As the last few weeks of my senior year tick down, I cannot help but feel senioritis kicking in. It kicks in even worse when I am sitting in a class that has nothing to do with my future endeavors.

When I look back on all of the classes I have taken in my career at Eastern, there is a good portion of classes that have nothing to do with my major. I know I started to get frustrated by all of the extra classes Eastern requires (also known as, general eds).

Now that I am about to graduate, and thinking about my future, I see why it is I had to take these classes. And I am glad Eastern required me to have such a broad education in order to graduate.

Since Eastern students graduate with a wide range of knowledge, we are now at an advantage compared to those who didn’t have to take any general education classes.

We have small bits of knowledge on many different topics, which allows Eastern students to be better prepared for their careers and lives.

The more educated voters we have in the world, the more likely we are to elect better government officials. Voters will be able to critically think about current issues and political problems in depth before voting on who should run their county, city or country.

As a journalist, I know it will be important for me to have general knowledge, whether it be history, math or science. Most careers somehow coincide or relate, so the more knowledge we have, the better.

I also notice I can carry on more intelligent and factual conversations because I have learned such a variety of things here at Eastern. I can analyze and think critically about topics in the world, and carry on intellectual debates.

Eastern also teaches us students about life. Math may be a subject that many of us do not need for our major, but we will have to balance our check books, do taxes, budget and spend money. All of these tasks require us to use math. If Eastern didn’t require us to take a basic math class, we might not be able to do these important life tasks.

As much as senioritis is kicking in, and taking classes that have nothing to do with my major don’t help, I have realized how much more prepared I will be for the “real world” and my own career. General knowledge is necessary knowledge.

Thanks to Eastern’s general education requirements, I will be a better voter, citizen, worker and person.

Abby Allgire is a senior journalism major. She can be reached at 581-2812

or [email protected]