There has been a number of debates as to whether college students should be given the opportunity to choose their courses or not. Like any contentious subject, there has to be opposition and those in support of the issue. While others are of the opinion that, courses should be chosen for college students, others believe that, students should be given complete freedom to choose the courses they would love to study. When students join college, they are forced to study for subjects they do not want to. Many students complain that they are not allowed to choose subjects they are interested in; rather, they are forced to take compulsory subjects. In addition, students complain that, they are forced to spend their entire years in college doing things they really do not need. This is very wrong because, college students should have more freedom to choose their own courses for several reasons. To start with, students are always interested in studying different subjects, and they love courses they choose to study. Moreover, if students are allowed to study the courses they choose, it will be easy for them to concentrate ,and work hard in order to excel in this courses.
Additionally, if students are forced to study too many subjects or to take courses they have no interest in, they feel pressured and tired. As a result, they will be forced to drop the subjects at some point, because they have no interest in it at all. Also, it will lead to poor performance because, they will not be interested in the course, thus they will not take their studies seriously. The students will be forced to drop the course because, they will lose interest in the classes or because they got bad grades after being forced to take the course.
Finally, it is relevant for someone to have the freedom to choose whatever he or she like in order to excel and pursue his or her careers. Students can only be motivated to study hard if they are allowed to choose to study what they are interested in. The motivation factor is by allowing them to choose what they want to study. Therefore, in order to make students happy to join college and work hard in their studies, the education board should think twice about forcing students to choose certain courses, and allow them choose for themselves.
Conversely, there are still a number of people who still believe that college students should be forced to study all or certain subjects. Their argument is that students need all-round development, and this can be done by choosing for them what is best. Moreover, they argue that, if students are allowed to choose the courses they want, they will choose easy courses, which will be of no value to them in future. They will also choose courses of the nice and kind teachers, for the reason that, students hate harsh teachers, and they will do anything to avoid them, even if it means putting their future at stake by choosing irrelevant courses.
The second reason given as to why students should not be allowed to choose their own courses is that, they might base their opinion of the courses on assumptions and statements from the people around them. Through this assumption, they might end up choosing the wrong course which will contribute to their failing. Moreover, they will choose easy courses so as to please their parents with their grades. Students need more qualified personnel to help them choose their courses other than being given complete freedom to do so. In addition, students are not well experienced to be allowed to choose the courses to pursue in college, and therefore, they will require someone to steer them on what is important for their future. Students should not be allowed to choose the subjects they are interested in because, they need to expand their knowledge and skills in different subjects. Students should be guided to choose a suitable course for a good career, other than being left to choose courses that will not be of help to them in the future.
I totally support the fact that, college students should be given an opportunity to choose their courses. According to Galotti, nobody knows better what is best except the students themselves (380). If they are allowed to choose their own courses, they will work hard because they love what they are doing. In addition, they will do further research on the subjects and the results will be high since, all of them will excel. Besides, if students are given a chance to choose their subjects, it will help them become better students, and to keep their major alive. Students should be allowed more power on what they choose to study. Why should students be forced to take subjects that are irrelevant to their major, or forced to take courses they are not interested in? By choosing subjects for them, this will be doing more harm that good to them because they will lose interest in their studies.
Works Cited
Galotti, Kathleen M.. "Making a "major" real-life decision: College students choosing an academic major". Journal of Educational Psychology 91.2 (1999): 379–387.
