The construction of educational programs in colleges and universities has always been one of the hottest matters of debate since the appearance of universities and colleges' educational systems. There are different opinions on whether students should only pass required courses or there should be some elective courses that students can take. Some people hold the idea that students should be given the option of taking optional courses. However, others, with whom I comply, believe that pupils are more likely to dissipate their invaluable time by taking elective courses. In what follows, I will delineate my viewpoint on the ground of two persuasive reasons.
Without a doubt, the most consequential point corroborating my stance on this subject is that if students put all their efforts and concentration into some required courses that are pertinent to their field of study, they can improve their knowledge to a great extent. Consequently, they attain relatively more profound knowledge in their area of interest, which results in their prosperity in their future career, whether academic or industrial. Moreover, students are so involved in various stuff during their college studies. Some of them become research assistants or teaching assistants to their professors. Others may do part-time jobs to make some money and get experience. As a result, if the required courses are specified beforehand by professors or a certain committee who are in charge, the pupils are more likely to be put on the right path. To sum up, if universities or colleges assign the required courses to students, they are able to concentrate on studying, improving their grades and knowledge, and are more likely to stay on a path to success.
Although the previous reason is the first one crossing the mind at first glance, another remarkable point deserving some words here is that students, most of them, if not all of them, treat elective courses as they are not serious. They do not put adequate effort into these courses and do not attend the elective courses classes much frequently. According to one survey conducted by MIT researchers, the absence rate in elective courses, no matter which departments, are twice the required courses. This high absence rate leads to a waste of time and low achieving low scores in optional courses. Accordingly, students would ruin their future due to a diminution in their cumulative GPA, and more importantly, they would lose their self-confidence. Thus, taking elective courses might seem conducive to students at first, but they would not provide students with promising advantages.
To make the long story short, and reflecting upon all the aforementioned grounds, one soon realizes that colleges and universities should determine what courses the students should take and eliminate the elective courses so that the students will not waste their time and stay on the path that leads them toward prosperity.