General Education.

NUR SHAFIQA FITRI BINTI KAMSANI
AL 84680 - SECTION 3
PROMPT TASK 5
10 AUGUST 2010


The fundamental principle of university education system starts with a foundation program which includes general education for students, covering many fields of studies before pursuing education to a higher level which is more particular to the field involved in the future. There is an issue occurred in the system whether should the university students to first get a general education and taking classes in many fields. I am inclined to believe that general education should be implemented in the first stage of university education system as this would generate well-rounded students and wholesome individuals.

General education mainly covers the basic knowledge of many fields. This type of education prepares students with variety of knowledge and enriches students’ study skills as they have to learn on many fields. Hence, the students can be more productive, successful in future and be well-prepared for the higher level of education. This is obviously different compared to the students who take classes only on their field of study. This does not help the students to learn the skills and knowledge beyond the specific field. Concentrating studies on the same field would also alleviates the students’ way of thinking. This is one of the disadvantages of specific studies as students could not be more creative, innovative and liberal in their future undertakings.

Students who are rich of knowledge are more likely to be independent and able to go through the career world. Basically, the daily life is all about to know the knowledge to do everything. Take an example of a student who has the general education that then pursues studies in the Engineering field. He might get an bad injury someday and it would not be a problem for him to stop the injury from keep bleeding. This is because the knowledge of the technique was previously taught in Biology class that explained the location of arteries and veins in the body. It will definitely be a dying experience for a student who does not have the general education. That is one of the examples that shows general education is very beneficial that students can apply various knowledge into their daily life.

In a nutshell, the implementation of general education in the first stage of university education system should be done rather than specific studies. It offers many benefits to students, such as being well-rounded graduates and wholesome individuals thus generates the future professional leaders.