Core Curriculum: Is There A Need? Essay, Research Paper

In high school, most students went through four years where they got a general knowledge of most basic subjects. You were forced to take three to four years of math, science, English, and some form of history. In addition, most students were required to take two years of a foreign language and Physical Education. All these things are mandatory for most high school students to do, just to pass high school. Many students don’t want to stop there. They want to go on to higher education. Most students want to go to college. All of those years of math, science, history, English, foreign language, and physical education are all required to get into college. So most students think that when they get to college, they will pick a major, and they will extensively learn about that major. The student thinks that they were done with learning general knowledge about all subjects. They believe that they will get into college and hop right into their major. But the way that most colleges are set up, you don’t really get into your major until the second semester of your sophomore year or the first semester of your junior year. When you first get to college, you are taking many of the same classes that you took in high school. This is a very unnecessary policy.

The first two years of college, you are completing your core curriculum. These are mostly the same classes that you took throughout high school. These are the same classes that you took to get into college. Yet you must spend two years and thousands of dollars to take those same classes all over again. Regardless of your major and job field that you want to go into, you must retake math, science, history, English, foreign language, and physical education. Not only must you spend your valuable time taking these classes again, you must also spend your money. Depending on your major and job field, many of these things you learn in these classes, you will not use ever again.

In college, you should be learning about what you want to do for a living. Your degree should symbolize your learning and mastery of the skills that your job field requires. Instead, it says that you know a little about every subject, and know a little bit more about your major than someone without a degree in that field. How college is now set up, you can know everything there is to know about your major and job field, but if you are not able to also do well in unrelated subjects that you will never use again, you will not get your degree. For example, if a certain computer engineering major is able to do everything possible with a computer. But he does not do well with biology and chemistry. But if he does not pass both those classes, he will not be able to work on the computers that he is so good at. This is an atrocity. The best student in one area may not be able to use his or her talent because they are not good at another area.

High school is very useful because it gives individuals a general knowledge of many subjects. These basic skills give a person a great understanding of the world they live in. But to go back and learn the same things again once you get into college is a waste of time and money. Time that you could be using for better things.