Throughout college we take a wide variety of classes, some
that are directed towards our major and some that are general education. No matter the class I think
we can all recall someone in the class asking the question, “why is this important”.
Many teachers respond by saying “you will use this in your future”, but
honestly we won’t. I would say 75% of the material taught in school we will not
use or we already know about it. So why are we forced to take meaningless
classes? I am still looking for the answer to that question, but in the
meantime there have been a few good classes I have taken while in college.
Since 75% of classes are pointless, what about the remaining 25%? Well
this can be seen differently by people in different majors and career paths
than myself. I have learned the most from two classes,
Economics 101 and Decision Sciences 412. If you have forgotten, I am a finance major and
I did not list a finance course. I think this is a good indication that there
is a flaw in the school system.
My economics class taught me great fundamental principles
that can be used throughout life and for my career. I think it is important for
everyone to know about supply and demand, especially if you are a business
major. Other good concepts to learn are consumer surplus, perfect competition, monopolies
and price discrimination. These are all key topics that can help you
throughout your career. My decision sciences class taught me more in depth and
hands on concepts. Supply chain management and forecasting are techniques
used to manage and stock your business properly. These really interested me and I feel like I could pursue a career in them.
So what makes a class so appealing to students? One reason
for sure is whether you have a good teacher. A good teacher is someone that knowledgeable
about the subject, and can answer almost any question in regards to the subject. They are someone who can keep the class entertained and be understanding. This really isn’t asking for much, but many
teachers lack these abilities. When they do lack these abilities the class can
be torturous. Ultimately we lose interest and do not want to continue learning. A good
teacher will stimulate a student to learn. I have taken 2 classes that have
been just awful. I am currently taking a investments class, and yes I am very
interested in investments and I want to learn, but my teacher just does not
know how to teach. He is knowledgeable about investments, but a student has asked him a basic question about a math problem and he simply stated, “I cannot answer that
right now”. I have never seen a teacher do that before. He is hard to
understand as well. He talks low and unclear. Another bad class I took was international
business. This was an online class, and all the teacher did was read slides. He was very monotone and restated the same ideas over and over. I think slides help
a class, but they should not be the class. There needs to be teaching involved,
or else I could basically teach myself.
It is sad to think that so much of our time being spent at
school is wasted. We pay to be educated so we should demand good
curricula. We need good teachers who are enthusiastic and classes that will
teach us what we need to know to succeed in our fields.
Maybe its time for our school to restructure our curriculum. I am a finance major as well and I feel that we can be taught things that are more related to our major. What would you say is the most important thing you were taught in your finance class?
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with restructuring our curriculum. My aunt and uncle moved there children to prague and they told me that the education is so different there and more effective. Check out this website. http://www.city-data.com/world-cities/Prague-Education.html - very interesting.
DeleteI honestly think the most important ideas i was taught in my finance class was how to use a calculator. As well as basic stock and interest rate uses. I think most of what we learn is through our job and school just gives us the minimum.
DeleteI feel that a lot of the things we are learning may relate but in the work field we may not use everything. A teacher once told me that although you may not use this process to answer a question it will help us understand it that much more. For example, learning how to calculate a mortgage payment is taught in finance but in the work field one would just plug in a few items into your calculator. I found Decision science to be a helpful class as well. I feel that when class work is related to the real world it helps us understand it that much more, not only that but it keeps us engaged. Teaching is an art and its not just about understanding the subject. To be a great teacher you must understand the art to teach, to keep people interested in the subject and have them craving for more.
ReplyDeleteThank you Jennifer, this was totally my point. That once we start our job or career they provide us with all the tools necessary to succeed. How often do you hear someone asking if you remember a formula you had in one of your classes? It never happens, we just need the basic concepts of the market and economy to get by. Everything else is based on what our job needs
DeleteThis is a very interesting statistic. I also feel that the amount of school we must take is so much. Twelve years to get our high school diploma and then another four solid years to get a BA! It's sad to think (but true) that we don't really learn too much about our major. The most training and learning we do is our hands on training when we lock down a job. I agree with Sarah about how maybe we need to restructure our curriculum.
ReplyDeleteI agree we go through a lot of schooling, and what for? We just learn very basic concepts. School should teach us about the real world. How to manage your finances and how to buy a house. I want hands on real world experience that I can take with me anywhere. High schools should have communication classes so we do not get stage fright. All these things that are just thrown at us, we should be prepared for.
Delete