>>Michelle, you have a valid point about taking classes you dislike/may never need. However, you can't decide at college time what the rest of your life will be like. I've had 3 careers so far, in very widely separated areas. Just in programming, I've done programs for people who manage conventions for 18-wheeler trucks/drivers, for real estate people, for manufacturing plants etc....... Presently I'm working on a job that uses my biochemistry minor - it's amazing how much I remembered!
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>And is there some reason why you had to prepare for every one of them while you were in college the first time? If college was a 1-2 year targeted learning experience, it would be far easier to go back and get a different degree if you decided to do something else with your life.
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>>Also, college should help you become a well-rounded person. You should learn some world history (not just Eurocentric, either). You should read and discuss some good literature. You should be exposed to science if you're a French major and languages if you're a CS major. And I know *I* sure wouldn't have bothered with most of these while taking Chem. Eng. Boring, unnecessary, waste of money. I said it all, but now I'm glad I took every class.
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>Ideally, it's good to have electives. Given the choice, I'm sure I would still have taken Spanish because I enjoyed it. But I don't believe being forced to take unnecessary classes is a good idea. I learned from Spanish because I liked it. I don't remember a single thing from history, zoology, sociology, etc. I realize this is all from my perspective, and maybe for others it's different. But there's where tayloring the classes would help. For me, I honestly wasted my time in those classes. I resented being there and got nothing out of them.
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>>Finally, too many CS majors (and non CS majors too) can't write a coherent English sentence in a Help program, manual or business letter. Even WITH the college degree and English as their primary language. (I am NOT talking about people who learned English in school or by immigrating - you all have my utmost respect)
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>I don't consider English to be an elective. I can't think of any professional job that doesn't require good English skills. That's as much a part of a CS major as a programming class would be.
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>-Michelle
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>(I'm not doing a very good job of dropping this, am I? :)

The kind of education you seem to advocate is available at vo-tech schools, more or less. You did say something about family pressure, which would be a common problem for anyone from a white-collar background (whether or not that includes you) who wants to attend a trade school. Many vo-techs are probably as bad as many colleges. But that kind of education might still deserve more respect from some employers and parents. They won't teach writing, though.

The better universities are much less rigid in their course requirements, I think. That's because they are less bureaucratic, and have more confidence in the abilities of their students. Unfortunately, they tend to be more expensive. Nothing's fair.

Now I'm prolonging it. Oh, well.