13) Universities should require every student to take a variety of courses outside the student's field of study.
Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the claim. In developing and supporting your position, be sure to address the most compelling reasons and/or examples that could be used to challenge your position.
In today’s competitive world, holding a college degree can no longer guarantee good job placement or career success. Some people argue that students should be required to take courses outside their major area to broaden their perspectives and better prepare for future careers. Others believe that such requirement is not necessary as courses outside students’ field will not be helpful for future jobs. In my opinion, taking courses outside one’s speciality can benefit one’s academic study, development of citizenship as well as future career.
To begin with, taking courses from other field can help students to study their own majors more effectively by introducing the students different perspectives and methods from other disciplines. Take the students majoring in English and linguistics as examples. By taking courses in computer science, English majors can learn basic programming skills and latest technologies in natural language processing which can help them to explore interesting issues in English and linguistics based on corpus. Through courses on psychology, English students can also study how learning efficiencies were affected by different factors and better understand the issues in second language acquisition. As the examples clearly illustrate, taking courses from related disciplines can help student to study their own majors more effectively.
Courses in other fields can also help students become more responsible citizens capable of making informed decisions on different social issues. Arts and humanities students can gain more insights into how technologies transformed the society and what ethical and political issues we have to deal with by taking some courses in science and engineering. Science and technology majors can also better understand the current debates on different political issues by taking courses in history, economics and political science. The effective operation of our democratic society depends on the collective wisdom of well-educated citizens. The proposed requirement of courses from different fields can contribute to cultivating better citizens for the society.
Some people may argue that no courses should be required unless such courses are beneficial for students’ future jobs. In fact, many courses outside one’s discipline can be helpful for students’ career development. Taking writing-intensive courses in history and philosophy, for example, can help business students to sharpen their writing skills, which are essential for effective communication in any jobs they may take. Programming skills that math students can develop through computer science courses will also enable the math graduates to apply their math models to big data in their workplace by developing appropriate computer programs. On the other hand, it is rather short-sighted to focus on the direct benefits for jobs that students may gain from courses. After all, universities are not merely vocational training schools. Students should be encouraged to pursue goals that are not career-oriented.
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In conclusion, I believe that requiring students to take courses outside their fields is beneficial for their academic studies as well as their development of citizenship. While it is also helpful for their future career development, this concern should not be the only consideration when we make decisions.