Un-necessary classes

Nursing Students LPN-RN

Published

I have had to take some of the most unecessary classes for my degree...we have to take classes in "clusters", such as a Humanistic Appreciation, Cultural Diversity, and so on....

For instance, what does a pottery class have to do with nursing? Nothing, but I had to take it to fullfill a cluster...

or, an Anthropology class? Nothing, but I had to take that too.

What is the reason for this nonsense? Do any of you have to do the same?

I realize that it is supposed to make us more "well rounded", but does it really? or does it simply help the school get more money?:chuckle

But I guess I will do what it takes to get to my degree... How 'bout ya'll?

What do you think about it?

Specializes in Cardiac/Telemetry.

Money. That's pretty much the reason for all the unnecessary classes. I had to take Anthropology and Intro to Philosophy. Whatever. I'm not sure how I would use Anthropology, but I had to take it. Schools just want money. Sorry if too cynical.

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:eek: I'm on the opposite end of the spectrum. I'm excited about mostly every class I take, because it fills in gaps in my knowledge about the world. (BSN student here... because by the time I'd finish the pre-reqs for the ADN program locally there's enough time to get a BSN! LOL! May as well get the BSN while I'm at it!) I'd be disappointed if everything I was learning was connected to nursing. :( Everyday in these gen. ed. classes I learn something and can say.."ooo AHAH! that is why we say or we do !" etc.

My husband is with you, he wants to further his education with IT but he sees he's gotta take Speech and Eng 101 and that makes him mad. :angryfire I don't get it. It's only 4 (or less months) and you'll take something away from those courses that will only help you!

Physically, each area of learning that you are unfamiliar with, that you begin to study, develops more connections in your brain, forming different pathways that will both help you with recovering from brain injuries (or strokes), and from Alzheimer's. (Tired, just woke up, don't wanna look up the technical info but adults who have had a college education (rounded) and who play games instead of watch TV are the ones least effected by Alzheimers.)

Psychically, general college education greatly assists in didactic thinking, something I know nurses really benefit from using.

Love your general ed. classes! LOL What I wouldn't give to have the luxury of a liberal arts degree.

Cats

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Specializes in L&D.

Yeah marie, I'm taking Comparative Religions for my elective. Hopefully it will be easy LOL!!

I think a religions class would be handy.
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I understand the need for being a well rounded educated person for having a degree. However, history didn't change at all book wise from the time I graduated high school and entered college. I took 12 years of "basics"! I aced calculus in high school and then had to take ALGEBRA in college??? I'm sorry but college algebra was way easier than high school calculus and was a waste of my time and $400. I guess since I am paying for my own college out of my own pocket every semester (no loans or anything) it makes me appreciate classes I take that teach me absolutely nothing new alot less. I do however appreciate classes like anthropology where I really learn something new and interesting. But in the same sense, anthropology for me was like a review of everything I learned in psychology, lifespan and development, and sociology but taught through a different perspective. I took sociology last and didn't even buy the book, yet made an A. How did I do that? Because it was the same people and concepts I studied in psychologies and anthropology. Now art is just a waste for me. I started to take art appreciation, but then I found out I had to draw so I had to drop it because I can't even draw a stick figure! So I guess some classes I do appreciate and understand but others are a waste for me personally.

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Specializes in home & public health, med-surg, hospice.

Something people don't often consider, is that you can "test-out" on a lot of these classes like govt., hx., math, etc.

I tested out of my state govt. class & both hx. classes. Just did a little quick review paid 60 bucks and tested out - lots better than full tuition, books and the time you have to invest to take the full semester. Allowed me more time to devote to my sciences and thus increase my GPA too, you know?

That said, I really enjoyed my philosophy class and believe it or not it really helped having been exposed to it in my nursing research and theory classes. Didn't really come away with a lot from theatre appreciation though...lol

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Money. That's pretty much the reason for all the unnecessary classes. I had to take Anthropology and Intro to Philosophy. Whatever. I'm not sure how I would use Anthropology, but I had to take it. Schools just want money. Sorry if too cynical.

No, you're not being cynical, you're right!

I just found out this past semester exactly how true that is here in TX.

In my Texas Government class, my instructor explained to us in detail why all of us were sitting in her classroom regardless of our chosen field.

A well-rounded education? Nope. It's the law here.

Special interest groups years ago lobbied to make it mandatory for all graduates of any Texas public university to have had 6 credits of U.S. and Texas government and 6 credits of U.S. history.

It was designed to protect the declining employment opportunities of history and government/political science professors as enrollment for those fields in Texas colleges was in severe decline at one time.

Forcing all students to take these classes protects and justifies their jobs.

Nonetheless, I really enjoyed my government classes, mandatory or not, it opened my eyes to many things on both global and local levels for me.

U.S. history, however, I have to agree with the poster that said it was nothing more than a re-run of high school history.

My history professor was exactly the same as my high school teachers.

The classes were taught in his conservative slanted "world according to him" view. He would emphasize, if not magnify, the "old glory-our founding fathers-this nation was built on"......etc. patriotism type stuff while brushing over, or skipping altogether, the textbook sections on the women's movement, civil rights, gay rights, etc.

I'm sorry, but I really didn't need to pay for and sit through yet another U.S. history course taught "Archie Bunker" style. Had plenty of that in high school.

