Page 65 - myGuide

Perhaps you have heard the saying, “A child needs to crawl, before he can walk.” But have you ever given any thought as to why?

Although I am not a child development expert, I suggest that crawling is necessary before walking, for a number of reasons, including the following: respect for the stages of cognitive development, a need to first experience surroundings from the safety of the lesser need of balance required of movement on, “all fours,” and the need to develop confidence in movement in general, before attempting the more developed form of movement, required by walking.

So what does this have to do with your approach to completing an undergraduate degree? Actually, everything.

Most require the successful completion of ’general education’ courses. These are English composition, general history, humanities, etc. courses. For many degrees general education courses have little, if anything, to do with the degree discipline itself. So why are these general education courses required?

An often overlooked concept in higher education today, is that earning a degree, is intended to educate the person. To truly be able to consider himself or herself educated, the degreed person should have been introduced to a broader spectrum of disciplines and concepts, beyond the knowledge necessary for

proficiency within the discipline of the degree awarded. For the privilege of being considered educated, therefore, the person who has earned a Bachelor of Science in Information Technology degree, should know something about American, or world, history as well.