Purpose: To persuade the audience that general education classes are unnecessary.

Thesis: General education classes are not necessary.

Claim: Claim of value
Organization Pattern: Categorical
I.

Introduction
A. Attention-Getter: We all remember that little chart we got during Preview. We all
remember being told we had to take at least two years worth of general education
courses no matter what major was. If we were art majors, we still had to take math
and science courses. Journalism majors probably wont care about biology class,
and marketing majors probably couldnt care less about English. Time is being
wasted.
B. Relevance: So, in how many of your classes do you want to set yourself on fire
in? I have a good feeling you answered all of your gen-eds besides Com 110 with
Jake, of course. As college freshman, every one of us are taking general education
classes and most, if not all of are classes having nothing to do with our major.
C. Credibility: After four years of high and plenty of gen-ed courses, I often find
myself bored in class and find them pointless because I am wasting time and
effort on a class that has nothing to do with the reason I am in college, which is to
get a degree.
D. Thesis: Therefore, I find general education classes to be repetitive and
unnecessary because I could spend the time, money, and effort on classes that are
suitable for desired degree.
E. Preview: To fully understand why college students shouldnt take general
education, I will first analyze how much money we spend on general education
classes, the time we spend on general education classes in college and how we
should focus on more major related classes.

Transition: To being I will elaborate on how much money we waste on general

education classes.
II.

Body
A. According to the official studentaccounts.illinoisstate.edu website last updated
on Fall 2013, accessed on November 13th, 2013, the average cost per credit
hour at Illinois state university is around $422. And for those of you taking 15
credit hours this semester, that is around $6000. Near the end of the year, our
tuition without room and board is around $12000. For most of us, we are
spending $12,000 on classes we already have knowledge in, or have nothing
to do with our major. In an article written by Alyssa Pracz, published on

Wednesday, April 13, 2011 titled General education courses are a waste of
time and money, College is so expensive that it is hard to justify taking
classes that ultimately do not help you in your career. Upon graduating, most
students are faced with the daunting task of paying off all of their debt
accumulated through student loans. It would be much easier to do this if the
four years and thousands of dollars were spent cultivating skills that are
essential to the student's ability to pursue his or her intended career path.
There seriously is just so many better ways that we could spend this crazy
amount of money on especially because right after college, we are most likely
on our own.
Transition: Continuing on, just about half of the time we spend in college is spent on
taking general education classes.
B. Scholar Courtney Buell, in her article titled Is it Time to Change the Gen Ed
Core? Published on August 1, 2013 accessed on November 13th, 2013
General education core classes have been a part of the college model for
decades, but college students cant afford to spend time and money on classes
that wont help them get jobs. Moreover, in Jack Bakers article, General
education classes produce well-rounded students, Published on April 13, 2011
he states, Some students think that general education classes should not be
required because they are not relevant to their majors, but these classes are
important in creating well-rounded students. However, we already have that
basic general education from Elementary school, middle school, and high
school.
Transition: Lastly, it would be more beneficial for us to take fewer classes in a semester,
to focus more solely on the classes that are most important for our majors.
C. In the same article written by Alyssa Pracz,It would be much more beneficial
to spend the first two years studying more thoroughly for your major than
wasting your time worrying about your grades for general education courses.
I find this to be true because I am in one major class and four gen-ed classes
right now and I worry way more and accumulate so much more stress than
any of my gen-ed classes compared to my one major class. However,
according to a study done by the University of Massachusetts called General
Education: Students Perspectives, Two-thirds (of students) feel that it is a
valuable component of their education and contributes to their understanding
and enjoyment of other courses. Fewer, but still over half, believe general
education provides information that they will need for the workplace. Yes,
General education classes may have benefits for those who are undecided in
their major but for those of us who know their major, we are wasting time,
money, and effort on classes that have no benefit to us. By making general
education classes optional, students who know what their major is can stay
focused on their major classes, spend less time and money in college, and

students who do not know their major can take classes accordingly to possibly
determine their future major.
Transition: By learning why we shouldnt take general education classes, it is time for
all of us to take action!
III.

Conclusion
A. Thesis Summary: In conclusion, there are many reasons why taking general
education classes should not be required. Gen-ed courses cost time, money, and
stress that could be all placed and used more efficiently on classes we need to
complete for our majors. We should be given a choice to learn what we are
interested in, while being constantly reminded not to overlook other subject areas.
In this way, all of us would have different skills and specializations, enabling
everyone to contribute to the society in one way or another in the most effective
way. According to scholar Shane Wade, in his article General education in
generally a waste of time, published on 2013, January 1. Its unfortunate, but
taking an introductory class for a subject non-critical to the expressed purpose for
being here, while experientially valuable, has become too tiresome and costly for
students.
B. Call to Action: We should start talk around campus and inform other students the
advantages of not taking gen-ed courses. Moreover, we could really get the
campus talking; starting groups and you can sign my petition to start the
movement of making general education course optional.
C. Memorable Close: So let's do something about it. Let's figure out a better way
for college students to receive the education they want and not have to re-learn
what they already know. Let's figure out a way for the boredom to decrease and
the learning to increase. And let's figure out a way for us to become smarter
people instead of wasting time and money. That's what we all want, right?