Pro: Should students strive to be academically well rounded?
Developing passions is an integral part of the high school experience. However, many students are divided on whether or not to dive deep into one passion or branch out and explore other possibilities. While some might think that pursuing one academic passion will best prepare students for college, being well rounded grants students versatility and more options for post-secondary plans.
It is important to realize that finding a lifelong passion in high school is unlikely. According to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), about 30% of college students end up switching their major at least once within three years of enrollment. With this in mind, it is best for high school students to broaden their horizons as much as possible in order to keep their options open. Students shouldn’t focus all of their energy on one subject. Rather, they should explore a variety of activities so that their passion will eventually follow them.
Additionally, focusing on one passion could lead to burnout, as a burning devotion can be extinguished by pursuing it too much. One might feel differently about a subject they were once fascinated by after putting in hours upon hours of energy to foster that sense of passion. This is much less likely to happen with a well rounded profile, where time and effort are not focused on any one area but instead shared among different options.
A benefit of maintaining a balanced profile is that students can develop diverse skill sets. When students delve into more subjects, they learn a wider range of skills that can be applied in many different contexts. For example, creativity honed through artistic expression can be applied to finding solutions to problems in engineering. Apple co-founder Steve Jobs credited his inclusion of the fonts feature when working on the first Macintosh computer to a calligraphy class he had attended years ago simply because he was interested in the subject.
Additionally, people gain soft skills by working with different kinds of people in various fields. If a student pursues only one passion, there will be soft skills that they will not be able to fully develop. For instance, focusing purely on a computer science-related passion can leave a student lacking in writing ability in the long run. Learning soft skills is more important now than ever. According to a 2021 study published by Bellarmine University professor Haleh Karimi and Sullivan University administrator Anthony Piña in the “Journal of Research in Stem Education,” hirers are struggling to find college graduates that possess enough of both soft and hard skills.
Some may argue that striving for a well rounded repertoire will lead students to become jacks of all trades and masters of none, without standing out in any particular field. However, this line of reasoning is flawed because it assumes that being well rounded means spreading oneself too thin. In reality, it is well within the realm of possibility to cover a wide range of fields and still be proficient at each one. In fact, being well rounded allows for the cross-applications of skills learned in specific fields, improving one’s capability in every area. For example, writing skills from English can be applied when conducting research in science and math. Regardless of what burning passions a student might have, seeking versatility will allow for the cross-application of skills and could pave the way for newer passions that burn just as bright, if not brighter.