<p>Yesterday, I went online to register for my next year classes and these are the classes I picked. Most of them had nothing to do with my major, I was just curious as to why I am taking these classes. (I will be a freshman)</p>
<p>YOUR PREFERENCES ARE:
Major/Area of Intent: Psychology
Occupational Goal: Occupational Therapist
Preferred number of credit hours: 15
Language: New: American Sign Language
Humanities: PHL 202 Logic, PHL 103 Introduction to Philosophy of Religion, AAS 235 Introduction to Afro-American Literature, CMC 211: Protest & Public Opinion
Social Sciences: AAS 271 Gender, Race and Class, WMS 101 Introduction to Women and
Gender Studies, SOC 100 Introduction to Sociology, ANT 101 General Anthropology. AAS 100, Introduction to African-American Studies.
and 2 electives
2 two natural science w/o lab</p>
<p>I'm a bit confused about why they had me pick these classes?</p>
<p>Those sound like “general education requirements”. Does your university have general education requirements? (Example: Everyone has to take two natural sciences, two humanities, a musical appreciation course, etc???) </p>
<p>Make sure you get a different point of view, but I think that general education requirements are a scam, a waste of time and money. It sounds like those could be gen ed requirements recommended by whoever put that list together. </p>
<p>At least in my experience, most general education classes are taught in a way that can be gamed, and the exams tend to emphasize multiple guess memorization, which means that students engage in a heavy amount of memorization then “dump” their knowledge into the test and forget it afterward, defeating the purpose of “general education.” </p>
<p>I know STEM majors who took writing intensive gen ed requirements with philosophy and english teachers, they would write a ton of BS about bogus scientific theories and still pass since the teachers didn’t know the details of the science.</p>
<p>Thereisnosecret is right in that those are general education requirements. They’re designed to make you a well rounded person, and to give you a variety of classes- after all, not everyone knows what they want to major in when they go to college, and those that do often end up switching to something else. </p>
<p>Usually, they’re lumped by category and you can find something that interests you in each section.</p>
<p>The original purpose of college (not counting law and medicine) was to help you become a classier, well-rounded person, and to enable you to meet another well-rounded person that you could have babies with.</p>
<p>Therefore, some “useless” classes are required. Generally two English, maybe a couple history of government, two sciences, etc. Some math. Just so you are aware that Freud was a deviant, and so you can therefore hold your own in a conversation with someone about his theories. You should know about the Senate and Supreme Court even if you aren’t pre-law. You should take an economics course, because Wall street reports should mean something to you. They don’t to the average ignorant individual, but you’re going to college. It makes you better than that.</p>
<p>In other words, college isn’t about job training. It is about shaping who you are as a person, chiseling and polishing, giving you life experience.</p>
<p>^possibly the worst argument for becoming a well-rounded person I’ve heard</p>
<p>Yep, gen eds. Unless this was a rhetorical question, I would advise you to look through your college’s graduation requirements and other useful links on the registrar’s page, because it’s better to understand now that nobody will hold your hand through college. See if you have high school credits that would allow you to skip some of your gen ed requirements.</p>
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I am so glad I go to a more selective institution. Actually, I’m glad we don’t have gen eds but everybody still takes courses in all the divisions.</p>
<p>Lol, the first paragraph was being a little sarcastic. Obviously that isn’t the purpose for these gen-eds and college now!</p>