We spend eight years of elementary school and four years of high school going over the basic ideas that are just being reiterated in most general education courses. The only difference between elementary school and high school is the level of detail. Ideally, the depth of materials covered in the classroom grows throughout college.
If we know the basics, is it really necessary for us to have to take a course focusing on the basics? Sure, math and language courses are always necessary and should be offered as refresher courses to make students more marketable for work. Outside of that, general education courses just don’t seem all that necessary.
Sure, if someone feels that they are rusty in their abilities or memory in an area, like writing, they should be able to take a course to ensure they improve and remember. They could be offered but should be left entirely up to choice.
Part of the problem this school has with graduation rates is the class selection. Courses that are required for certain subjects either have too few sections and they fill up quickly making you wait a semester, maybe two or three, or you have to wait for the course to be offered. The rest of the problem happens to have been laid in general education requirements.
Certain things are necessary to have a refresher in. You know, subjects like math, the requirement is actually a good thing to have. The last thing the school would need is a chemistry student who has forgotten math to have access to chemicals. That could blow up in people’s faces in more ways than one.
Philosophy is another thing that would be useful in terms of the gen. ed. courses offered here at NEIU. Most high schools don’t dwell on things brought up in these courses. If they do, they only briefly go over maybe one or two things brought up in terms of quotations and leave it at that. Political science is also something that could be useful in terms of its general education courses.
Seriously now, are general education courses really that necessary? Some things it is necessary for a refresher in and some things just were not covered in high school, which is fine. The rest of it, if you made it this far in your education, you should already know.