General education courses, or gen-eds for short, aim to provide college students with a broad knowledge base and pique their interest if they’re undecided. Or at least, that’s what I was always taught to believe. Don’t get me wrong, I see the value of gen-ed courses. But, I am glad to be in specialized classes as I work to complete my journalism program. I should also specify that WSU calls gen-eds “goal classes.”
The goals are listed here:
- Goal 1: Communication
- Goal 2: Critical Thinking
- Goal 3: Natural Science
- Goal 4: Mathematics/Logic Reasoning
- Goal 5: History & the Social & Behavioral Sciences
- Goal 6: The Humanities and Fine Arts
- Goal 7: Human Diversity
- Goal 8: Global Perspective
- Goal 9: Ethic and Civic Responsibility
- Goal 10: People and the Environment
Within this falls the category of physical development and wellness, basically PE, and it stands to be the only “gen-ed” credits I need to complete. And while I could rant about it, I think I’ll come to be grateful I have a little wiggle room to take yoga or volleyball so I’m not in ONLY mass communication and sociology courses for my remaining semesters in college.
For this article, I’ll do a short breakdown of the gen-eds I’ve taken during each semester and how I feel about my course load that is customized for my major and minor.
- FRESHMAN YEAR
Fall 2017— College Reading and Writing is a course that all freshmen coming into WSU need to take. While I had a pretty solid grasp on my analysis and writing skills, working my way through this class gave me a baseline for how much better my college papers could get. And BOY have they! Introduction to Sociology was another class I took which spurred me to declare my minor, so I’m grateful for that. Because I’m a mass communication student, I have tried to veer in the complete opposite direction of college math. However, Numbers and Data in Society gave me another baseline for the level of math I can handle and helped me complete the only math course I’d have to do in college. Hallelujah! Mass Media and Society, while it was only one day a week, was taxing on my tailbone as I had to sit for two-and-a-half hours, but I loved my professor (who is also my adviser).
Spring 2018—Intro to Creative Writing was something I looked forward to because I knew my major would have a lot more structured articles, so this was a chance to cut loose in poetry and playwriting. Visual Communication gave me a new appreciation for photos and the work that goes into creating them. Western Civilizations 1815-Present still kinda haunts me to this day with the aching fingers of blistering, Blue-Book scribbled essays, but I was able to take it with Hailey so it wasn’t all bad. My physics class on energy put the concept into a perspective that I don’t usually look at. I had never taken a physics class in my life, so I was daunted, to say the least. Intro to Public Speaking was dreaded by me, and somehow all the speeches took a government / policy-based topic which was a little annoying because it wasn’t a policy-making speech class, but I digress.
- SOPHOMORE YEAR
Fall 2018—Gender and Sexuality in American Literature was easily one of my favorite gen-eds because all the novels were so diverse, but also so very, very sad most of the time. Sociology of Families counted as part of my minor and as a gen ed, so that made the class more enjoyable. It was also pretty neat to think about family in a more theoretical way as opposed to the lovey-dovey way I usually think about my own. I also learned to gaze at the stars and do physics with them somehow, which is pretty impressive for me. Phases of the moon may or may not be emblazoned into my eyelids though, and I got a little starry-eyed about one of my lab partners during that course. Some may say we could’ve been star-crossed lovers… of astronomy, of course (wink).
Spring 2019—Biology 104 helped me see different sides of the environment and the ways we can study it to find patterns. This was also the first time I had taken a gen-ed in a hybrid form, so I wasn’t expected to come to the lecture hall unless there was an exam and all my homework was online… which meant I could sleep in! Pretty sweet.
- JUNIOR YEAR
Fall 2019— And now, we’ve reached where I am currently. This semester I am in three MCOM classes and two SOC courses, and it has been a lot. I ping-pong between two areas of study, but I’m really intrigued and passionate about them so I really can’t complain too much.
While writing this, I got to reflect on the progress I’ve made. I realized the two biggest reasons I’m grateful for the gen-ed program at school:
(1): I became a more well-rounded person and was able to branch out, even if it was university-mandated.
(2): The time I didn’t spend thinking about my future made it obvious when everything clicked into place.
So while some of the courses felt a little less than useful in the moment, I am glad that I had room to grow before becoming rooted in my future career. College has been so great for that thus far, and I am grateful the rest of my degrees will feel like specialized, made-for-me courses as I blaze toward the future.