Thread: Our current Educational System

With the upcoming deadlines for spring semester transfer applications closing in, ive been steaming away at application essays. Of the 5 college's I’m applying for, all have an open ended essay; of which I am writing about obstacles which I have encountered. While from the subject alone, it sounds like the typical, monotone, and boring college app that you would expect from some freshmen. However, my subject is about how our educational system has impeded my studies and I would really appreciate some opinion on the possibly touchy topic before I finalize the essay.

Let me explain my experiences with our current educational system before I move to the point of discussion (this is not my essay):

It seems that from the moment I touched a computer (when I was 7); I knew what I wanted to do in life. Rather than a blessing, I have found this to be a curse. The current educational system is targeted to individuals who do not know what they want to do. Having students thrust’ed upon countless general, broad subjects, in order to help them find an area they would like to further pursue in addition to making them well rounded.

Instead of investing time into studies related to my goals, I was forced to spend countless, unrecoverable hours upon hours upon hours for studies in a system designed to help the individual discover what they want to do in life; unfortunately, these studies where irrelevant to my goal profession. Furthermore I was ineligible for those that were directly related to my goals, and by the time I was eligible, my knowledge on those areas had already exceeded the material taught in the classes. As a result, all of my pursuit and progress in my studies have been made outside of school.

All my life I had envisioned College to be the golden gates to vast amounts of knowledge of which I could absorb. When I got there, I was instead faced with more limits and delays. By the time I had reached college, my own personal pursuits in my studies had taken me beyond the majority of classes offered for my major. Additionally, numerous prerequisites stood before me and the courses I wanted to take and felt I was at the level of. However, unlike high school, I was able to test out of these courses and have tested out of 48 hours of the required 63 hours of courses related to my major. Furthermore, only 63 hours of the required 120 hours for my degree are even related to my degree (rest are gen ed). Ego aside, I’m sure I can test out of the last handful of IT courses, but am unable to financially (there’s a fee per test and needless to say, it adds up). Regardless I am left spending valuable time obtaining the general education requirements in order to graduate. Rather than allowing me to take higher level courses, I again am forced to wallow in undergraduate GE courses before I am allowed to take graduate level IT courses.

My goals are to obtain a doctorate in my field. If I was allowed to, I would stop spending time on GE requirements and move on to graduate level courses that I would take while working on my master’s and doctorate, maybe even some undergraduate courses that I found interesting. All my life I have been told to hold on and wait in the shadows of courses I was unable/ineligible to take. It seems that it takes so long to achieve eligibility that by the time I do, I have already taught myself the course material. I understand that I am one of few who know what they want to do early on. However, there should be alternative paths for such individuals.

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Now my extraction of my frustration and the formation of hypotheses:
Our current educational system is great for those who have not yet determined their goals for their future. But for those that have, they have no alternative path and are forced along the same hindering path and judgment of the undecideds.


To fully encapture one of my, shall we say ‘pet-peeves’ about our educational system, think about what would happen to Albert Einstein if he was placed in his youth, in today’s educational system….



There’s no doubt he would not make it to college, let alone graduate high school. Debate aside, he was most certainly a genius who clearly knew the subject of his interest and later pursued them. These days colleges are so concerned with test scores, SATS (though interest is lessoning), GPA’s, they leave no room or even a path for savants or genius’s. How on earth would Einstein manage to be accepted into college, let alone stay in college when trusted upon the general education requirements?!


General Education: while I certainly understand the need for it (God knows my grammar and punctuation needs help), it has only hampered my studies. While in high school, I loved biology, chemistry, (maaaaybe gym ), and even English, however it is not needed in college. I have worked two full-time, professional jobs that are directly in my field of study, in addition to owning my own business which precisely correlates my studies. So needless to say, I have a pretty good idea what I need to know for my profession and I’ve prioritized and devoted mass amounts of efforts to those areas where I am allowed to and the rest outside of school. Instead of being allowed to excel in the educational system, I have been hampered and hindered by it, progressing slower then I would be able to otherwise.






