All my life I have heard the phrase, “College will be the best time of your life.” I came here right after high school with the intentions of graduating in four years and diving into the working world. Now, I am not so sure.
College is ultimately a time to learn. People that attend here just to get a good job are wasting their time and money. They should be here to study and explore their interests on a deeper level, not just rushing through to gain a diploma that will be useless without knowledge to back it up.
We have the rest of our lives to work or have a family. Now is the time to take advantage of the opportunities given. Now is the time to take that elective on the subject that you have always wanted to learn more about or declare that minor in the subject that fascinates you.
I am a junior journalism major but have a deep interest in art history and psychology. While I am here, I am choosing to take my time and learn my major while taking up an art and possibly a psychology minor.
Learning about a broad range of topics will help you become a well-rounded person. You will be able to look at a situation from many different angles because you chose to expose yourself to different ideas.
In my British Literature class, the teacher approaches each period from different points of view, whether it is showing us a painting from that time or talking about the scientific theories that impacted the era. This helps her students look beyond the work and see what the author was influenced by in his day.
Just like in high school, college students are required to follow a curriculum and that includes core classes. These always involve those subjects you just don’t care about like College Algebra or Biology.
In addition to this criteria, we must take electives. Those are the fun or interesting classes that allow you a wider range of subjects such as a foreign language or religions class.
Students are required to this range of classes “to diversify the education,” Michael Nestor, Registrar Recorder II, said.
“Universities have always had that responsibility to give a broader education,” Nestor said.
We are given a chance here to learn about topics that intrigue us or learn about information that will help us with the rest of our life.
Take your time while you are here. While graduating in four years is the ideal, they won’t kick you out for wanting to stay and enjoy your time here a little longer.