I was going to carry over some of the conversation from the "dark side" in a thread I started that went sideways in a good way but Seahawk pooched it!
Z-man mentioned student loan forgiveness in my thread. From there I said that I felt part of the problem is the mandatory coursework that a college requires to make a "well rounded student". I feel that we could reduce student debt simply by giving the student more choice in the coursework. Colleges, in my opinion, should exist to prepare a person for the work in their degree field.
A few felt that the mandatory liberal arts classes were beneficial to their development as a person. I don't disagree with things like music, art, poetry, history and other subjects being part of an education. I just feel that it shouldn't be mandatory that a person be strapped with college debt if those subjects aren't something they are really interested in. My point was that it should be up to the student to determine if those things are important enough for them to pay for those classes or if they'd rather apply the money for those classes towards degree specific classes.
From my own experience, I enjoy art, music of all genres (and I do mean all), poetry, history and many other things without ever attending college to gain an appreciation for them. They were things I found interesting. They are things that I tried to introduce my kids to as well. I think that's partly why my oldest daughter said she would have rather had the money for certain required classes go towards her degree specific coursework.
So what do you guys say? Should students be required to take classwork they aren't necessarily interested in? Keep in mind that kids today are exposed to more things through the internet so they probably have a better feel for what they like or don't like.
I would like to point out that if people here in OT could have seen the discussion that took place, you'd find that there can indeed be good discussions over on the dark side.