One of the most common things I hear my fellow LSA students complain about on campus is the task of fulfilling their distribution requirements. There’s always the objection that spending 30 credit hours on classes that may not be applicable towards your desired major is a ‘waste of time’. Pre-med students want to flood their classes with natural science and pre-law students gravitate towards politics and public policy, and above all, there is the attitude of taking classes everyone has to ‘get rid of’. But, within this area of classes lies a hidden gem that is overlooked by so many people: Creative Expression.
Sure, sitting in a lecture hall filled with hundreds of students can teach you how to learn by the book. But Creative Expression offers a unique educational process – the ability to think without a defined answer of what is right. Throughout my 3 semesters at the University of Michigan thus far, I have taken a plethora of written and multiple choice exams, requiring complete silence and mostly memorization of given material. But real life is not by the book. Real life is spontaneous and requires creative solutions to unique problems that occur. Creative Expression teaches students how to operate in this ambiguous space. In Creative Expression classes like theater, studio art, film production, dance, etc. there’s no formula to memorize. Your individual perspective is what brings life to the ending product. It is this individuality that diversifies our experiences, allowing us to generate something personal and meaningful from nothing.
I have elected to take dance classes the past 2 semesters to fulfill my creative expression distribution, and it is in these classes where I notice an overall change in my energy, and how I’ve become more aware of my brain in connection with my body. Last semester I took improvisation, which was extremely challenging for me. It can be daunting to just hear music and be told to ‘move’ for a designated amount of time. How do I not look stupid? What would someone else do to hit this beat? Why do I have a mental bank of movements that disappear from my head once I’m not given them in sequence? These were common thoughts initially coursing through my brain at the beginning of the term. I had to actively learn how to combat these negative emotions and trust myself in creating a piece that was entirely my own, and on the fly.
As an aspiring law student, this type of learning is the most important skillset that I need in order to succeed in the future. After all, who would want to hire a lawyer who looks for textbook cases of law applications, when real life is often so much more complicated than that. When emotions are involved, people of different backgrounds are involved, it is never a ‘one size fits all’ solution. Learning how to fail, how to tackle stimuli from a variety of angles, and doing it all with confidence, is a skill that can be beneficial for anyone!
While I have rediscovered my own passions through dance, it is not just dance that can bring this enlightenment to others. Music, creative writing, film, art, or even skills like woodworking all challenge the individual to use their own intuition in creating something that speaks to them. It is this area of education that is so useful in college and aids young adults in the workforce by standing out amongst the crowd. After all, employers want to hire people with specialized that can be obtained through the arts, according to information from the National Association of Colleges and Employers!
Finally, creative expression provides college students, who, lets face it, are usually extremely burnt out, a healthy outlet to express their passions in a supportive environment. In learning skills that are so outside the realm of general education requirements, we allow ourselves to become well-rounded thinkers while having fun along the way! So, the next time you’re wondering what part of the area distribution you have to ‘get out of the way’, consider taking a Creative Expression class. Not because it is the “easy way out” or just because you “have to”, but because it teaches important life skills that will make you a standout creatively and communicatively in the professional world. And who knows, you might even elect to take more after experiencing it for the first time!