General
Education: Waste of Time?
It’s no secret that
every college student hates having to take those random classes required by
their school’s individual General Education Program. Because Winthrop is
a Liberal
Arts school, it is required to give students an education compiled
of many areas. Many students get upset when they find out the amount of courses they must take outside of
their major in order to be considered to graduate.
But there has to be a
reason why someone put these courses into place. General Education programs,
such as the Touchstone Program here at Winthrop, are
placed to help students become better, well-rounded students and potential
employees.
“In order to create an
academic environment in which students use their talents to achieve excellence,
take responsibility for the integrity and quality of their own work, the
faculty developed the Touchstone Program at Winthrop University, our distinctive
general education experience,” Winthrop’s Mission statement for the Program
said, “The Touchstone Program captures the dynamic quality of Winthrop’s
academic environment that provides students with a framework for learning and
responsible decision-making that they will use throughout their lives. The
courses in the Core program will acquaint students with academic writing and
critical thinking and will build capacities that students will use throughout
their university experience and their adult lives.”
Many students, however,
do not see the use in wasting their time stressing over unnecessary classes.
They come to school believing they will gain knowledge in their specialized are
when they actually are taught many different areas.
“Personally, it really upsets
me that I am a Graphic Design major, yet I’m spending a majority of my time
stressing over writing an essay for my HMXP (Human Experience) class. I
obviously will never be using this in my career,” freshman graphic design major
Xavier Thomas said.
This poses a great
question. If students come to Winthrop in order to gain a degree in one
specific area, why are they being forced to take courses that are the farthest
thing from their major?
“I can understand why we
all need to take writing and speech classes, but I, as a Mass Communications
major, should not be stressing or even taking for that matter, a chemistry
class," sophomore Chelsea Brown said.
Another question posed
is how badly these classes that are required by the Touchstone Program are
affecting the GPAs of many students, consequently affecting their standing in
their graduating class and maybe even whether or not they get many job
opportunities. An option students have is the Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory grading system,
however, only 4 are allowed.
“I remember my freshman
year, my grade in my Political Science class almost killed my GPA. It was
really disheartening because I knew from the beginning that class wasn't going
to be beneficial to me and I couldn't use any more of my S/U opportunities for
that semester so I was really just out of luck," junior Psychology major
Rashawne Coates said.
All in all, the
Touchstone Program at Winthrop has great intentions but maybe a few faults.
Students believe the program can stay in affect but the school officials should
consider making a few, minor alterations. Students at Virginia College wrote
this article voicing their opinions on what should
be changed with their General Education Program at their school. One student
understands both the advantages and disadvantages of general education,
but offers a few suggestions.
“I understand the purpose for
the program and why some felt it necessary to add to graduation requirements.
After all, we did come to college to become better people and individuals. But
it also is important that the classes required by this program is not setting
our students up for failure," freshman Psychology major Courtney
Williamson said. "In order to successfully help each student, maybe
courses outside of the anticipated major should not affect the academic
standing as much."
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