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> insistence on general education requirements. > step directly into their major field of study These need not be mutually exclusive! My (US) alma mater requi
by kdmccormick 3y ago
> insistence on general education requirements.
> step directly into their major field of study
These need not be mutually exclusive! My (US) alma mater required a specific number of unspecific non-major classes, the only stipulation being that a certain number come from the broad categories of STEM, social science, and the humanities. Unlike other colleges, we could take them whenever we wanted to and could pick from basically the entire college's catalog. Some freshmen jumped into their first term with onky major classes (although they later regretted that).
> The classes add to the cost of the education but amount to little more than memorization for tests, and students forget most of it afterwards. I question their value.
They sound poorly designed and/or poorly aught. My non-major classes were some of the most fun and interesting ones I ever took!
As a CS major, I got to write and produce an EP, and research & write a report on the safety of campus nightlife, both for credit. I'm really glad I wasn't able to just fast-track myself through only CS classes and get out of there without any creative work or serious writing experience.
- coliveira 3y ago> My non-major classes were some of the most fun Outside the US, college education is not the place where you go to have fun and finding interesting stuff. It is considered to be your first professional duty as an adult. You can have all the fun you want outside classes.
- r2_pilot 3y agoMaybe that's one of the reasons the United States has such well-regarded colleges, because play and work combined provide a stronger foundation than either alone.
- isykt 3y agoThis is a good system to create mindless drones who suppress their own ambitions and interest and toil away until they die. Fuck that.
- kdmccormick 3y ago> mindless drones who suppress their own ambitions and interest and toil away until they die I... don't think European youth culture is exactly known for that?
- coliveira 3y agoIsn't this the definition of US colleges?
- Eumenes 3y agoIts cool that you got to spend time producing an album and writing about campus nightlife for credit, but some people need to make a living, not play student into adulthood. I cannot think of anything more privileged: a university system forcing you to take superfluous classes to become "well rounded" while being dumped out at the other end with tens of thousands of dollars of debt with skills that hold no marketable value in a world that is uber expensive to live in.
- kdmccormick 3y agoThese are all "marketable values" for software engineers that CS classes don't teach: * being able to write prose well * creativity * genrally being interesting and fun to work with Yeah, the mountainous cost of 4yr college sucks and I indeed was in a very privileged position being able to afford it. But I would rather that society lifts everyone else up by making a "well rounded education" (why is this term ironic now??) affordable than we just eliminate all nuance and exploration from college programs so that we can pump out grads with "marketable values" at the lowest possible cost. It's complicated, for sure. Ideally both options would exist. You can get a bachelor's or master's degree fully online, now. Maybe that fits the need you see.