College shouldn’t be easy. The later I get into my college career, the more I regret tackling college with the “get the grade, get the degree, get the job” mentality. Every November and every April, when class selection comes around, the words I hear most are, “Take this prof, he’s easy,” “What’s an easy class?” or “Is there a lot of reading?”
TAKING THE EASY WAY OUT
What is with our obsession to make things easy? College is not supposed to be easy. It is commonplace for Biola students to cruise through General Education requirements and now a trend of breezing through the Bible minor is occurring.
GE is more than an accreditation requirement; it is an opportunity to learn about literature, history, philosophy and art. At the end of our lives we are not going to say, “I wish I hadn’t read all of those books” or “I wish I knew less about metaphysics.”
It’s extremely ignorant and prideful to think that we already have read enough books or that U.S. history does not pertain to our future career. College is about becoming a well-rounded human being.
It is important for us to not only take these classes but to make the most of them. We should not just focus on our Bible and major classes and then cruise through everything else.
GETTING AN EASY 'A'
As far as Bible classes go, everyone knows who the “mainstream” Bible professors are, and many avoid them because they assign more work and are usually harder. For the most part adjunct professors are just as competent as the mainstream ones, the problem lies with students going into adjunct classes with a mentality that they are getting an easy ‘A’ without much work.
News flash: Future employers do not care how you did in your Bible minor. Biola does not require us to have a Bible minor because they want to boost our resume. The Bible minor is about us, our relationship with God and our relationships with those around us. Because of this training we receive, we are called to be leaders in the church — don’t get me started on that topic, it’s a whole other article.
If you do not want the Bible minor there are plenty of other Christian colleges within an hour of here that will give you a similar experience to Biola. Yes, Biola is known for its Christian community, but what makes that Christian community so much richer is delving into deep intellectual and theological discussions with each other.
I am only a junior, but I already regret not taking full advantage of the Bible minor opportunities. Don’t have the same feeling after you walk across the stage and receive your $150,000 piece of paper. There is so much more to college than the degree, and a lot of it we skim right over, as if it were “Systematic Theology.”
