If you are like me than you really hate taking these general education classes that are required for graduation, and if you are really like me than you are in your second semester of your Junior year just now finishing them. Semester after semester I agonize over them. I always seem to pick the right ones, but looking back maybe I picked just the ones I needed.
Last night, as I sat in my astronomy class-- wondering why I, as an English major, need to know why the atoms in the stars are important or what the equation to figure it out was I begin think about why half the things I have learned in my general education classes are necessary. Now don’t get me wrong, I to this day am puzzled why I decided to take some of my classes, but through these general education classes is where I did a lot of my learning. In my freshman year history class I learned how to do the typical college lecture class, I could get a grip on teachers just walking into a class and spitting out information with no pictures or visual elements. In my Classical Studies class I learned how to take a test. Yes, this seems simple but the complexities of this class really made me focus on all parts of the test, not just the question I was looking at. It was in my math class that I learned math was not my thing and in my Spanish 101 class I learned how to drop a class. My favorite thing I ever learned in my General Education classes was freshman year in a class called Scene Design & Technology. This is the class where I learned to build myself a box to get in when I just couldn’t take these classes anymore.
All jokes aside, I do still question why these classes have been relevant in my life (Sometimes I even wonder why 16th century literature is relevant in my life, and again I am a Literature major), but in each class I learned something about myself: weird quirks and bad habits, “how to’s”. It’s in these classes where I figured out how to “do college.” So, still sitting in this astronomy class, I look back at the board and soak up as much information as I can, I realize this is my last Gen. Ed. As excited as I am I realize there is something from this class I am meant to learn. Let’s just hope it’s not “How to fail a class,” because I don’t think that is a lesson I am looking to learn.
Sometimes the things you learn in class go far beyond the confines of the textbook or lecture. Sometimes these are the things that will be more useful for you in this so-called “real world” people are talking about.
Take these classes and figure out how to enjoy them, spread them out, pick ones that interest you and most importantly take the time to reflect on the things you really learned in the class. There is more than meets the eye.
