As far as future career is concerned, students benefit indisputably from tertiary education in different ways. It is opined that university students should be free to pick their subjects, while other people believe that only subjects essential in the future, such as science and technology, should be included in the college curriculum. In this essay, I will look at both sides of the argument and give my opinion.
There is a common belief that students could choose their majors of study. A reason for this is that students could devote themselves completely to their favourite areas, where they can master the skills and make( full )use of what they learnt to practice. Besides, which subjects will prove to be useful in the long term is not the thing that can be predicted. Thus, any skills learnt with great passion could set the future trend, becoming advantages of graduates acquiring those.
On the other hand, it is also believed that it is subjects relevant to science and technology that students should focus on in colleges. To begin with, students given the absolute freedom to pick subjects cannot have sufficient knowledge that is crucial for their career. For instance, some students take the same elective in different semesters, not realising that they are not making good use of their time to built up their specialist knowledge. Furthermore, in this globalised and modernised world, development of a nation highly depends on the technological-savvy workforce which should be yielded be universities. Mastering knowledge related to science and technology, graduates can become high-quality participants in the current competitive job market, also adapt to the future circumstances and develop themselves professionally.
In my opinion, there should be an integration of both ways of learning. Namely, universities should provide their students with a certain number of subjects, some of which, the facilitating subjects such as Mathematics, Physics or Chemistry should be mandatory in order for students to have a sound base for further studies. Having acquired the prerequisite subjects, students should be able to choose their advanced electives which they will apply completely on their work. A reason for this is that there are some academic studies that seem to be extraneous with students’ specialities. Students can opt out of such subjects to save their money and time.
In conclusion, whether tertiary students can take majors on their own choices or they should be obliged to learn solely career-relevant subjects is a widely debated issue. Although it stir passion for learning, the absolute freedom in choosing electives could reduce graduates’ employabilities while it is probably practical to learn ones already included in the curriculum. Personally, I believe that not all subjects should be made compulsory when it comes to learning efficiency; thus, university education should be flexible.