I am an English major, and therefore I dislike science.

To me, science classes are a hurdle, just another gen-ed that I have to force myself to trudge through. This struggle is made better by friendly professors, but it is the courses themselves with which I have a problem.

When scheduling this past week, I was annoyed, but not surprised, to see that I had one option for my next science credit: biology. Because I am on the "Integrated Science Track," I really have no say in any of the science classes that I take. Oh, wait - at one point I was given the choice between Geology and Chemistry.

As much as I loathe science, the burden of taking it could be lightened if the courses were ones that I hadn't already taken in high school, offered with some variety, and actually held my interest.

Of the three science courses that I must take in order to graduate, my options are limited to four classes: Physics, Geology, Chemistry, and Biology. These are all classes that were offered to me when I was in high school six years ago. In fact, I took three of those classes back then, so these "college level" courses are merely serving as a review for what I have already learned.

Second, I feel like there is no variety. When it comes to my perspective on science, I definitely believe in subjecting myself to the lesser of the evils, and my mandatory biology class is definitely not it. My sister was an English major at Wittenberg University, and her science requirements were to take any science class and any lab. I believe that having this much of a choice and variety would be more appealing to non-science majors.

I also talked to some Engineering majors who admitted that while they were required to take certain entry-level humanities courses, they were given the freedom to choose whichever upper-level courses they wanted to satisfy their degree's requirements. They all agreed that while they didn't necessarily want to take these humanity courses for the same reason that I am not interested in taking science courses, the freedom of choice within this requirement was preferred over having no choice at all.

The University of Dayton provides a well-rounded education for its students, but I believe that this should not be based on a system of restriction. I think that part of the reason that I resent science is because I have no room to decide for myself what classes I can take. In coming to college, I had hoped to take classes that not only challenged me, but that piqued my interest. In that respect, Dayton's science program has failed me.