A lot of times, this is an "NFL" major... Not knocking the kids education, b/c I applaud him for being on the Honor Roll, but 50% of the players I see are General Studies majors, so that if they don't make it to the big time, they can fall back on being a teacher/coach
General Studies is where you take 3 minors. If you are not using it as an "NFL Major', you are probobly majoring in it because you have broad interests, that cover multiple colleges at LSU.
A major is an area of specialization. But General Studies is a non-specialized degree that, I suspect, can be used in a variety of ways. It probably allows a student more flexibility in deciding on a career, but I could be wrong about that. Many jobs that require a college degree are not particular about what degree you have. The fact that someone obtained a college education says something about him regardless of what his major was. So General Studies is a good major for someone who is not interested in an area requiring specialization.
NFL major my ass: I have a number of friends who went to law school and grad school with general studies degrees. Its a great major for students who don't know right away what career path they will take. In a lot of cases it may take a student 3 or 4 years to determine what educational career path they will follow. General Studies allows the student to focus on different areas and take upper level classes in certain disciplines without needing be locked into a certain program. General Studies graduates often take more upper-level (3000 and 4000) classes than students with other declared majors.
Don't get me wrong, because as a student that works and goes to school, I won't knock his attending college or his major; however, due to the fact that I am in school, I know that General Studies is exactly what it says, General Studies. You take remedial courses that most of which are covered in high school. There are certain requirements that must be met in several categories, such as Art and Humanities, Sciences and Mathematics, Communication in the English Language, Social, Political, and Economic Institutions, Lifelong Understanding and Developement, and History/Government. In each of these six categories, several units, or credits, must be taken in order to graduate/transfer. If one is majoring in Kinesiology, like Kevin Faulk, you wouldn't have to take as much history or government classes as Bradie James, a criminology major, who wouldn't take as many sciences or math. A general studies major is considered the "easy" way out. You study on more of a broad spectrum within the relm of the six categories. If attending a junior college first, it can be finished quite quickly. Not to sound rude or arrogant, but a general education major is often considered a dumb jock's major by college students, dispite the fact that it can allow you to work your way into certain fields. I kinda like to think about Mauck and his dentistry thing and James' and Faulk's degrees. Those are the harder studies to keep up with when working/playing football.
Regardless of whether it's the easy way out or the only way out........HIS ASS IS IN SCHOOL AND NOT ON THE CORNER WAITING FOR THE NEXT DEAL! Hell, I'm 45, divorced with 3 grown boys and I still don't know which path I want to take...lol
Pardon me for being blunt, but I could care less. I think it's great that he's in school, but to glorify it, is a little too much. I was homeschooled and now live in a state and city where I am a rare breed - polite, Southern, Christian and homeschooled. I have gotten to where I am because of hard work, not a sports scholarship or acedemic success, but of determination. I get no aide beacuse of my ethnicity and because I have stayed out of trouble. Once the big college time comes, I'll have to take out student loans that I'll be paying on for a while. If JR wasn't a football star, I would expect him in school. Who cares where you came from, if you can get a job, you can go to junior college. I'm doing it. I'm tired of the, "it's better than the streets" excuse. I understand that for some people it's harder, but as a regular white guy seeing where I came from (My dad was an LSU police officer for 15 years making crap before getting a better job) and seeing how my uncle who couldn't get grants because he's white, but only loans, frustrates me. There is plenty of opportunity in all of us. We have created this welfare mentality that worships people for going to school, when that should be commonplace. Just because he's black doesn't mean that he would automatically be "WAITING FOR THE NEXT DEAL," as you put it. We have, however, in many cases instilled that sports is the only way out for black kids. It's sad. Potential is untapped. I'm done.
While I agree with the rest of your post, I don't agree what 'we' are at fault for this phenomenon. Children growing up in the inner-city/ghetto see 2 types of people succeeding and 'getting out': drug dealers and athletes. There are successful business people that come from such locales, but rarely are they glorified and seen as a paradigm. However, I fail to see how the rest of society is to blame for that.
Don't get me wrong but having worked at LSU for 3 decades, I can assure you one thing. There haven't been any remedial courses at LSU since open enrollment ceased almost twenty years ago. At that time anyone with a valid Louisiana HS diploma could enroll at LSU. Higher admissions standards eliminated the need for remedial courses. General Studies is simply a bachelors degree that allows one to take a broader range of subjects than as an undergraduate major.
