That time of the year has arrived. With Halloween behind us, enrollment season is fast approaching. Whether it is dealing with the student information system, complaining about a late enrollment time or anguishing about which prerequisites to take first, this is a time of stress and anxiety for many. The inconvenient timing of the second round of midterms does not help either. The question on everyone's minds is simply what classes they ought to choose for the upcoming semester.
Generally speaking, there are two ways to pick classes: selecting classes for a distinct career path or choosing classes to explore different academic fields. The former is especially common among engineers, pre-medical and other pre-professional students because they do not have much flexibility in the first place. There is much more freedom for the rest of the student body. According to the University's stated purpose, the University seeks to "enrich the mind by stimulating and sustaining a spirit of free inquiry directed to understand the nature of the universe and the role of mankind in it." Is there really an opportunity for students to freely explore the wide world of knowledge before them?
First-year Engineering student Robert Costanzo, Jr. does not think so. "Ideally, students should have the opportunity to explore various subject matters. However, realistically, to succeed after college, students must set a rigid schedule leaving little room for exploration." This job-driven college experience dominates the thinking of most students. The thinking is often, "I want to be a lawyer so I must take these classes." Rather than being a broad institution for individual enrichment, college has become more of a pre-professional school.
Politics Prof. John Echeverri-Gent thinks the University does a great job balancing the two approaches, "The college requirements oblige you to take a broad spectrum of classes. The first two years is a good time to explore, the next two years is a good time to specialize. As our curriculum is designed, it is designed to give you an area of specialized expertise, but it's also designed to give opportunities to explore ... it gives you a chance to have a richer life afterwards."
First-year College student Peter Polomski has a different perspective. "I believe that the University of Virginia should switch to a pass/fail grading system for the first two semesters, like many other universities at its level, in order to allow students to explore and try classes they would normally not risk for fear of harming their GPA." Polomski said it would allow students to take the "weed-out" classes to test a field without fear of harming their GPA and foster student interest in a greater variety of fields. In addition, this would help ease the transition from high school to college because first year is the usually most difficult for students.
First-year College student Taylor Hunt begs to differ. "The point of college is to get you a job. There is no point in taking superfluous classes that will not add up to a pertinent major." The harsh reality of the competitive job market is that an early focus on one's career path is often necessary to secure a desired job. This presents a moral problem with the rest of our lives. Although college-age students are undoubtedly more responsible and enlightened in many ways, are they truly ready to decide the rest of their lives from the onset of college? Some would undoubtedly argue that there are plenty of opportunities to switch careers and change one's mind throughout college and into working life. Nevertheless, opportunities tend to be limited because there is only a finite number of jobs. There is no doubt that making a late entrance into a field leaves the student at a disadvantage when compared to others who have spent more time there.
Universities should lessen the emphasis on jobs. Often, a student neglects to recognize the importance of other fields to his own life when he is too focused on a single career. An engineer may not recognize the importance of politics to their lives just as a politics major may not recognize the necessity of science.
To quote American author Caroline Bird, "A liberal-arts education is supposed to provide you with a value system, a standard, a set of ideas, not a job." It is important that people once again recognize and appreciate the purpose of a liberal arts education and seek to become more enlightened individuals rather than simply seeking the paychecks.
George Wang is a Viewpoint writer for The Cavalier Daily.
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