I think the required Humanities courses in college are a waste of time

This is why I hate the idea that everyone "needs" to go to college.

University education is wasted on so many people.


/rant off

For those bringing in the "well rounded education" argument. Guess what? Im gonna forget about this "well rounded" education as soon as im done with the class and never will ever use it in life. Period.

First, it is exactly the same excuse 12 year olds make. It doesn't works for 12 year olds, it probably wont work for you.

Second, if you're going to college thinking you're going to get "practical experience" (ie, "stuff I will make use of"), you're bound to get disappointed.

You take the academic route because you like the academic route. If you don't like the academic route, then why do you take it? Go and learn some web oriented stuff, PHP, Javascript, Actionscript, etc, try to get a code monkey position somewhere and try to climb up the ladder. There you will get all the practical things you could ask for.

It would be nice if we had to take some humanities courses. I probably wouldn't have to deal with so many "I'm too cool to learn this" dudes who think the engineering route is the highway to godhood. /rant off

Honestly, why do we have to take these courses when we are not humanities major? Im currently taking a class in art history, and man it sooooo boring its like torture.

That does sound boring. Why don't you take a humanities course that actually interests you? I did a film studies course when I was in first year to get some art credits and thoroughly enjoyed the whole "watch a movie every class" thing.

I've got news for you -- I went to a game-specific school and *still* had to take art history/appreciation and an entry-level art class. And $180 covered about half a credit at my school. Money well spent though, because if you want to be a game developer, it turns out that you might have to talk to an artist in terms you can both understand.

Take a philosophy course on logic, or theory of the mind. They are usually humanities and useful for programmers, logic is obvious, theory of the mind might give you the ability to think about AI differently, any philosophy course will do that actually.

Art HIstory does sound boring... and I'm an artist. But I'm skeptical that you had to take it. At my school at least, there were dozens of classes cross-listed for "Viewing a Wider World" credit. I would think even small universities have a smattering of options available.

For those bringing in the "well rounded education" argument. Guess what? Im gonna forget about this "well rounded" education as soon as im done with the class and never will ever use it in life. Period.

The point is not about remembering the specifics of the content of such a class (Monet was born in XX year and his style evolved blah blah blah), it's about being exposed to other fields that would otherwise be completely alien.They might even be (shockingly) trying to get you thinking about things from a different perspective... God forbid higher education would try to get you thinking. And actually, unless you have the saddest career path ever, you will be dealing with people from many different fields, so having the ability to see things from different perspectives is actually very useful.

I still think its a waste of time and money and I wouldn't miss a thing if I didn't take them. Another question: why dont they allow us to take a courses on personal finance as a GE? That's be a lot more helpful in keeping people from swiping their plastic too much. How about a GE course in computer science? No way, learning about platos allegory of the cave is way more important to know :(

I took my humanities courses and it was okay, honestly programming classes were equally annoying to me since you had to start at the easy as hell low level stuff.

I understand the point you are making but I think that its too much of a focus on your small part in the world.

How seriously did you think about WHY you had to take those courses? Yes the vast majority of humans forget about any knowledge they don't use regularly. How many people are really going to use that trig they learned in high school? A lot of the point of college is to expose you to things you wouldn't normally come into contact with. So you hated art history. Okay. Don't take that again. Take sociology or psychology or any of the dozens of other possible GE courses. So many people in college change their major a dozen times or find new passions.

Ah, the joys of being young and thinking everything else isn't important or worth knowing...

I was just as wrong back then as you are now.

Ah, the joys of being young and thinking everything else isn't important or worth knowing...

I was just as wrong back then as you are now.

This.

My feeling is that if you don't relish taking every possible course outside your major, you deserve to be in college at all. Maybe I'm just an elitist snob, but there you have it.

Nobody wants to talk to a mindless Computer Science drone, nobody wants to date one, and for the most part, nobody wants to hire one either...

I'd rather be a mindless computer science drone, at least I enjoy it and it doesn't bore the heck out of me. At least this is my last GE class and never ever will I take them again whew. I believe college should be about options. Ione wants to take classes outside of his major which make him snore, then let him. But dont force the one who dont want to. I dont see. humities majors taking CS or business classes so why should I take theirs?

I dont see. humities majors taking CS or business classes so why should I take theirs?

If you stamp your feet and throw your arms up in the air you might just be able to sound a bit more like a child...

"mummy mummy it's not fair that I have to do this and others don't and wah wah wah..."

I dont see. humities majors taking CS or business classes so why should I take theirs?

I have. It happens. As far as I know, most humanities programs have a science credit requirement of some sort, though a more usual way to fulfil that requirement is to take something like geology or environmental sciences.

humities majors taking CS or business classes so why should I take theirs?

Either your school is unusual, or you don't socialize with enough of your classmates. My first year CS core class was about 80 students split between two groups. Core classes in second year when I was there was about 8 students if I remember correctly. 3/4ths of the students that didn't carry on in CS were mostly other science majors, with the rest arts and drop outs.

Also I don't know why anyone who wants to work in game development doesn't want to get a healthy dose of arts. Literature especially. I ended up rounding out several of my years course loads with English classes when I had a conflict between two science or business classes, and wound up with a minor in English Lit. That in turn drummed up several interesting job offers.

wound up with a minor in English Lit. That in turn drummed up several interesting job offers.

My Philosophy degree was invaluable when I was interviewing. The CS degree is there to keep HR from throwing out your resume right away, but particularly straight out of college (when you don't have a lot to show), it's the other stuff that let's you demonstrate just how valuable a hire you will be...

Aww, those whining about education threads.

Seriously, if you can't "bear" this situation and you waste your time whining about it instead of getting through it, you're into some tough life.

I'd rather be a mindless computer science drone, at least I enjoy it and it doesn't bore the heck out of me. At least this is my last GE class and never ever will I take them again whew. I believe college should be about options. Ione wants to take classes outside of his major which make him snore, then let him. But dont force the one who dont want to. I dont see. humities majors taking CS or business classes so why should I take theirs?

you can't predict when you will get bored of the thing you enjoy now. Don't fuck up your life by being that narrow minded and not able to change in the future.

Yet another BS from szecs, the wise.

My Philosophy degree was invaluable when I was interviewing.

After I'd finished my Soft. Eng. degree if I had had the cash I would have loved to have done a degree in Philosophy or Psychology... something a step away from the science and technical stuff I already knew.