why is so much English required in college?

Question

why are there so many english class a student is required to take in college if they do not plan to pursue a career in anything english related?

Shouldn't a student studying in engineering take up more math and other science related subjects rather then waste their energy in an english class?

I am not talking about basic level english; its obvious that you need to be able to write, read, and speak at a certain level, I am talking about the advance classes that teach you vocab that no one ever uses.

Answer 1

The answer is because, like it or not, people in our society are largely judged by how well they communicate. The better your grasp of the English language, the more intelligent and thought-provoking your statements will seem, even if you don't know what you're talking about (see: most political columnist :P)..

Even in technical fields (I am a programmer myself), having a strong grasp of English separates you from your peers. Engineers are great at what they do but find an engineer who can actually sit down with a client and have an intelligent conversation with them to gather their needs and act as a liason between sales/management and the 'lock these guys in a lab' engineering types and you've got someone incredibly valuable to a company.

Answer 2

the first two years of any Higher level education is meant to round out the student. The last two years are meant to specialize.

I've found that the first two years of college just leave open questions..You dont get the questions answered till you hit your 300 and 400 level classes.

Besides..you DO use the skills learned in English classes. Ever had to write a grant for a Graduate degree? w/o those english classes I doubt you'd be able to write a coherent grant illustrating why you need so much money to re-invent the wheel etc..

The English classes are geared at making sure people hitting the job market can effectively communicate the current worldly lingua franca..

Answer 3

Look at your question. No capitalization at the beginning of a sentence, no punctuation, and run-on sentences - need I go on?

You need to be able to read and write well so that you can communicate. You may begin as an engineer, but if you wish to rise in the corporate world and become a manager, you will need the ability to write for you will be doing that constantly. I know, I've worked with engineers my entire career. Engineers nowadays do not hand memos and letters to their administrative assistants; they usually create them on their own computers. I've known some brilliant mathematicians, and they type their own emails. They pretty much have to since there is so much technical information in it.

And there is also a certain discipline in learning to coherently communicate for unless you can describe what you are talking about, how is someone else going to know what you are talking about?

Answer 4

the 1st 2 years of any bigger point education is meant to around out the student. The final 2 years are meant to specialize. i've got stumbled on that the 1st 2 years of school in simple terms depart open questions..You dont get the questions replied till you hit your 3 hundred and four hundred point training. besides..you DO use the abilities found out in English training. Ever had to jot down a grant for a Graduate degree? w/o those english training I doubt you will have the ability to jot down a coherent grant illustrating why you need plenty money to re-invent the wheel etc.. The English training are geared at making beneficial people hitting the job industry can efficiently communicate the present worldly lingua franca..

Answer 5

I wonder if you think your going to have an English major to write all of your reports and emails when you get your job. Writing is used by basically everyone be it formally or informally, writing without looking like a dumb-*** is important in both the professional and social worlds.
how many English classes does your college even make you take.... I'm at my second college and they only require one my other one required 2..... i have chosen to take more English classes but i could live without the literature discussions and papers

Answer 6

Why is so much English composition required in college? Just look around your average message board and you'll be able to spot the college grads from the rest pretty easily.

Answer 7

Because you need to be able to effectively communicate. And that means a decent command of the English language and how to put words together into a report/paper

Answer 8

If there wasn't English in this country, then how would we communicate with each other? How would we survive?

You need English no matter what your career of preference is and you need English to dicuss all the topics in all of your other classes.

Answer 9

If you're talking about English Lit 1 & 2. I think because it is good for reading/retention skills. Seriously, it is easy to read and retain things you like to read about. But when you are reading and trying to retain info from 100 year old stories, it is really challenging.

Answer 10

Judging by your writing, you need to take English. 8-)

Communication is extremely important regardless of your profession. You will always need good communication skills in your career. This is especially true in technical fields where one often needs to communicate complex concepts in "laymans" terms.

Learning how to speak and write well is not a waste of energy.