Post Classifieds
Not all degrees created equal
By Jennifer Waters
On March 25, 2012
One of the best things about college education is that each one of us can tailor our
schedules to fit our desired goals and interests. But at some point this personalized buffet
of classes turns into a sort of garbage plate of a degree.
We are offered many options to fulfill our degrees. At the end of the road, we are all able to
have taken different paths to get to the same destination.
This is a good thing if you're aware of what the future needs of your career will be because
you can plan to obtain the necessary knowledge and skills to set you apart from your
competition.
But not enough competition exists within courses to allow students to thrive or fail on their
own. Instead, competitive degrees become a leveled playing field for students depending
on what classes they take in their department.
I used to think this was a great compromise. Plan ahead and it will pay off later.
Now I'm starting to think that maybe this smorgasbord isn't quite the heavenly feast I'd
imagined.
True, I'm gaining skills I believe will help me secure a job in my desired field, but so is
everyone else. Not only are we all becoming hot commodities for the same job market, it
seems that all of the classes I take thinking they will be fun and interesting turn out to be
much more work and by far more dull than most others.
While I'm stressing about schoolwork or mapping out a game plan to catch up on the
reading I've fallen behind on, others are talking about their newly discovered favorite show
on Netflix. I run from class to class to work and back again before going home to spend
hours on schoolwork until I give up or fall asleep while other students complain they don't
want to go to their three hours of class time they have every-other day.
I'm not saying I'm the only student rushing across campus while making a mental list of the
things I absolutely have to accomplish that day. I just feel like we're a rare few these days.
When I hear professors say that they don't like to grade so they won't spend much time
looking over assignments I begin to wonder if there's even a point to spending my time on
the homework I've been given.
It goes even further when class credit is given based on if you're name is drawn out of a
pile, as at least one teacher at Buffalo State does.
College should be what students want to make out of it, but it should also have equal
standards across departments.
Jennifer Waters can be reached by email at waters.record@live.com.
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