General Core Classes

Why should I have to take courses not in my major?

Welcome back, or should I say glad to be back…

This year I have been finishing up my General Studies associates degree. When I started this journey, I went into this with a poor mindset. Being in leadership positions for over eleven years made me falsely believe I was too good to have to take unnecessary courses. I stayed away from returning to college for many years because I strongly felt that since I want a degree in leadership, then there should be no reason for me to have to take History, Science, English, etc. As I am finishing up my first degree in December, reflecting back on my courses has humbled me and made me realize just how much I have learned and can use in my future.

Photo by Alexander Grey on Unsplash

What I originally thought was a scam for colleges to get more money out of people actually taught me different perspectives and honed my critical thinking skills. Luckily, Tennessee has the Tennessee Reconnect program, so I am getting my associate's degree for free. This past year I have taken Spanish 1 & 2, Intro to Art & Music, Modern U.S. History, Topics in American Literature, and Fundamentals of Communication. I was worried this would be similar to high school where my experience was just memorization or names and dates. However, rather than focusing on “who, what, and when” in these courses, the focus was the “why”.

Starting with History, the class dug into great details about major moments that formed our economy. I was able to learn about the successes of our Presidents on both the Republican and Democrat side. The course challenged our ethics showing possibilities in our economy if our leaders had chosen different paths during their presidency. Spanish was not just learning the language, but I was able to learn more about the culture. Literature showed me different literacy devices and how they were used to influence others during their time periods. This has helped me gain a better understanding of how our previous generations grew up and how their beliefs and behaviors were influenced. Lastly, the class that I thought I needed the least, Fundamentals of Communication showed me methods of speech organization to better my structure of writing and lectures to help grab others attention.

I have decided that core classes should continue to be a requirement. It is important to understand history and other cultures on a deeper scale. Learning about literary devices has allowed me to reflect back on books I have read in the past as well as better understand future works I may read. Overall, the main skill to gain from these courses is critical thinking. Being graded not on my memorization skills but rather on my ability to explain my opinions on a subject and discuss with other classmates as helped me with my communication and comprehension. I believe taking these courses before I get into my management and leadership courses will provide me an advantage with my writing and research. I look forward to what is next in my education, and hope that any of you planning to attend or return to college can go in with a mindset of opportunity.

Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash

UPDATE!

For future post, I want to focus on the main content at the start with my usual updates and comments being at the end now. It reminded me of when you are looking up a recipe and you can to scroll through an entire life story about why they love the dish before you actually get the recipe. No one likes that method so I will no longer put anyone through that lol.

I am now ENGAGED! My fiancé Claire has been my pillar of support throughout everything, and I would not be where I am now without her. We are very excited to get married very soon! I have also accepted a new opportunity and will be leaving my current job to move to the heart of Tennessee. I will continue to work on improving my leadership and communication. I have plans already for getting my master’s degree after I finish my bachelor’s with MTSU. The future goal is to achieve my PhD in Leadership (maybe it will be cheaper by then, whew…) and one day finish my book to help fellow leaders or aspiring leaders grow.

SHOUT OUT to Jimmy Peterson!!!! (not related to Claire lol) He always stops by during my live streams on Twitch.tv and has been eager for me to start writing again! Hope you are doing well Jimmy. I can’t promise to consistently post as much as I did before but in between semesters I will stive to get more content out.

Photo by Baim Hanif on Unsplash

I will continue to have the paid subscriptions turned off. Just having everyone’s visual support is enough for me! One day in the future when I have time to post multiple times a week, maybe then I will turn payments back on.

“Education is for improving the lives of others and for leaving your community and world better than you found it.” - Marian Wright Edelman