Review the GE requirement
The Oh Really Factor
Maurice O. Ndole |
Some students, like me, consider general education to be a redundant rehash of high school courses that are not worth studying for a full semester.
General education courses take away the opportunity to dedicate time needed to master our majors and undermines our GPA by forcing us to take courses we’re not interested in. They also make education costly by increasing the number of years students spend in college.
It takes longer than four years to graduate from a ‘four-year’ college. Most students graduate in six.
 According to Fresno State Institutional Research Web site, on average only 13.7 percent of Fresno State students enrolled in 1998 graduated within four years, 34.6 percent graduated in five years and 45.8 percent graduated in six years.
This prolonged education period affects students personally and the economically. More years in college mean more money from students, and more money from the government in financial aid.
Frustration turns to annoyance when you realize that half of the time you spent in college was spent studying things not directly related to your major. I’m not saying G.E. classes are useless; it helps for students to know something about every field. But it is not a matter of life and death for a business major to study biology in college especially after facing the same concepts in high school.
I’m also not oblivious to other factors that may influence graduation rate such as electives, a full-time job and taking less than a full-load of coursework every semester. But being a full-time student taking 12 units does not guarantee graduation within four years.
There is also very little evidence that teaching G.E. in college helps students to be life-savvy. A study funded by the Pew Charitable Trust found that more than 50 percent of four-year college students and 75 percent of two-year college students lack the literacy to handle real-life challenges.
The study revealed most college students do not have the math skills needed to balance checkbooks or handle real-life tasks such as understanding credit card deals. According to the study, many college students also lack the skills to analyze news stories and other prose or understand arguments in newspaper editorials.
The results of the study is an indirect indictment of general education courses emphasized in two-year colleges and used as a medium to expose students to other fields of study outside their declared majors.
The CSU should partner with school districts and ensure students are well prepared for college at high school level to avoid repetition of high school courses in the university. Such partnerships are already in place, with well-performing schools such as University High School located on campus offering its students an opportunity to gain college credits in high school.
The CSU system should also consider reducing the load of G.E. courses from the required 60 units to something like 40 units. This would allow students for focus on their majors and give them time to gain practical experience in the field and help them graduate faster. It would also be nice if all G.E. courses can be offered with a credit or no-credit option for non-majors so that they don’t drag down student’s GPA.
Students stand to gain more from G.E. courses if they’re allowed to choose them based on their need and not following a strict curriculum.
Bring back four-year graduation to four year colleges.
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