On this note I purpose the topic of discussion: does our current educational system, hamper individuals who have already have set goals for their future? Additionally are genius’s and savants left to wallow in the rejection of the system as a result of their lack of interest in all courses? AND is this a topic too touchy to include in my essay?


Edit: forgot to add the main point of the post to the topic of discussion,

I'm just angry that they forced me to take 3 years of a language I will never use again . . . :3

I know what you mean bunni, I'm bogged down in classes on subjects I am not interested in one way or another.

I feel your pain Bunni, but I must disagree.

I got a B.S. in Computer Science, but went to a liberal arts college. I spent the more than half my time in classes that had nothing to do with computer science. I learned more about computer science in one year as an intern than I did in four years in computer science classes. I consider my education a huge success though. I never found my non comp sci classes to be a hindrance, but to be huge assets.

Can you expound upon why I should consider these gen ed classes to be a hindrance?

"My goals are to obtain a doctorate in my field."
"...have not yet determined their goals... But for those that have, they have no alternative path"

It seems that you want a doctorate, but you don't want to meet the requirements to do so?
You would like to an alternate path to get a doctorate?
Would you still be able to call it a doctorate degree if you did not go through the same process as everyone else?

"I have worked two full-time, professional jobs that are directly in my field of study, in addition to owning my own business which precisely correlates my studies."

Why not just skip the doctorate if you have the skills necessary to do what you want?

well im not gonna lie.. I only skimmed your post, but something stuck out that I can feel ya on.. PREREQs


Fuck all the bullshit that they make you take that is totally just a filler class and makes college cost more money. I have taken so much shit not with my major, that when Im in a class that actually deals with my major.. I have lost motivation due to the other shit I have to cram in my brain that is bogussss.



Dont even get me started on textbooks....fuckin 20th edition that is only one sentence and a nice cover different from the other 19 editions.

As i was heading to bed, i relized i forgot to include the major point to this post: Should i include this topic in my essay? Would an application... reader-person be offended by this?

Originally Posted by Manse

But bunbun, here's the problem:


You hate chemistry, you're never going to use chemistry. What about the kid next to you who actually enjoys it and it becomes his passion? What about the lab experience you get that you'll need in college?

Let's look at it your way, let's try to count how many students want to take different classes. So now you have one guy in every class. Who's teaching that many subjects? You already have a shortage of money and you want to add more classes?

Logistically, it is better to focus kids on a core set of skills and go from there. If we specialize too much, how do you compare the efforts of the guy in the Auto Repair track to someone going to be an artist?

My point is not on whether we should have GE or not, its that we should have alternative paths for those who have their goals and interests. This doesnt mean more classes or what not, we have the classes now! But rather we do not allow them to take the classes, we prohibit them for idiotic reasons like "those classes are only for juniors and seniors" (high school), or "you need to have you bachelors before you are eligible to take those classes". Dont get me wrong, I fully understand the need for GE in highschool, but why is it in college, exactly the same, same classes to select from, same depth in each of them? Even more so, because of GE, some students are unable to get into classes they wish to take because they are full of non-majors trying to complete GE requirements!

Originally Posted by Mudstalker

I see exactly what Bunni is saying.

Did you know in Germany (not sure if they still do this), at a certain grade depending on your grades you get to decide whether or not you wish to stay in High School? At that point you can decide to move on to a trade school and learn exactly what it is you wish to do in life, or you can stay and move onto College.

As for Bunni's frustrations I see exactly what he means. I was reading at a College level in the 8th grade, I was writing at an 11th grade level. In 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th grades (the only grades with the AR program) I read more books than anyone in my school, not just my grade, my school. And I've always wanted to be a Journalist. What do I get for this? I get put in special "Honor" courses that bored me just as much as the regular ones. The only difference was I got to write an extra essay a week! YAY

Our edumactional system is poor, and I believe people like Bunni who already know exactly what it is they want in life suffer for it the most. As for me, I'm just as happy in the Army as I would be writing articles on the diseases spreading in Africa

Originally Posted by sickwookie

I feel your pain Bunni, but I must disagree.

