In response to Carly Cody’s article in the Daily Bruin “Reserve GEs for underclassmen” (Jan. 14), I respectfully disagree with her proposal to require students to finish their general education requirements by the end of their sophomore year.
I understand the reasons for her idea, but I don’t think it is necessarily to every student’s advantage to follow such a plan.
I am currently a fourth-year electrical engineering and computer science student at UCLA.
While I understand things are different under the School of Engineering and Applied Science (engineers are required to take only five GEs), I would not have wanted to finish all my GEs by the end of my second year.
It was actually beneficial to have a couple of GEs remaining for my third and fourth years at UCLA.
Those two years are mainly spent taking upper division courses that fulfill one’s major.
Consequently, a GE provides a breath of fresh air with a subject matter that is totally unrelated to one’s major.
For example, I recently took Music History 68, the history of the Beatles. Learning about the Fab Four is a nice break from electrical concepts, theories and equations, as well as stressful computer programming projects.
Before that, I took a course on stem cells and the ongoing controversy around them. I really enjoyed and appreciated this course, much more so than I would have as a first year just taking the class to finish my required GEs on time.
While I see why Cody believes what she said, I don’t think it’s a necessary course of action.
Students should be able to take what classes they want when they want, en route to their diplomas.
Forcing students to finish all their GEs early may make it harder for them to plan out their four-year schedule.
Students may have to take multiple GEs during their second year that they don’t even want to take just to complete the requirement.
I’d much rather take GE classes that I’m interested in whenever I want.
I’m going to spend my career as an electrical engineer, so why not take a GE on the Beatles right before I graduate?
As long as I still get my diploma on time, I don’t think there’s much of an issue.
Maximilian Wong
Fourth-year, electrical engineering and computer science