An average of 80 percent of college students switch majors at least once, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. This indecision can often postpone graduation and increase student debt. Students often enter college with little idea of their true interests and passions. They can only explore these interests through certain general education classes or accepted electives.
If students wish to venture into a specialized course, they must decide beforehand to minor in the program and jump through hoops to enroll in the class. The simple solution would be to remove the major restrictions and allow students to choose any classes that pique their interests.
Many college students have loose ideas as to their future goals, and people often believe your future is based solely on your major. In reality, majors rarely define a student’s future. However, the individual classes you take can have a lasting impression on your future career choice. Even an odd elective can spark a new idea for a niche job that not many think about. While a major’s courses are focused on a certain field, electives are offered to broaden a student’s mind to other areas of interest. Unfortunately, many electives are simply general survey courses that offer basic knowledge instead of deep insight.
As classes progress in level, they shrink in size and availability. This demand would certainly lead to more competition for enrollment, but the higher demand would also later lead to more classes being offered. With the University’s current system, a student outside of the major must minor in the field, schedule a meeting with the college’s adviser and personally ask them to add the student to the class manually. This drawn out process can take days. With the large number of students already competing for admission, this prolonged process can often prevent a student from taking the course. For students nearing graduation, this hindrance can be detrimental to their plans. Furthermore, many upper level courses require prerequisites that prevent just anyone from taking the class, so only the early courses would have competition for enrollment.
While minors are an effective way to expand an education, they are often restrictive and take away any other options for elective courses. For a student who wishes to dabble in various fields of study, the requirement of a minor is a large impediment. The amount of red tape dissuades many for experimenting. College is usually the final level of education, meaning it is a student’s last chance to take classes. The University should promote taking random classes to create well-rounded students instead of making the process more difficult than it’s worth.
We pay an egregious amount of money each year for an education, and we deserve to take any class we would wish to be educated in. It is the University’s responsibility to facilitate the process, not impede it. Education should not be restricted by our majors the but the limit of our interests.
Ethan Gilberti is a 19-year-old English sophomore from New Orleans, Louisiana.
