Is there a problem with "Core Curriculum" schools?

Lindagaf
Tue, 28 Jun 2022 13:22:59 +0000

I am thankful every day I didn’t have to take physics. Haha!

Here is a sad but true story which illustrates the downside of core requirements…

As a high achieving tenth grader, I dropped algebra, where I got a C, to move back to prealgebra. I got a D. For the rest of high school, it was all down hill from there.

I attended CC for longer than I should have, after which I simply applied to my local state U. The degree had a math requirement. Saying that math is not my thing is an understatement.

Once at college, I enrolled in and dropped algebra again. So, I thought I would try statistics instead. This is completely ridiculous, but 18 year old me simply though of statistics as interesting facts. I had no idea it was a whole branch of mathematics. Imagine my surprise on the first and last day of the stats class, when I learned no interesting statistics whatsoever. (That’s my kids’ favorite story about my college career. Ironically, both excelled at stats.)

Time passed and I began to get very concerned about meeting the math requirement in order to graduate. I was now a junior. Summer session came along, and at last, I found a math class I could take and pass! It was called Liberal Studies Math. I only remember that we were taught how many ways to recombine the letters in the word Australia. I took the class Credit/No Credit and passed with flying colors. The very next semester, that class was discontinued.

I graduated with my degree and never thought about math again…or so I thought. For MANY years, I would occasionally have nightmares that I didn’t actually get my degree because I had failed to meet the math requirement.

Moral: Core requirements might cause some students a LOT of stress and anxiety. Better for students to know that about themselves, but also, there’s a lot they can do to get through hard classes. Don’t be like me, who never once went for tutoring or met with a professor.