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Specializes in 5 yrs OR, ASU Pre-Op 2 yr. ER.

I think that's also the reason why i couldn't test out on my computer class.

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What is up with everyone talking about pottery classes here??

My school just made core cirriculum changes and we all now have to take a fine arts course before we graduate.

I have no artistic talent whatsoever and I just watched my friend struggle through a boring art appreciation class so I sure don't want to take that.

My school actually has ceramics listed as one of their suggestions for fulfilling the fine arts requirement.

I thought that my partner and I could take it together next semester and it might be fun.

But all of this talk about pots collapsing on the wheels and everything becoming plates rather than pots has made me hesitant to take ceramics.

Would I fail if I can't produce anything that resembles a pot on that wheel?

Maybe I should rethink taking art or music appreciation instead.

I took ceramics way back then when I didn't even think of becoming a nurse. I truly enjoyed the class. We did a lot of handbuilding with clay that was fired in our studio at school. We worked with terra cotta and earthen ware. We had to do different projects. For example a pinchpot where you start off from a ball of clay and manipulate it into a pot. A coil project, my sculpture looked like a "pile of poop" to a nursing student, I'll never forget that one and I was a little crushed at the time, :roll

It's almost like a cookie baking class, although our instructor didn't want us to do any Chinese K-Mart pottery, but instead everything handbuild, no cookie cutters....you get to use tools like rolling pins, knives whatever you may think of....I felt like I could just let my imagination run wild and truly loved going to class. We even had a display case in the hallway and our great creations could be admired by the other students and visitors. I made two pieces which I was able to show off at an art exhibit, which made me real proud. It was always so exciting to see what would come out of the kiln after firing....you never know what the colors will be like etc. I remember we had an accidental meltdown at one time but the pieces came out wonderully ancient looking, like out of some archeological dig site. Pottery is full of surprises, and according to our instructor, many beautiful pieces were created accidentally. I loved it it was fun, fun, fun!

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Specializes in Acute Care Psych, DNP Student.

I'm not sure if this has been mentioned, but what about classes that you think should be required but aren't? I'm surprised by looking at the courses in all the ADN programs in my state. It seems to me that there should be more psych education, not just psych 101 and life span dev.

What about a psych class for allied health, or just for nurses? Something like psych including health psychology, abnormal psychology as commonly manifested in healthcare settings, and most importantly, PERSONALITY DISORDERS and how to deal with patients with these?

What do you all think?

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I'm not sure if this has been mentioned, but what about classes that you think should be required but aren't? I'm surprised by looking at the courses in all the ADN programs in my state. It seems to me that there should be more psych education, not just psych 101 and life span dev.

What about a psych class for allied health, or just for nurses? Something like psych including health psychology, abnormal psychology as commonly manifested in healthcare settings, and most importantly, PERSONALITY DISORDERS and how to deal with patients with these?

What do you all think?

Personality disorders and other psychiatric illnesses are covered in the psychiatric nursing sections of the ADN program itself.

But you can take Abnormal psych as an elective which also covers some this material, most colleges offer abnormal psychology classes.

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Specializes in Acute Care Psych, DNP Student.
Personality disorders and other psychiatric illnesses are coverd in the psychiatric nursing sections of the ADN program itself.

But you can take Abnormal psych as an elective which also covers some this material, most colleges offer abnormal psychology classes.

That makes sense. Here I am mouthing off about classes that should be required, and they are in the nursing program already. :rotfl:

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No, you're not being cynical, you're right!

I just found out this past semester exactly how true that is here in TX.

In my Texas Government class, my instructor explained to us in detail why all of us were sitting in her classroom regardless of our chosen field.

A well-rounded education? Nope. It's the law here.

Special interest groups years ago lobbied to make it mandatory for all graduates of any Texas public university to have had 6 credits of U.S. and Texas government and 6 credits of U.S. history.

It was designed to protect the declining employment opportunities of history and government/political science professors as enrollment for those fields in Texas colleges was in severe decline at one time.

Forcing all students to take these classes protects and justifies their jobs.

Nonetheless, I really enjoyed my government classes, mandatory or not, it opened my eyes to many things on both global and local levels for me.

U.S. history, however, I have to agree with the poster that said it was nothing more than a re-run of high school history.

My history professor was exactly the same as my high school teachers.

The classes were taught in his conservative slanted "world according to him" view. He would emphasize, if not magnify, the "old glory-our founding fathers-this nation was built on"......etc. patriotism type stuff while brushing over, or skipping altogether, the textbook sections on the women's movement, civil rights, gay rights, etc.

I'm sorry, but I really didn't need to pay for and sit through yet another U.S. history course taught "Archie Bunker" style. Had plenty of that in high school.

I am in tx also. I took government as dual credit in high school and it happended to be second semester because we took economics first semester. So when I get to college I find out that I took government 2 in high school and would you believe they made me go back and take gov't 1?! Okay if I passed 2 what makes you think I wouldn't be competent enought to pass 1??? Oh and they wouldn't allow me to "test out" since there was no test to test out of that particular subject at my school. Oh and the dual credit economics wasn't even needed! It went as an elective credit. Personally I learned much more valuable information in economics rather than government. Government was all memorizing for me. :rolleyes:

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