Required classes that have NOTHING to do with the major (degrees, med school)

[victorianpunk]

I think allot of college now adays just decide to include "filler" classes for degrees and the result is that so many degrees require classes that will never in a million years be of any use in that field of study.

I have a friend who's a microbiology major, and she is required to take PHYSICS ONE AND TWO! Ummm....last time I checked a white blood cell didn't whip around the human body at the speed of light.

I also know a nursing student who had to take, get this, Botany 101. BOTANNY ??!! What the hell, is someone ever going to rush a rose bush to the emergency room?

Still, my personal favorite is the linguistics course that requires the students to take a class in cartography..."okay, you make a left at ancient Latin, keep on going until you get to a fork that says "Iberia", and bare right. Keep going straight until you hit 'Spanish', got that?"

Keep in mind, I am not talking about electives here. These are required classes. What bone head is running these schools anyway?

Anyone else have any example of useless classes that are required for majors?

[nitokenshi]

I am in interactive media..

I had to take drawing courses and graphic design courses.

Of course I did poorly in all of them because I am a computer person hence why I am an interactive media major and not art or design

Taking those courses were so painful for me it's not even funny. All the other people loved it because they had artsy majors. Me on the other hand wanted to die.

[stan4]

Physics is relevant in a lot of science degrees. And especially if someone is using their science major to launch to grad or med school. Maybe you don't understand as much as you think.

[ilovebdj]

I'm a Health Services Admin major, and am currently taking a Practical Research and Science Methods course. This is for people doing dissertations and actual scientific research. I signed up for HSA for the administration side, but now I feel like I should be in a lab surrounded by beakers and bunson burners.....grrr.....

[victorianpunk]

Originally Posted by stan4

Physics is relevant in a lot of science degrees. And especially if someone is using their science major to launch to grad or med school. Maybe you don't understand as much as you think.

So could you please enlighten me as to what the hell Botany has to do with a nursing student? What, does understanding the way a tree works make is somehow easier to care for a criticaly ill patient?

[Eresh]

Originally Posted by victorianpunk

So could you please enlighten me as to what the hell Botany has to do with a nursing student? What, does understanding the way a tree works make is somehow easier to care for a criticaly ill patient?

A lot of people wind up in emergency rooms with poisoning or allergic reaction to some type of plant. Maybe that's part of the reason? Also, plants are an important part of all life. We wouldn't be able to exist without them, because (1) photosynthetic organisms are the reason we have free oxygen in the atmosphere and (2) they are the base of the food chain. I wish everyone would take a botany class (and physics and the other branches of science, for that matter) to help understand these basic things. Finally, some people in nursing will go on for a graduate degree, and a basic foundation in all branches of science is important. The more one understands the basics, the more one will see how they are all interconnected.

[user_id]

A basic understanding of physics and chemistry is relevant to microbiology. If you're friend knew anything about the field, that would be obvious to her.

The courses that are required are often see as irrelevant by the people that are ignorant of the fields, that would include the people that are often majoring in them.

What point is there to include "filler courses"? What does it achieve?

[user_id]

Originally Posted by nitokenshi

Of course I did poorly in all of them because I am a computer person hence why I am an interactive media major and not art or design.

I don't get this, graphic design is all done on the computer now.

Also a drawing class is relevant to both graphic design and "interactive media", its important to be able to sketch ideas. These sorts of programs are often teaching what employers think is important.

[iluvcj]

Originally Posted by user_id

A basic understanding of physics and chemistry is relevant to microbiology. If you're friend knew anything about the field, that would be obvious to her.

The courses that are required are often see as irrelevant by the people that are ignorant of the fields, that would include the people that are often majoring in them.

What point is there to include "filler courses"? What does it achieve?

I loved microbiology and wanted to major in it but unfortunately I sucked at chemistry because i found it so uninteresting but their is a lot of chem in micro

[nitokenshi]

Originally Posted by user_id

I don't get this, graphic design is all done on the computer now.

I took the class so I know what happened in said class and everything was done by hand.

Also a drawing class is relevant to both graphic design and "interactive media", its important to be able to sketch ideas. These sorts of programs are often teaching what employers think is important.

I am pretty sure that a developer does not need to "sketch ideas". I never had to "sketch ideas" in all the years I have been coding and no developer I have ever met has had to "sketch ideas". Hence why there is a designer who designs and a developer/programmer that codes up the design.