The Purpose of General Education
General education requirements have been a controversial issue ever since they were first introduced into the education system. The requirements at most universities are excessive and broad. This is a huge issue that has been studied for years and has led to many reforms in education. A video titled “Becoming a Learner: General Education” goes in depth about the values of general education and how general education benefits students in the real world. The video features Dr. Matthew Sanders, who is a credible author with a focus on education. His book titled “Becoming a Learner” focuses on explaining the value and purpose of higher education, which shows his interest and desire to improve the education system.
The main goal of general education at most institutions is to provide students with skills that will help them succeed in the professional field and be a well-educated person overall. Even though that is the goal, it is often left unaccomplished. Majority of students do not take general education classes seriously as they do not see the connection between these classes and their profession. In fact, the connection between general education and one’s chosen career path is so indistinct that even professors might fail to see it. Since students do not see the purpose behind some of the required classes, attendance rates drop and students pass courses without learning much. Dr. Matthew Sanders uses a few approaches to display the benefits of general education and make the vague connection I mentioned earlier more obvious. He mentions his experience when giving a speech to student-athletes. He asked the group of athletes, which included soccer players, football players, and many other athletes a few simple questions. The questions essentially focused on why athletes do exercises that will never be done during a game. For example, why do football players practice squats, bench press, and running for miles if they do not perform these exercises during games? A football player does not bench press during a game, so why does it matter for him to be able to bench press heavy weights? Most of the athletes answered saying that such exercises help them improve their game by helping them be more explosive, strong, and have stronger stamina. He states that “the purpose of all that exercise and conditioning for an athlete is to be able to thrive and flourish on a field of athletic competition…they want to adapt and change and overcome. And all of that exercise and conditioning helps them get there.”(USUSoar) Even though this connection may be obvious in athletics, it is not so obvious in academics. He goes on connecting this key concept to general education. The extensive writings, chapters of readings, and countless other assignments that students do not have interest in mirror the exercises done by athletes. Athletes do exercises that will not be performed in a game and students complete assignments that they will not perform at a future job, therefore the two are very similar. As I mentioned in my previous assignments, I agree with the idea that general education is a great program with great values, yet the curriculum at most colleges fails to act according to those values. Most students do not know why they are taking certain classes and do not see the benefit of these classes to their major. Once again, this is a huge issue because lacking purpose is the quickest way to failure. For example, an art major may be very frustrated having to take physics because the student does not understand the purpose of this. Most of the time such a student is not able to see that physics will help them think in a different way, see the world from a different perspective, and be educated in another field. Lacking knowledge about the purpose of certain requirements leads to less motivation, poor grades, and discouragement.
The video goes on to explain the benefit of general education requirements more in-depth. The difference between this source and regular scholarly articles is that it is sort of biased. Even though the speaker is a credible author, he does not use many statistics or statements to support is opinions. Instead, he speaks on his experience and his opinions regarding higher education. Sources I usually cite for my papers are studies conducted by researchers that build on and take into consideration previous studies instead of simply stating opinions. Regardless, I think that this is a good resource for my project because his opinions reflect what universities try to accomplish with general education requirements. In addition, his ideas and the explanation that follows the ideas are very organized. Online articles, on the other hand, can be less organized and difficult to grasp.
This source contributes to my research by focusing on the benefits general education has on a student’s life. The video goes very deep in detail about the benefits and uses examples multiple times, which makes it easy to follow along and understand the author’s thoughts. It also fits in with my previous research by providing me a new perspective on the issue. I analyzed an article in assignment number two that talked about three main perspectives on general education. The video could be used as a fourth perspective because it is unique and is not similar to the other three perspectives. The source influenced the way I think about the topic a lot by providing the comparison between students and athletes. The comparison made it easy to grasp why classes unrelated to my major may benefit me in the long run just how certain exercises performed in training benefit athletes in games. Students could finally understand the meaning and purpose behind the general education courses that they are taking, which will motivate them and make them take general education classes more seriously.
I made many revisions throughout this assignment. I mainly focused on organizing my ideas more rather than jumping back and forth between them. I talked about one idea in each paragraph rather than crowding my ideas together. I also added more context to my introduction and added more information about Matthew Sanders, who is an author I quoted throughout the paper. My first draft was very vague and I made a few revisions to focus on specific examples in order to make my paper more clear to the reader. I added an in-text citation and improved my transitions as well.
Works Cited
USUSoar. (2014, June 27). Retrieved March 12, 2019, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7x2IUXFGlHg
