In high school, required electives serve a real purpose in aiding students in finding out what sort of career they may want to pursue. Classes such as art, business, law, computer programming, etc. are a great way to expose students to a bunch of different fields to help them make one of the biggest decisions of their lives.
What purpose do they serve now after we have made that decision?
By the time you head off to college, you should probably have what career you want figured out. People change majors all the time, which is totally fine. However, financially, it is wise to start attending college when you are absolutely sure of what you want to do with the rest of your life.
With that being said, why would someone who is trying to get a degree in English need to take a physical education class? Why would someone majoring in accounting or economics need to take a fine arts elective?
Sure, having the option to take all sorts of classes is a blessing. It gives people a chance to try out new things they have never done before. However, as a requirement, it is a total scam and a waste of students’ money.
There is no reason why there are so many required electives that don’t relate to our majors just so we can get a degree.
Many students will hardly use what they’ve learned in most of these required electives in their careers. If students are absolutely set on majoring in something like history, they should have the opportunity to take as many history-related classes as possible so they get more out of their education.
Half of students’ time spent in college is taken up by these required electives when students could have been taking more classes they would enjoy and find useful.
On top of that, students spend tens of thousands of dollars a year to get their degrees. Each class costs hundreds of dollars. Those hundreds of dollars are metaphorically being lit on fire when they could’ve gone toward a class that would actually benefit their education and career later in life.
These required electives are also just more stress added to students’ already stressful lives. Many students would probably say that taking a class in something they love and are passionate about is a lot easier and more enjoyable than the ones they have no interest in.
Why make a film and television major stress over a natural science laboratory elective when it will not help them when they leave college? Television and film majors should be focusing on classes that teach students audio, production, writing, filmmaking, etc.
Especially for students who struggled with math and science in high school and decided to take on a major and future career that involves none of that, why should they struggle in a class that won’t matter in the long run? Those poor grades will affect students’ opportunities and weaken their chances in the future by tainting their transcripts and GPAs.
Students will benefit greatly from the university loosening up on the required elective classes that they have to take. There are currently too many requirements for students and it limits their education for the career they aspire to have.
Obviously, we don’t ask that those classes be unable to take or eliminated. But rather allow students to choose if they want to take them as well as the opportunity to take more classes within their major and interests.
