I am frustrated.

It is close to R-day, that is “Registration Day,” for me, and I feel empty. Not only are most of the classes I want to take already CLOSED, but now I am stuck trying to pick an arbitrary class to fulfill one of my science requirements. I am a psychology major and have to choose random science electives so I can have a “well-rounded” liberal education.

I simply don’t understand the logic of this. Doesn’t the whole “well-rounded” concept lie in the depths of high school, where you are presented with a false glimmer of democracy but are subjected to taking certain classes or else you’ll fail and flip burgers for a living? I think yes.

College, on the other hand, should offer you a chance to do what you really want to do, minus the bullshit. College should allow students to be devoted to an area of study rather than a basic pseudo-skimmer of sorts, fluffed up with gen-eds that don’t pique the student’s interest.

For instance, I don’t understand how me taking a “Volcanoes and Earthquakes” class will have anything to do with my future career (unless of course I will be dealing with a patient who is obsessively paranoid about them or has some sort of fetish issues with them).

I guess my stance is that there should be options present where you can choose more electives within your study of interest, instead of more classes that don’t really do anything for you in the long run. I feel it is wasteful. Instead of paying for a class that you are taking just to fulfill a requirement, you can be learning more useful information and becoming more qualified in your field.

Also, if there was more of a leniency in requirements, perhaps more people would have a chance to double major or minor in something that they are interested in. Otherwise, the University should really consider making some of those nonsense core classes bigger — it’s a demand and supply thing (see, I am well-rounded … look at that econ knowledge).

Nicole Zimmerman is a sophomore psychology major. She just might end up taking “Bio 257: Platypus: mammal or more?” next semester.