By M.J. Callahan
mcallahan7@student.alamo.edu
English adjunct Mariano Aguilar brought last week’s article “Generic degrees in lieu of specified majors” to his class because he said students needed to know. And students had a lot to say about it.
“I found out about it (Sept. 19) in a department meeting and then I read The Ranger article (Sept. 22) so it hit me completely out of left field. I am still trying to gather data; that’s why I brought it up to my (COMM) 1301 students,” Aguilar said.
“Some of the students are still processing what’s going on. I am definitely worried about this,” Aguilar said.
District officials say this model will let students transfer with all of their credit hours, helping them transfer to their specific institution, not this college’s specific degree plan.
“How many first time students know what they want to study?” nutrition sophomore Chelsea Collier said.
She also wondered whether students even know what university they want to transfer to right away.
“When I started at this college I had no clue what I wanted to do and have changed my degree twice before deciding what I wanted to do with my life and education,” Collier said.
“I feel a bit rushed to find a college to transfer to,” she said.
“I begin to question which school I want to transfer to, and if I even want to stay in Texas. Now with the ‘generic degrees’ I feel more pressure to choose a university to get out of San Antonio College,” Collier said.
Continuing education stu-dent Jackie Velez, 35, was a student at this college 14 years ago as an American Sign Language major and is now back as a radio-television-broadcasting sophomore.
“Honestly, when I came back I had no idea what I’d be in for, but the one thing that I thought I knew for sure was that when all is said and done that I’d have an associate degree with my name and what I studied on the paper. To me that’s not just a paper; it’s my life,” Velez said.
She said she felt cheated and lost a chance for further certification.
Music freshman Lesly Palomares has been working on her core classes for three semesters so she can focus on classes next semester.
“If I graduate I want my diploma to say that I have an Associate of Arts in Music, not just a plain title,” Palomares said.
“I am not sure generic degrees will motivate students to transfer,” Collier said.
“This needs to be dealt with,” Velez said.
1 Comment
Not all students attend to Transfer some just need an Associates to augment their Degrees or specialize…example maybe you need it for employment in a vocation. Its a motivation to see the Subject of your degree is valued since Alamo colleges offers nothing higher than an associates so Honor your degree don’t make it less valuable by the generic example !!!