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Almost over that graduation high
jump -- just one more math class
By Rebekah
Bradway
November 14, 2007 | As it is now the time of graduation
packets and getting advising inoffices I've never even
seen before, I'm finally making the decisions on how
to fill in those last numbers in my Sudoku of academic
credits. Which Depth Humanities class should I take?
Which final upper-division classes will be best for
me to finish my degree?
And which Quantitative Intensive course will help
me the most in learning more for my journalistic goals?
Wait, say what? Isn't the last number in Sudoku the
easiest one of all to fill in? Usually I just take the
other information I've learned and plug it in as easy
as 1, 2, 3 … or any number up to 9 I suppose.
Then why is it that to finish my collegiate experience,
I need to take Quantitative Methods in Geology, or Soils
and Plant Nutrient Bioavailability? I don't know if
the university caught this, but I'm a journalism major.
You know, the kind of person who writes for the newspaper
and gives updates on world, national or local news.
Not the type of person to go to for really anything
regarding difficult math or biology, unless of course,
the information is clear and worthy enough to be on
the news or in the paper.
Granted, journalists should be well-rounded in order
to be able to cover a variety of stories, but I'm not
quite sure how the Linear Algebra and Differential Equations
class will help fill out my university knowledge in
a journalist-friendly sort of way. Perhaps, one day,
I will have to write a story using the word "equation,"
maybe even in a headline. And then I could say the class
was worth it for my career. Definitely.
Because, for goodness sake, learning those numerals
in math is much more important than taking a class on
something like politics, which is not required for journalism
students save for the Breadth course of U.S. Institutions,
if that can even be called a politics class. And of
course, Institutions is required for every major, but
those planning on being in the business of writing or
talking about politics for the public don't need to
know a thing about more about it to graduate.
Even more important than politics courses for my major,
of course, are actual journalism courses. But wait,
students in the major are only allowed to take 36 JCOM
credits, 36 out of 120 required to graduate -- a total
of about 12 courses in the major and around 28 outside
of it, including general education, minor and elective
classes.
But I thought college was about specialization? I
was under the impression I came to Utah State to excel
in journalism, learning about other subjects too, but
focusing on how to collect information best and write
news stories accurately. I believed I would take more
classes on learning how the media work and how different
audiences react to it.
Instead, as I'm preparing for my final semester at
USU, I've been told not to take any more courses in
my chosen major, to take anything else.
So I searched through my options of classes. Depth
Humanities is not a huge deal, I thought, because at
least I could tell what the course names meant. The
QI courses, on the other hand, looked impossible to
my mind made of words, apostrophes and capitalization.
"Please let me find an easy-looking one, one without
biological terms or numbers," I thought as a reread
the 74 courses, the options being pretty much summed
up into the class PHYS 3030: The Universe.
And then there it was. My happy ending: "Or one of
the following exams: … AP Statistics: Score of 3 or
higher."
My chest emptied out all the long-held air it had
been encasing inside me. I was free.
How did I manage to pull that off? I had no idea when
I took that class -- just to have an AP one that quarter
in school to keep my pattern -- that it would complete
my college-without-math experience, getting me out of
a punishment I almost faced in coming to the university
in the first place.
And while I now still have no idea what classes to
take next semester, I know at least 74 I won't be taking.
I doubt any other journalism student will ever be
so lucky.
NW
MS |
