By KJ Burns, Guest Writer
Every student here at Newman has to deal with them: the dreaded Navigator classes.
But I and several of my close friends have found ourselves asking the same essential question: Why?
Newman students are required to take four Navigator classes, starting with Flight Planning during their first semester, Lift-Off during their second semester, then Destination Check and Launch before they graduate.
Recently, during my Flight Planning class, a friend who was sitting next to me was indulging in a full-on tirade over an assignment that was due.
At first, I thought he was overreacting. But then, he made a great point:
“What does this even have to do with the class?”
This got the gears in my head turning immediately.
Before I dive into why I think this class is totally unnecessary, it is imperative to note what the description and purpose of the course is.
“Flight Planning,” according to Newman, is a student success program designed to help students achieve their goals while navigating college and their professional lives.
Let’s rewind to what made my friend spaz out. The entire class had been given an assignment where we had to contact three “trusted people’ and have them answer eight questions relating to us, such as, “What are my passions?”
We then had to reflect on what the respondents said about us and write a paragraph about how we felt about it.
You may be wondering what this has to do with helping students achieve career goals and navigate college life, and frankly, I have no idea.
Without dropping a questionable string of words, I think it’s completely bogus.
That is just one example of a few irrelevant assignments we have been tasked with completing in this class.
The material so far hasn’t prepared me for diving headfirst into the real, professional world – despite that being the whole point of the course.
To further validate my feelings: My girlfriend asked me recently what homework I was doing, and I had to give her a whole rundown of what Flight Planning was and what the assignment was for.
To put it simply, she thought it was the dumbest thing she’s ever heard and actually laughed at me.
I also recently took an informal poll at my lunch table about what other students thought of the course, and the majority of them came to the same conclusion: The class is utterly pointless and unnecessary, to put it lightly.
Here’s my two-cents on the matter: I believe we should just scrap the class as a whole, straight up.
I think the solution here would be to just have students meet with their advisors and discuss actual, relevant topics.
This would eliminate students having to cram random, useless work into their already hectic workloads.
Another assignment we were given in the class: scheduling a meeting with our Advisors. I think it would’ve been perfectly fine if we’d ended the class right there, to be honest.
I know very few people who would be upset to see Navigator classes disappear. That should tell you all you need to know about how important these classes are to the students here at Newman.
PHOTO: Courtesy, Unsplash
