College is meant to be a time of discovery where you can dive into new opportunities, careers and vocations. The new guided pathways program could potentially take that away from students.
Guided Pathways is a new academic program that would allow students to get through their classes, graduate and transfer faster by detailing what classes they need to take, a course map, and counseling for those courses.
The only problem with that is students are not allowed to explore other careers or interests. Should leaving community college quickly be the goal? Or should it be to really decide what you want to do while taking the time to grow your interests?
Although the new academic pathways program could help people who have selected majors they are certain about graduate faster, it does a disservice to those students who are not completely married to their majors.
With this new program, students will have to undergo check-ins with counselors and have meetings to ensure they stay on track with their curated class schedules. However, there is no room for students to find other interests if they are sticking to a plan.
We have seen college as a place to continue education and prepare ourselves for a career, but maybe we need to see it as a place where you can take time to decide on what you want. You should be able to be a political science major who also wants to take a human genetics course.
Students should take the time they need and go at their own pace to find what makes them happy and pursue it. College should be a place where we pursue our varied interests and prepare ourselves for careers.
Without taking different courses and having the flexibility to pursue other interests, how will students discover what they want to pursue as a career if they haven’t decided yet? What if they change their minds later and regret it?
