When I came to SMU three years ago, I was so excited at the thought of never having to take another math or science class again. Chemistry, statistics, philosophy and mechanical engineering were the farthest thing from journalism and advertising I could imagine. After all, I didn’t want to write about new scientific discoveries or how Adam Smith’s philsophical viewpoints somehow relate to the downward spiral of our economy.
Maybe I’m narrow minded and ignorant to the other areas of study students dedicate their time to while attending SMU. Or maybe I just don’t see the univeristy’s policy of requiring students to enroll and miraculously pass hours upon hours of general education classes when they are already bogged down with one, if not two, majors.
It makes you wonder if this is the reason students are not graduating in four years. Adding these GEC classes to one’s schedule is almost like adding an entirly new and separate major onto an already loaded plate.
There’s no data to prove this, but I’ll bet it would be a safe assumption that the majority of dropped classes at the start of each semester are GEC credits. After all, who wants to spend their days in some mind-numbingly boring math class when they could be taking a class that perfectly follows their career path? I mean, if I had to personally choose, a sports journalism lecture would trump a philosophy of law class.
With so many students dropping out of the more intense GEC classes, it’s also a safe bet that many student’s GPAs are suffering too. Of course students are going to work harder in their more interesting classes, namely those involved in working towards their major. Why waste their time memorizing names, dates, formulas and theories they will never have to refer back to? It’s these GEC classes that are spiraling down the drain faster than our economy can destroy itself.
One other rather annoying fact I’ve come to realize as I wrap up my GEC credits, is the absurd amount of homework associated with these classes. I’m convinced some professors are either completely oblivious or just choose to ignore the fact that students are enrolled in A) more than one class, B) actively involved in extra curricular activies or have a job and C) quite frankly don’t care the slightest bit what happened in Guatamala in 1645. Maybe if these classes all directly related to our respective degree we would invest a little more time, effort and interest in these classes we are forced to attend.
How do professors expect us to write a five page paper, read seven books, watch three films, read another book for another GEC class, complete a lab write up, balance equations, write a book review, watch the news for a current events quiz and then study for a 100 point exam all in the span of three days?
SMU continues to pride itself on the outstanding scholars it produces each spring, and while the students who attend this university are nothing short of exceptional, the university could scale back on the current GEC requirements, and who knows, maybe encourage students to graduate in that four year window.
While I may say I’m not the biggest fan of philosophy, math, science and engineering, I’m sure I could find one philosophy student who hates advertising, an engineer who would never express any desire to write for the newspaper or a math genius who greatly fears writing a history paper.
– Nicole Jacobsen
Editor in Chief