I got a B.S. in Computer Science, but went to a liberal arts college. I spent the more than half my time in classes that had nothing to do with computer science. I learned more about computer science in one year as an intern than I did in four years in computer science classes. I consider my education a huge success though. I never found my non comp sci classes to be a hindrance, but to be huge assets.

Can you expound upon why I should consider these gen ed classes to be a hindrance?

"My goals are to obtain a doctorate in my field."
"...have not yet determined their goals... But for those that have, they have no alternative path"

It seems that you want a doctorate, but you don't want to meet the requirements to do so?
You would like to an alternate path to get a doctorate?
Would you still be able to call it a doctorate degree if you did not go through the same process as everyone else?

"I have worked two full-time, professional jobs that are directly in my field of study, in addition to owning my own business which precisely correlates my studies."

Why not just skip the doctorate if you have the skills necessary to do what you want?

To touch upon what you and Mud posted:

Mud really hit the nail on the head. I am befuz'led because i would like to be able to take the classes (that are offered) that correlate to what I am doing. So i can spend every waking moment furthering my pursuits.

The hole point behind MS and Doctorates is to further narrow ones field from the one you selected/studied for your bachelors right? Or rather to put plainly, select a more narrow field and study it in more depth. Some of the projects I am working on right now, only have correlating classes available to graduates. From this i can only infer that these skills are being taught at the graduate level, so where does that put me skill wise-to classes i should be taking? And the only reason i cannot take these classes is because of GE requirements?!

Furthermore, as geeky/nerdy as it sounds I spend my free time pursuing these interest. For example, adding soft water to the ___ engine or even refining and/or rewriting the deferred lighting method in some other engine. To connect my points, my free time directly correlates to whats left over in my day from the time i spend on GE classes and the classwork (not much is left over). They slowing down my progress in my personal studies by forcing me to monopolize my time on GE. Additionally i would be enthralled if I could be pursuing these same tasks but for the sake of a class! Such classes are offered to only graduate students, the only ones available to me are directed towards students who are just learning to program in college.


As for the doctorate, I need the piece of paper for creditability; personally in my case, due to the nature of work in these fields. For example, having worked with two of the leaders in this industry, my work done for them is covered my NDA's (non disclosure agreements). Im not even allow to disclose the nature of the relationship between myself and these companies, let alone the work Ive done! So while Ive done all this work for them, placing them on my resume, is quite difficult todo without being too ambiguous, or breaking the NDA.

Originally Posted by ALPINESTAR

well im not gonna lie.. I only skimmed your post, but something stuck out that I can feel ya on.. PREREQs


Fuck all the bullshit that they make you take that is totally just a filler class and makes college cost more money. I have taken so much shit not with my major, that when Im in a class that actually deals with my major.. I have lost motivation due to the other shit I have to cram in my brain that is bogussss.



Dont even get me started on textbooks....fuckin 20th edition that is only one sentence and a nice cover different from the other 19 editions.

EXACTLY!!!!

Bunni,

I see what your saying. I would just be very careful in how you phrase your argument. Do not make it a woe be me type of argument but more so on how the general educational system is only set for one group of people but closes it off to savants. Try to limit your situation as much as possible except for passing references like you have learned more in your internships or in your job than in the classroom. Universities do not like woe be me type of essays. If you would like, I would be willing to go through your essay and offer my critiques and adulation when necessary.

My problem been less with GE, but how anything that isn't GE is just an elective or doesn't count at all. Like in my case, i want to get a BA in Marketing but also like learning about other things. However i get penalized because i want to take a Criminal Justice class, or a Programming class or a Politics class. The problem with GE is its supposed to be (IMO anyways) to learn about other things etc. yet at the same time they'll punish it you FOR trying to expand your horizons.

I.E. my AAS in Business, apparently I only need to know the same core of shit over and over (litterally half the classes teach the same crap) yet a knowledge of Criminal law or Investigations couldn't apply? Oh but a knowledge of the World of Music does . Hell even a basic knowledge of network security is hell of a lot more useful then "Intro to Theatre." Yet guess which you get penalized for taking?