I’m not a fan of the core curriculum at Mercyhurst. I feel that it takes away from many other opportunities such as study abroad.
By the time I am a senior, I will have all of my major classes done. I would love to study abroad; however, because of the core, I will not be able to do that without taking more than four years. Making someone go more than four years because they missed a few core classes is silly.
I understand the importance of being well-rounded, but I do not think that some of the core classes help with this. I took religion my freshman year. I do not feel like I have used any of the information that I learned. Frankly, I do not remember most of what we learned. This is very frustrating because I paid for this class and took time out of my schedule for it.
This time could be used for other important electives that will help my major or, as I will state again, study abroad.
Other students are in the same position as I am. One of my good friends is a double major. She will have to stay an extra term because she does not have enough time to fulfill core classes in four years while taking all of her classes that are required for both degrees.
Many of the core classes should be optional. I think that taking a science with a required lab takes a lot of time that I could use for my major classes. This also presents a problem in itself. Core classes like the sciences are more difficult than major classes. When I am spending more time on a class that does not matter to my career, I get discouraged and upset.
I am usually an A student. I work hard for the grades I get. However, when core classes begin taking away from my major classes, that’s when I start calling it quits on core.
This hurts my GPA as well my motivation to learn other things outside of the major. This is opposite of what the core intends to do—make you well-rounded. If you become uninterested in a topic because it is taking away from the classes that give you a degree, then what is the point of them in the first place?
If the entire core is not made optional, then I think that certain sections should be optional. For example, the literature section, I understand that literature is important, but what in the world does that have to do with Communication?
I understand that we have feature sections in the newspaper, but what if I’m already versed in literature, or whatever subject it may be?
That’s another idea. If we are already well-versed in a subject, why are we forced to take more classes on it? The time used to learn something we already know could be used for our major.
Overall, I think that the core should be optional in one of the ways I suggested. It takes away time from our schedules. The time lost could be used to do other academic activities that are equally or more important to us.