In any accredited institution of higher education, among the requirements for general education in this modern age are two courses that have perplexed me for some time now. The purpose of general education courses is to give young students a wide base of knowledge as they prepare to enter their assorted career paths. More often than not, the classes used to fulfill these requirements afford the student no real value in their intended occupation; they simply provide the student with a broad base of knowledge. Some types of knowledge, however, prove to be much more valuable than other types of knowledge.
What could be deemed as trivial knowledge are the English classes required for any undergraduate degree: English 1010 and English 2010, Beginning and Intermediate Writing respectively. The classes highlight the correct format for writing academic papers and citing sources in these works. Those having passed through these courses will tell you that these are some of the main things that were taught, or at least a few of the things that required an increased effort on their part relative to the other curricula for the class. Many other things were taught during the course of the year, but the mind remembers most what it worked to learn. If only these two things are remembered from the course of an entire two semesters of English courses, what is to be said concerning the reminder of the material presented by the course?
If there are two courses that should be required for undergraduate students let them be applicable to them not only in school but in life. There exists a class focused completely on grammar of the English language. Let this be an acceptable substitute. Society as a whole is almost completely ignorant of the simple rules governing the written aspect of the language they speak. Let us return to the basics and teach students that they way a text message is written. Some of theses basic skills have professedly been taught during secondary education. So have both foreign and domestic history, but that does not clear the necessity of having to renew and increase the study again at a university. Grammar is much the same. The structure of written English is unknown to many and ought to be a point of focus rather than teaching the format of academic writing. If there must be a class that teaches students the art of the written language, let it be Grammar.
And if correct formatting must be taught, let it be the a format that will apply to the student for more than the duration of just that course. How often is one required to write an academic paper outside of an English class? If there be any other circumstance that answers this question it would be only in another classroom setting. In the real world, academic writing is outdated and all but obsolete. The format for writing has been streamlined and created into a work where the most important information can be accessed quickly and without complications. Citing references and sources has been made easier and more pertinent by means of the business world. If there is a class on formatting that ought to be required, let it be Business Writing. Any career field requires communication between individuals working in that field. You do not have to be an executive to find that there is a need for knowing how to write a quick memo to those that work with you. Even the complement of the literary enthusiast, a scientist, will need to know how to properly write down his processes in a format will be useful to others. If there is a class that is to be required to teach proper formatting and citation, let it be Business Writing.
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