College programs can be difficult sometimes, and it takes a lot of time and effort to complete. An astounding 23.3% of first-time, full-time freshman students dropped out within the first 12-month period in 2021-2022. Obviously there’s outlier reasons to drop out of college like financial and familial emergencies, but usually it’s due to the curriculum.
Now, I have no plans of dropping out of college, but I do, however, struggle with the Art History requirements for my program. General Art History is already split into two separate classes (Art 201 and 202) but then on top of the initial year of Art History classes, Graphic Design Majors have to take two MORE Art History electives. So in order to receive a Graphic Design degree, a major that requires little knowledge about Art History, you need two YEARS of Art History classes.
Now, I say Graphic Design needs little knowledge of Art History as the career today requires much more knowledge of art programs like Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, and InDesign rather than an adept knowledge of fine art periods that is more required for Fine Arts careers.
Some Art History knowledge is good for Graphic Designers as it could help inspire certain designs, but having to do two years of Art History on top of the required eighteen credits of Art Studio and all other classes required for a minor (which Graphic Design majors usually have) and gen ed classes is a great deal to complete in four years.
This amount of classes makes it difficult to complete the program in four years and puts heavy strain on students. Even failing one class could force students to have to take a spring/summer semester or add another fall/winter semester. Which consequently also puts more financial strain on students and less time to make money over the summer if taking another semester.
This could also apply to any program that students usually also need a minor in addition to their major. It’s like having an Education major take a ton of classes in science when their focus is English and history. Sure, they need basic knowledge of science in teaching, but their main job won’t require a copious amount of it due to their focus topics.
What causes even more strain on students is how often classes are offered. Some of the Art Studio classes I really want to take are only offered in Winter of odd years. So if I failed that class or had to drop it for some unknown reason, I’d have to wait two years to take it again. This also applies to the two Art History electives I need to take.
Last time I checked, they were offered “periodically” and I’m not sure if I’ll be able to take them at all. Even though I’ve already gone through a year of general art history classes and would love to just start the enormous amount of Art Studio classes required of me, I still have another year’s worth of art history electives despite its lack of use in my career. That’s also on top of the required classes for my minor, which I haven’t been able to start a lot of due to prerequisite and general education classes.
Perhaps if classes like Art 201 and 202 were simplified into one class or if we only had to do one Art History elective, it could relieve some of the stress on students and give them more leeway if they need to retake a class or, like me, want to do an extracurricular like marching band every Fall semester. I’m not trying to dismiss the importance of learning about historical artists and their works, but having to do two years of it is too much for a major that doesn’t require that much knowledge of the subject.
https://educationdata.org/college-dropout-rates
Jacie Schonert 
Abdullah Farooqui 
Zachary McEvoy