No matter how many APs or IBs you took in high school, you’re going to have to take a few general education requirements at Binghamton University. No matter how trivial or pointless certain classes may seem, especially in your intended field, you will never be able to wear that green cap and gown without GenEds. While many students do not argue with the idea of general education requirements, what they want are skills that they will actually need in the real world. Below is a list of courses that should really be GenEds and certain GenEds that would be better left off the list.

Courses that should be GenEds

One course in sexual education — While a heath and wellness class may already be a GenEd, it’s doubtful that you’re actually going to get any real sexual education out of this requirement. As college students, we may already know about the basics of the birds and the bees (hopefully), but we aren’t necessarily fully knowledgeable about sex. When parents are out of the picture and hook-up culture is in full swing, college students have total sexual freedom for the first time in their lives. This means multiple partners, unprotected sex and a whole new bunch of STDs we’ve never heard of. What we need is health class 2.0, classes where instructors and students can have frank discussions about topics such as abortion, Plan B, date rape, the legal ramifications of spreading an STD and the proper usage of contraceptives.

One course in acting or public speaking — The “O” GenEd is kind of a joke. Face it, that five-minute presentation in Writing 111 was the easiest part of the class, and you probably read your part off of an index card. Instead of an “O” that can be fulfilled as part of another class, there should actually be a class where students are forced out of their comfort zone for an entire semester. In this society of texting, Facebook chatting and tweeting, we millennials are required to speak less and less. But job markets see public speaking as an invaluable asset. In fact, public speaking is the No. 1 fear in America. This GenEd would not only provide general speech skills such as improvisation and voice projection, but would also strengthen confidence.

One course in real world skills — Aside from the lucky few in the School of Management, the rest of us will be thrown into a fiery pit of taxes, mortgages and the DOW, whatever that means. Sure, we can have our moms teach us how to budget and balance a checkbook, but wouldn’t it be nice if we had one class that could teach us how to be a successful adult? A simple review of investments, health insurance, loans, the stock market and all of that good stuff would be more useful than humanities, pluralism and global interdependencies combined.

One course in basic understanding of our country’s politics and geography — The state of our student body’s political and geographical awareness is dismal, to say the least. BU is certainly not to blame; it’s simply our generation. Most of us get our news from social media and could not, if asked, identify all 50 states on a map. The University should certainly address this lack of general knowledge by requiring a class in current politics.

Courses that should not be GenEds

Laboratory Science — The mathematics requirement is understandable. Every adult should be able to do basic equations, as this helps with logic and problem-solving ability. A lab course, on the other hand, is completely irrelevant as a GenEd requirement. Unless you are on the pre-med or pre-health track, there is no need to subject yourself to science. We all took science in high school, so why must we continue to learn about cell biology, chemistry principles or observational astronomy? Please tell us, what use is science in the life of an English, art, theater, Spanish, political science or any other non-health major?

Foreign Language — Foreign languages should of course be valued in a college setting. The country is becoming increasingly diverse, and the biggest markets stretch globally, not nationally. But is one semester in a language going to have any impact on a student? Chances are, one language course will not make you fluent. Being multilingual is a great asset in today’s society, but it should be up to the student whether or not he or she wants to seriously pursue learning other languages.

Multiple writing credits — Every college student should be required to take one course in writing, that’s for sure. Writing is too undervalued in high school education, and students should be able to, at the very least, generate coherent thoughts on paper. But unless you are going into a field where writing and literature are necessities, only one class in the subject should be required.