As a typical pioneer in revolutionary stuff, UnB, our city's university, has proposed some changes for the next years in its undergraduate system. The proposal is that students who enter the university would have to study two years of general subjects, in other words, for two years they would study the basics of all fields covered by the university's departments, and only after these two years the undergraduate student would choose his/her major and then start taking the specific subjects. What do you think about this proposal?
I'm looking forward to reading your comments!
7 comments:
universities are the institutions which give license education. normally in every country general subjects are given at high schools. why do the students have to study general subjects for two years at universiy again. From my point of view, university authorities should consider the possible outcomes of this new method. for instance firstly the can try pilot work at this area. If the results wolud be affirmative, later, they can convert the education system.
I like the idea of piloting first...
Thanks so much for your comment!
Ronaldo, I need more information to make a point. Will these basic subjects eliminate the possibility to get extra general subjects, as it happened before??
I'm not sure, but I think the "módulo livre" subjects (I think that's what you were referring to) will still exist.
In my opinion, this proposal is a waste of time. We should take the basic subjects as the same time as the major´s, because it's important to start right away the undergraduate program of your choice. If you change your mind and find out that the major you have choosen is not exactly what you thought,you´ll have time to choose another one. When we go to college, we hope to study exactly what we planned. We don´t want to wait 2 more years. If this proposal is implemented, we might not be motivated.
However, studying basic subjects is necessary,especially because the undergraduated subjects are not the same as the ones we take in high school. But more important than this is to maintain the "módulo livre",which allows us to improve our curriculum with extra knowledge, according with our choice. American universities have a similar program. Students choose their major after completing their second year of general education. The students who are not certain about their major can identify themselves as undeclared at the time of admission. "Being undeclared provides the opportunity to explore a variety of courses in different areas of interest". If the brazilian proposal follows this same rule, taking the basic subjects is not going to be a waste of time because the students will have the opportunity to explore other areas and, after that,choose their major.
I agree with the motivational part, and I also like the possibility of entering college not declaring the major you'd like to have, after all, deciding your whole-life profession when you're 17 years old may be harsh on some teenagers.
This topic (taking two years of general topics and then two years of topics focused on a particular field of study) is very interesting--mostly because (as Raquel pointed out), this is the more or less the normal organization of undergraduate coursework in U.S. universities. In many (most?) U.S. universities, however, you can take courses in a particular field of study from the beginning.
When I studied for my B.S., I had to take a core of general education courses (in English, history, physical education, science, and so on), and I took most of these courses during my first two years, but I didn't complete all of my general education requirements until the end of my fourth year.
I agree with what Ronaldo said: " . . . Deciding your whole-life profession when you're 17 years old may be harsh on some teenagers." It was for me! In undergraduate school, I had a major and a minor in music, but when I began teaching music, I hated it. After several difficult years of teaching music, I changed my major in graduate school . . . twice! I ended up getting an M.A. in Teaching English as a Foreign Language, and I've been involved in that area for more than 30 years.
In my case, exploring courses in different areas of interest didn't help (except in making it clear to me that I wasn't well suited for--or interested in--certain fields). What was necessary for me was to get a degree and start working in the field that I thought I wanted as a career and then to figure out what to do when I learned that even though the subject matter was interesting, teaching in that field "wasn't for me."
Best wishes to all from
Dennis in Phoenix
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