Core Reflection on College - Essay Example

Some want to become more specialized using Champlain College as one stepping stone to get to where we want to be. For some, a passing grade is sufficient while others must maintain a certain grade point average.

Champlain College integrates two distinct approaches to traditional academics and these two approaches are with a liberal studies program and interdisciplinary teaching and learning. In addition, the purpose of liberal study and general education is a rich experience that combines academic strictness, self-exploration, and global and local awareness.  It is important to be in Core class because we can take what we learn in class and can apply it to what we want for our future. Every student will gain something different from each class and that is true of Core class. Each of us can look at our interests and view things in ways that perhaps were instilled in us in our environment before becoming a student at Champlain. Through student and faculty discussions, we can see things in a whole new way and look at the world from different perspectives.  We might think that we have a certain job that we are focused on doing and through self-exploration, we find ourselves soul-searching to see if we can identify with the objectives of a particular career. Without a Core class, we can pinpoint more closely what our objectives are at Champlain so we can meet the goals we have set for ourselves as students.

I have been studying Core classes since last summer and some of them are enjoyable but a few of them are not. Because I am a transfer student, I had to take Summer Bridge which is COR-130 and it was over six weeks. This was not too bad, however, I had to learn a lot of information and material in a short period compared to a regular semester course. In Core 200 level courses, there are several available options of courses. Unfortunately, there were not many that satisfied my interests so I felt like I was taking random classes, and courses and materials are not cheap. I wished some classes were more suitable to my interests to take and learn more about. Global awareness always is interesting and useful too as globalization is imperative in today’s society in many realms and industries. The 300-level Core classes mostly are about global consciousness which I think helps students to open their minds to the world and knowing more about global subjects. The cross-cultural examination is essential because as we learn more about what is going on in the world around us, the more we understand the causal relationships about how it affects us here.

To conclude, I take a quote from Socrates that states, “The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing”. I love this quote and I believe that as much knowledge as we have, we still need to know more. It should be a goal to learn something new every single day and this quote is very humbling.  Learning new things and knowing about different subjects is helping students to obtain better knowledge so become more educated in their fields of choice and perhaps will have a direction of where they want to go in the world rather than just having a diploma and being clueless as to what to do with it. I admire the Core part of Champlain education and I hope it will offer a wider variety of curricula in the future. I honestly believe that I would obtain more knowledge if I was interested in a subject rather than feeling like I was forced into learning about something that I did not feel pertained to me and my educational focus. I would much rather spend my time focusing on my interests and studying those further. If I came to Champlain and had no clue, it is important to have that variety or otherwise students might never truly feel that they know their calling in life.