Taking classes at universities is relativley giving more room for students, because most of the time students majorly take classes they want to excel in. However, it is still debatable whether students should take some classes that are required by the university or they want it to be optional to take required classes. In my point of view, required classes are, in fact, a helpful guidance because in the first year of university, a student might not be well informed about what kind of subjects are truly neccessary for him or her. Additionally, a student might be able to find it interesting in other subjects during the required courses, and better him or herself in further studies. For these reasons, my opinion is towards the idea of having mendatory classes at the university.
From my own experience in an American High School, I first found it hard to get used to scheduling for each year or semester by myself with little bit of help from my counsellor. Having spent two years of High School in Korea, I was pretty much of an orthodox about class schedule as other korean highschoolers are. However, getting used to a new culture, I realized that it is a tough job to be responsible for my own schedule. Of course, there are requirements for graduation, but who knows which subject is a real fit for me, and would give better credit on my report card? I had to figure out all by myself, which was more concern than I had to have when I was back in Korea, where students don't have to worry about arranging classes since they have certain number of hours of required classes all planned ahead. I do not agree with all-optional schedules at universities, because I would have hard time learning which subjects are actually beneficial for my studies and which are not. Therefore, I would like to have a certain and reasonable number of required classes for a delineanation of my university career.
Moreover, a student might feel like changing major that fits better for him or her, after all. When I was in Korea, since I went to Foreign Language High School, I had chance to study merely on social studies and language oriented classes. However, I was, as other students were, required to take first-year-basic science. Therein, I realized that I have better interest and passion in science, especially Biology and Chemistry, rather than Law and Society or Korean Modern History. If the education system did not require students to attend certain mendatory requirements to meet the average education level, I would have had less chance of finding my true ardor in such fields. Thanks to the mendatory classes which helped me find a better fit, I now have a better direction towards my dreams.
Taking students' will for choosing all classes they want in to account, it might be a deleterious option to do that since students have a good chance to miss any opportunities they could have in mendatory classes. Although I do not encourage the universities to have all-planned curricula, but I certainly do think it is important to have at least one or two requirement subjects for each semester or year to guide students to have better idea about their majors. |