supplement their degrees when they start looking for jobs after school. The more crafting and strategy you employ, the higher the likelihood that you will be pleased with your employment after graduation.
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