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The budding accountant is being short-sighted. He doesn't know what life will present him in the future. My father-in-law was an engineering major and an English minor, and he was able to get tremendous career advancements because he could actually write literately. He ended his career teaching political science.
The OP's young relative isn't interested in an education, he's interested in training. We need trained people, but we also need an educated populace.
Most of these classes have nothing to do with that persons life, it's a ploy on the public to make us think we need it. The government makes money on each class you take, if you take out loans, so it makes sense for them to make you take chemistry or anthropology which you will never use again (at least in the depth that the professor teaches). College is a scam and most of us have fallen for it.
All schools do is push the Prussian system of memorization. (mostly outdated information) Not free thinking or anything else.
I can see this being a major complaint of someone who got a poor education (or none at all) while participating in higher education. It's a big problem with many lower quality schools and even the CLEP exams (who knows why these are even considered higher education).
Consider your experience in a typical college class. You're told to purchase 2 textbooks with opposing authors . Each week you're asked to read a chapter from each along with 2-3 academic papers discussing the topics in the chapters. In class, you debate with other students about the different views of all the authors. The following week you submit a paper in which you choose a side and pull in additional resources to support your choice. There's a significant amount of research and critical thinking going on. That's what higher education is (just the classroom portion of it). And, yes, a lot of people receive a college degree without obtaining a higher education.
Compare that to highschool-style education where you read a textbook and take a test on whatever is in that textbook.
I think most Gen Ed is top heavy in the sciences and mathematics.
So in those subjects - yes - cut down or out.
I'm fairly certain that it's more liberal arts heavy. A typical liberal arts degree is only required to take 2-3 college-level maths (Calc 1, Calc 2, Statistics) and 1-2 hard sciences (101 and 102). Statistics is a requirement for any academic discipline as it's required for any quantitative research. Since statistics is based on calculus, one should know calculus.
However, someone studying engineering is required to take quite a bit of liberal arts classes (2 humanities, 2 social sciences, 2 English, etc). Not that it's a bad thing... but Gen Ed is not top-heavy in sciences and math.
A relative of mine is an Accounting Major in a four year College Degree Program. He just completed his 2nd Year and will be a Junior this Fall. He said his first two years of college were basically a waste because it involved taking mostly the required Liberal Arts General Education classes. He only was able to take two Business classes due to the heavy requirement to take liberal arts classes his first two years of college. He got good grades and studied hard in these "fluff classes" so he could get into the business school and impress potential employers, but he considered the classes to be a waste of time and money.
He said the general feeling of everyone in his Accounting classes was Colleges should be only 2-3 years with basically no general education classes so the students can devote themselves to their Major.
They think that they had lots of time to study liberal arts in High School and due the cost of college it should be shorter and career related.
Another relative who is a Computer Science Major told me the same thing.
Should College general education requirements be eliminated to save time and money, so the students can devote themselves to career related classes?
No. There are numerous two year colleges that offer accounting and computer science degrees, and there are trade/business schools that train bookkeepers and computer techs. Bachelor degree programs are not, and should not be, glorified vocational training programs.
No. There are numerous two year colleges that offer accounting and computer science degrees, and there are trade/business schools that train bookkeepers and computer techs. Bachelor degree programs are not, and should not be, glorified vocational training programs.
Computer science is rarely taught at a vocational school... and it typically requires a BS in Comp Sci at a minimum.
It's a big problem with many lower quality schools and even the CLEP exams (who knows why these are even considered higher education).
They aren't considered higher education; they are considered to be verification of higher education received outside of college.
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