The kind of education a student receives is not only limited to their professional success but also the way they conduct themselves in their personal sphere of life. An NC State education is not characterized by simply imparting technical knowledge to us students, but also making us capable of facing the challenges of life we will deal with after graduation. The first step toward this ultimate goal of education is to expose students to general education courses.
The major reason these courses are an important part of your time here at State is that they will help you to possess a multidimensional personality that people, especially potential employers, will respect and admire. A scientist who also knows how to write effectively may prove to be a filter for written pieces in a research oriented organization. Anyone who offers a variety of skills will prove to be an asset to their organization.
Having mastery in one specific domain is beneficial to an individual for increasing advancement in that specialization, but along with that an individual must also possess the ability to apply it practically and present the result in a manner which is comprehensible for everyone. This requires the skill set that can be developed by the general education courses.
Look no further than the field of data science, which is a hot field today and at least for the foreseeable future. To be an expert data scientist, you must have the required programming skills, but in order to design machine-learning algorithms, an in-depth working knowledge of statistics (mathematics) is required. For cleaning of data, you need to be an expert with Microsoft Excel or other similar software. Even after all that, if you do not possess a good working knowledge of the English vocabulary to present your findings, you won’t be as successful you wanted to be. Technical English requires the basic foundations of our language.
As young students, we have a great deal of potential and can be successful in multiple directions; however, at times we are not aware of it due to lack of either experience or exposure or both. General education courses not only expose us to many such fields, but also help us gain a more advanced understanding of the world — past a basic high school level.
For example, I want to be a writer, but my inspiration came only after I had read a sufficient number of books, which was facilitated by taking general education courses.
At NC State, there is a program for undergrads known as Exploratory Studies which helps those who enter college not knowing a major choose their program after taking a variety of courses. Many students are either not clear about the direction they want their career to develop into or want to take more time to make up their mind after exploring different directions. We all should treat our entry into college as exploring the many options available.
Some people may say that general education courses are just a waste of time, but there is no reason to rush into a degree program that you will later struggle to switch out of because of how NC State is organized. It would be far better to take the time to try out different classes and avenues and gain the full university experience.
Having a diverse skill set can turn out to be an alternate or backup career choice for us depending on our situation. This has the effect of helping us cope up with the difficulties of life and also have an enhanced sense of security in the long run.
We are not simply at this university to have an instant spot in the career world, but to enhance our knowledge. As Martin Luther King, Jr. put it, “The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically… Intelligence plus character — that is the goal of true education.” General education courses are an important part of the education we’re receiving at State, so take full advantage of what you may have considered just another pointless requirement.
