I'm working on research to figure out who decided that American college
students have to go to college for four years to get a bachelor's degree. I'm not
convinced that's necessary for everyone.
One thing colleges need to do is to figure out how to offer a
degree in three years. Personally, I am strongly in favor of the traditional
"liberal arts education," and I have one. However, many students don't want
this, and, ipso facto, they don't need it.
Typically, a four-year undergraduate degree includes about a
year of "liberal arts, general
education" courses required for every major: the traditional liberal arts courses in history, the arts,
ethics, foreign language, science and so on.
Many students want the specific, academically rigorous training for a
degree in psychology or biology or managements or whatever, and they don't want
the general education "liberal arts" add-on.
I'm not the first person to suggest this: Let those students earn
a degree in three years, call it a "professional degree" or something to distinguish it from the traditional four-year liberal arts degree.
And let them (and their parents) chop 25% off the cost of their
college education.
Let's chew on this idea for a while. There's a lot of common sense
in it.
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