Hello everyone,

It is time for Plymouth State University students to create schedules for the Spring 2012 semester and advising those students has me thinking about general education.  Students sometimes don’t understand why we require them to take classes outside their major, in what we call our “General Education Program”.  In fact, most colleges and universities require their students to take a significant number of credits in General Education.  So why is that?

The world is a rapidly evolving place and people hardly ever stay in the same job for their entire lifetime anymore.  In fact, the Bureau of Labor Statistics has found that people 18-42 have, on average, 8-10 jobs in their lifetimes.  If you only studied the things that you thought you needed for your first job, you would probably not be prepared for those later jobs.  In fact, if you only studied things related to your major, you are probably getting “training” rather than an “education” and there is a difference between training and education.  Education is about learning how to think critically, how to solve problems, and how to communicate effectively in a variety of situations about a variety of topics.  General education requirements are typically designed to explicitly address these skills.  At Plymouth State University, for example, students are required to take a first year seminar, which focuses on critical thinking skills, a composition class, which focuses on effective written communication and a math foundations class, which focuses on mathematical problem solving, in addition to other general education classes which are also focused on these skills.  So when you pay your tuition for your college education, you are paying for experiences that will allow you to become an educated person and general education classes are an integral part of that experience.

What do you think of general education classes?  Have you found them to be valuable?

Cathie