By: Tamali Smith
Who wants to spend more? Who wants to stay in the imprisonment of something called college? Do you want to stay up long nights studying for a test that does not prove your ability in the workforce? Do you want to sit in a classroom daily, when you could be earning money, traveling or sleeping? These are the sacrifices that students have to make on a daily basis. The fight to survive the dread of school is nothing but a waste of time, energy and money. Why does the period to earn a degree take four years when it could have been a lot shorter?
There are some students who would love nothing more but to shorten the years spent at school, and so they labor hard to finish in three years, one year short of the required four years spent on average in college. This comes with paying for the extra courses, going to summer school and having less fun and enjoyment. However, when these students graduate after three years, they are much happier. Lucky for some students, schools are now offering accelerated programs such as Saint Leo University. Saint Leo’s accelerated program, otherwise called 3+1 program, offers three years of undergraduate degree and a year of masters. Although this program takes more energy and is very fast paced, it shows the extent of how a degree can be earned in a timely fashion. Three years for bachelors and one for masters. How hard can that be?
Degrees tend to be highly sought after, but at the end of the day they are just a piece of paper. Credit: saintleoinkblot
No one is against college or higher education learning. It is a good way for students to learn not only about the subject matter or profession they are aspiring to be in but also about themselves. College has enabled many students to find themselves, friends that last a lifetime and even their passions. It creates a way to make a higher income in the workforce and who doesn’t want to make money. According to educationcorner.com, another benefit of college is that it provides better career opportunities. Alongside this, it creates better job satisfaction and job security while molding you into being better at your profession. However, do we need four years to explore these possibilities and opportunities? Do we need four years to develop a professional mindset and gain knowledge in our respective field? Science majors do have a plethora of information that they need to understand. However, it is a complete waste of time for business majors, English majors and others to spend that many years in college. Let’s take business majors for example, the information taught in college is gained more through experience. Many persons after becoming managers do not remember or use half of the things they learned in college. Instead, their experience over the years has assisted them better in learning about their jobs.
There are a couple of things we can change about colleges. The one year of university explorations can be cut down to a semester with just a few classes. By semester two, the students should be briefly exploring his or her major. The last semester should be used to explore internships, and between those semesters, the student should be able to learn about their desired profession. Another thing that can be changed in universities is the long four-month break. Students do not need four months to debrief and enjoy summer. Instead, they could catch up on other courses.
Furthermore, there is a typical one month break in December. Thirdly, the student should have the opportunity to take no less than five courses per term. All these things would ultimately shorten the amount of time spent in college to three years for a bachelor’s degree and one year for a master’s degree. If the student wishes to extend this, they can. According to geteducated.com, the benefits of a shorter degree includes saving time and saving money. Students will also be more motivated to do well with a shorter period. Scholars will also get more time in the world of work which will help them to understand their careers and what it entails.
Agency Caicedo, a junior majoring in accounting was once an honors student. However, she dropped the prestigious honors minor to focus on her major which would help her to graduate much quicker. “In my opinion, universities should focus more on making sure that students do classes that focus more on topics related to their major. There is no need for a lot of religion and science classes for a business major especially since we did these things in high school. It is a waste of time and money,” stated Caicedo. She also lamented on the fact that the honors program should focus on taking upper-level classes within the person’s major.
In conclusion, the standard four-year university experience does not necessarily have to be that. Depending on the major, this timeline is completely arbitrary and can be done in even less time.
