All students should be required to take history courses no matter what their field of study is.

All students should be required to take history courses no matter what their field of study is.

Recently ,there is a phenomenon that history are strongly highlighted by social media, which may lead impression people to generate the perspective that all students should be required to take history courses regardless their major. However, such a statement suffers from both logical and factual fallacies, and it should be further discussed. Concerning the students’ academic training, competitiveness as well as freedom, I strongly hold that learning history courses should never be mandatory for most university students.

To begin with, studying history won’t help students with their academic performances in their field, especially for those who major in science. Understanding an ancient emperor or an ancient political campaign won’t increase the likelihood of passing a physics quiz. Therefore, the history classes, if required by university, may occupy more time of students to deal with assignments and study their degree courses.

Furthermore, the fact that competition in the job market becomes more and more fierce for graduates indicates that performance in certain realm rather than history knowledge leads to an advantage when it comes to most positions.  Typically, for someone applying for a job as a programmer, a certificate or a splendid CV can help. However, in the interview of ideal firm, he will never be asked  to express insights about the history of ancient Persia, even in Iran.

Nevertheless, a voices arises that the university should place history classes as compulsory in their curriculum. In fact, having been through 12 years of education, college students have already grasped the basic history knowledge. In addition, if added more courses not directly related to their realm, students may get demotivated and frustrated. Therefore, students should be provided with more freedom to decide what to specialize in and how to distribute their precious time and energy.