Why can’t college students learn what is only necessary for their career?
What if someone wants to be an English teacher, why is it requiered to take a math class? Why can’t we start learning right away what we need to for our career, we are just getting ourselves into more money debt taking classes that are not necessary #studentloans
2 answers
Clarissa’s Answer
In general, universities have a reputation to uphold and part of going to the universities is to gain a wide variety of knowledge so that means making sure you graduate with certain classes. Additionally, it’s important to be well rounded because even though you might not use math everyday in your career, math actually teaches critical thinking and logical reasoning skills that would complement your skills as a teacher.
Sometimes people have to make a career change too and it’s good to have other skills to fall back on. For example, my degree is in geology but I only actually worked in geology for about 2 years. I discovered a career path in engineering that I didn’t know about until I started working. I haven’t used calculus since college but I’m glad I took it because I can understand what a lot of my company’s consultants talk about in our projects and spot errors fast.
Priya’s Answer
Hi Valeria,
I am a rising junior at Georgia Tech. I completely see where you're coming from. I, myself, have asked this question several times. In my opinion, colleges don't want to leave their students as just experts at their field. They want you to be aware of the various fields and careers out there. Math may not be needed as an English major, but in everyday life, a basic understanding of math is essential. Several students enter college knowing exactly what they want to pursue. After a few semesters, they realize that they want to switch their major! For this reason, it is important that students are exposed to more than one field of education.