In order to become well rounded individuals all college students should be required to take courses in which they read poetry novels mythology and other types of imaginative literature Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agre

When we say of bringing well-roundedness into education, the thing that immediately comes to mind is taking classes in the arts, particularly literature. However, making people take courses on imaginative literature is not the only way to make well-rounded individuals. In that respect, I disagree with that statement. Well-roundedness in general can be acquired by taking courses outside one’s specialization. Moreover, students can also participate in extra-curricular activities. In the next paragraphs, I will expound on these points in more detail.

Imaginative literature is not the only course that students can take to be a well-rounded individual. Well-rounded means having to gain knowledge and experience outside one’s specialization and should not be limited by only taking imaginative literature. It allows us not only to gain mere knowledge about the other fields but to also understand the world from the perspective of people working in other fields. For example, computer science students will be more effective in their jobs if they understand the business aspect of product development and commercialization. Similarly, a business major student at Harvard will be a very empathetic executive at Google in the future if he understands the difficulties of bringing up a software project. In both situations, it is not essential to take up courses on poetry and mythology to understand each other; what is more important is the gaining of knowledge and perspective from the other end.

In addition, the well-roundedness of an individual can also be developed by participating in activities outside the classroom. For example, students from literature — or other fields that do not involve moving a lot, can participate in sports that improve their physical well-being. Moreover, students in the hard sciences can join speaking or pitching competitions that hone their speaking and articulating skills. In these two examples, the students are able to practice the areas of their education they normally do not train by joining in extra-curricular activities. They do not necessarily need to limit themselves to imaginative literature to grow outside their domain.

Now, it does not mean that taking imaginative literature does not have a value in terms of holistic growth. Taking up these classes have their own set of merits. For example, reading up on Shakespeare’s plays can practice the students to use imaginative thinking in understanding the dynamics of how the characters act against the political and cultural context of the play’s setting. However, while imaginative literature definitely can grow students’ well-roundedness, the point is that taking up courses on literature is not the only way. Instead, it is one of the many options students can take to grow themselves outside of their own fields.

To summarize, I disagree with the fact that imaginative literature is not the only way to develop the well-roundedness of college students.