College Students Should Have Complete Freedom to Choose Their Own Courses

University majors usually have their own specific requirements for students to graduate. I am a full time student, and my major is Mechanical engineering. In order to graduate I have to complete 129 credits. Usually every class is about 3 credits. First time in order to register for classes my advisor helped me. I didn’t have an idea what courses should I take or which courses would be comfortable for me. My advisor helped me to register for classes, some of them I haven’t even heard of. First semester was the hardest for me to deal with the reason being an International student and with English as a second language.

Choosing my own classes will give me a freedom to evaluate myself and as I know my knowledge and understanding, I can take only the amount of credits and subjects which will challenge me but not be a burden. I see a lot of students struggle due to their classes, both physically and mentally. Long classes and lots of homework makes it hard to study independently about the topic, sometimes one might lose interest in the class due to these reasons. These classes are usually dropped or students end up getting a bad grade. So I think it is necessary to give students an opportunity to choose the classes which will help them become good students and also keep their interest in the major alive.

Choosing my classes also gives me an opportunity to fulfill the pre requirements for the further classes. As my engineering department has a spiral curriculum which means one has to take basic classes in order to have a better understanding and to qualify for the further classes. Sometimes advisors without understanding the situation of a particular student may assign classes which might create hindrance with fulfilling pre requirements. This actually happened to a friend of mine he was assigned some classes but when he went to register for next term his advisor didn’t had any classes for him because the student took classes which didn’t fulfill the pre requirements for the new classes. This is why students must be given a choice to choose their own classes.

Choosing my classes also give me an opportunity to graduate early than the suggested time period by the university. Most of my friends struggle to graduate in four years. The university curriculum is organized in such a way that the classes offered in the fall are not offered in spring (higher level classes i.e. junior and senior). If I was given a choice to choose my own classes I would go with couple of easy classes which wouldn’t require more attention or mental stress and some major classes which have a lot of work and stress involved. If I was to do this, it will help me maintain a good GPA and also complete my degree in less than 4 years. This is why I think it would be a great idea to let students choose their own classes.

As Einstein says that the only thing interferes in his learning is his education. I truly don’t want this to happen to me. I like to learn and take my time to grasp the knowledge which is provided. The main three reasons I would like to have the choice of choosing classes are firstly is that it will help me to understand and deal better with the classes, secondly I will be able to fulfill my pre requisites for further classes, and thirdly I can graduate earlier than the suggested time period for my major. All these reason makes me think that not only me but a lot of students like me would love to have the choice of choosing their own classes by themselves.