It seems as though as soon as we were accepted into Cornell, we were made (pretty) well aware of the requirements we need to graduate. But as we choose majors and minors and focus on classes we want to take, these requirements get pushed further into the backs of our minds. Especially for those of us with only a few semesters left at Cornell, the realization that we must now take classes that don’t seem aligned with our interests is less than appealing.
As a junior in Arts, I don’t have many of the lettered acronym requirements left, but am still burdened by the need to fulfill them (and figure out what they actually stand for). When I make my schedule each semester, I typically look for classes both within and outside my major that sound truly interesting to me, have been recommended by others, or where I’ll definitely have study buddies. If they don’t fulfill one of my requirements, I haven’t worried, figuring I’ll end up meeting them through classes I choose later on. But as ‘later on’ quickly approaches, I’m beginning to realize that some of my core requirements still haven’t been magically fulfilled.
It feels like there is a constant trade-off between waiting until your last couple of semesters to finish requirements and getting them done early so you don’t have to worry about them senior year. I had my schedule almost decided for next semester, but then felt pressure to get one of my remaining requirements out of the way now. Now unfortunately, the somewhat random class will replace one of the more challenging classes that I was really excited about taking.
The classes we take for requirements could at times have their benefits. They give us broader knowledge, inspire us to be open-minded, and maybe spark an interest we didn’t know we had. A Hotelie can explore an interest through an Arts class they would not have otherwise taken, or a non-science CALS student could become a bio major after fulfilling what they thought would just be a boring school requirement.
But the reality is, this is often not the case. The classes we take to fulfill the tedious requirements are often the “easiest” classes we can find–in other words, the ones where you don’t really need to show up to lecture and have no exams. Maybe we really could get something out of these classes, but going in with the attitude of taking it just because we have to leaves us with a solid grade, but little insight into the subject.
Getting a well-rounded education is important, but the amount of required classes we have to take makes this feel counterintuitive. Are these requirements really helping us if they bar us from taking classes we would really love, and that would advance our knowledge of something we care about? The pressure of having to fulfill so many requirements often causes us to take classes just to get them over with.
Many of us can attest to learning better in classes we find interesting. We should be spending our time taking classes we want to and think we can succeed in. Having fewer–or more lenient–requirements outside our majors would allow us to enjoy learning something new and different, without sacrificing time spent on our genuine interests.
