Please score/critique my issue analysis

[cassidyjane]

Universities should require students to take courses only within those fields they are interested in studying.

 

Universities should not require students to take courses only within the fields they are interested in studying. The process of earning a bachelor's degree is not a one-dimensional track to a profession and life pertaining to the narrow scope of the single field in which a student has studied. It is rather a four-year experience in which students are not only given the chance to gain new knowledge but also develop new ways of understanding that knowledge and understanding themselves. Forcing students to focus exclusively on their majors during coursework would negate the positive impact of this experience. It would prevent exploration for students who are still deciding what to study, limit the perspectives of those who have already selected a field, and produce graduates that are not well-rounded, thoughtful world citizens.

While many may argue that entering university without a clear direction is an unproductive use of time, a great number of college students are unsure about what they will study when they begin university. These students are not aimless dilettantes but rather thoughtful and open-minded people who often succeed in their studies and go on to excel in the real world. For example, a sociology professor I had in college, who was also the president of the International Sociological Association, had begun his undergraduate career as a math major before he found sociology. Had he been forced to remain in his previously selected field, the sociological world would have been deprived of his brilliant theoretical insights and adventurous ethnographic work. While many students need structure and direction, others excel only when given the flexibility to explore. Limiting these students' ability to do so would be tantamount to limiting their academic and life potential.

Encouraging students to take courses outside their field of student not only benefits those students who want to try different things but additionally those who entered college with an already clear focus. While the students who are taking classes outside of their chosen field of study will gain valuable insight and a broader perspective, they will also bring with them their own insights to these new classes. For example, a student in philosophy may be able to offer students in architecture insights about the societal implications of the structures they study, for example Foucault's discussion of how a panoptic prison design can be used for the most effective control over prisoners. It is through such exchanges of ideas across disciplines that multi-disciplinary fields of study are born. For example, while geography could be a simple straightforward study of maps, topography, and locations, the integration of social sciences into the field has added the considerations of what power relations are communicated and perpetuated through the art of map-making. Allowing students from one particular subject of study to enter another broadens the scope of discourse in both fields, creating a more robust academic environment.

To this end, while a student that is interested in a particular field may have attended college exclusively for the purpose of gaining knowledge in that subject, that is not the exclusive purpose of higher education. College is not about the simple collection and retention of knowledge but rather the development of critical thinking skills to use that knowledge in a way that makes the world a better place. Students that study more than ust their chosen major are able to more effectively develop those critical thinking skills as they develop new nad different ways of considering the information they learn in their core classes. Expecting students to focus exclusively on the fields that they are interested in neglects the greater purpose of a college education: to create well-rounded people. If a student spent his or her entire college career in the classroom, lab, or library, he or she would fail to develop the skills and understanding that is gained outside of the classroom. For example, the Free Speech Movement in Berkeley galvanized university students to speak out for social change. While it may not have been related to any particular discipline of study, the experience undoubtedly shaped those students into the people they would become later in life. College is not about simply memorizing information related to a chosen course of study; it serves a greater societal function in shaping students into well-rounded and civic-minded citizens. Expecting students to focus exclusively on their chosen major would negate that function.

Though more narrow minds might view college as a simple tool to gain more knowledge in a chosen area of focus, that assumption couldn't be further from the truth. A university education, if utilized properly, allows students to explore new ideas before choosing an area of study. The university environment encourages students to continue to communicate and gain understanding across those areas of study even after they have specialized. And finally, the university experience shapes students into well-rounded, thoughtful, and engaged citizens, without which, society would lose so many of the valuable things these thinkers contribute. If universities forced students to remain within a single area of study, these functions of the university would be hindered or worse, negated altogether.