When I got accepted to Southern Methodist University, I was unbelievably happy for receiving such an opportunity. I knew that I wanted to be a business major and was extremely excited about the prospect of learning about my major. However, having attended high school under the British curriculum I wasn’t very informed about the education system of the colleges in the US.
Hence, when my college advisor informed that I am required to take a certain hours of classes to complete the GEC requirement before I could take any major-related classes, I was completely bummed out. Frankly, I was dismayed by the system and its requirements. I did not see the point in studying for classes that I won’t be specializing in.
However, when I started attending the classes and their individual coursework I understood the point of having such a requirement. A proper college graduate should have knowledge about several subject areas rather than just one. Sure the major is the most essential thing but learning about different subjects adds value to your college education.
Even though I was extremely frustrated by the prerequisite obligation and perhaps even at times regretted my decision to come to the states, I know feel that the condition is only providing me valuable knowledge.
I guess you didn't think about the General Education requirement, but now that you are stuck with these perspectives courses, it might be more productive to take another look at the reasons for having a humanities background even if you are going into business. Are classes in the humanities not relevant to the business world at all? I see that one course for the spring is RELI 3329 Introduction to Islam. Looking at your blog post about prejudice, I would say that American business majors ought to know something about the Middle East and its religion. There's also a philosophy class called PHIL 1317 Business Ethics. Instead of seeing yourself as having made a mistake, see the perspectives as an opportunity for personal growth that you can apply to a life in the business world.
ReplyDeleteMs. Channell,
ReplyDeleteI would just like thank you for you suggestions and add that my opinion has greatly changed from the time I wrote this blog entry. I do think college is supposed to challenge us in a variety of field that we are not familiar with. It is only in that manner can we educate ourselves and benefit from our four years in college. Sure I am disappointed to not start taking business related courses but I am also glad I got the opportunity to learn about different subjects which I probably wouldn't have if I started with learning only business matters.