As O-Reg begins, so does the tricky task of scheduling freshman. As anyone who’s ever completed their first year of college knows, freshman scheduling means an unruly number of 100 level classes – Intro to Mass Communication, Principles of Sociology and General Psychology just to name a few. All of which are large, less-than-thrilling lecture classes, but are required nonetheless.

Although none of these classes apply much to someone looking into an area like theater or accounting, it’s still important that everyone take these basic courses.

Please, allow me to explain how general education classes are imperative using a few different current event examples of what happens when simple lessons are neglected or forgotten.

A 21-year-old Georgia man was arrested last week after trying to buy drinks with a checkbook he found at a bar. Unfortunately for this man, the checkbook which he found just so happened to belong to the person serving him drinks. This man was ultimately arrested for theft and forgery charges after he tried to use the checks to settle a $129 bar tab.

One class that would have come in handy in this situation is ECON 200: Introduction to Economics. This man obviously passed on the opportunity to take an economics class in college, because had he done that he would have known that check forgery is probably not a great idea.

In addition to that useful bit of information, this guy may have also learned enough about money to actually have enough of his own to pay off the bar tab

The next story is a simple lesson in physics.

According to police, two men ate at a restaurant on Montage Mountain in Moosic and ran out the door after getting their check. Upon pulling off their “dine-and-dash,” the pair fell down a nearby hillside, requiring dozens of rescuers to pull them to safety.

I’m thinking PHYS 101: Basic Physics could have prevented this mishap. First off is the issue of gravity, which is often tested but rarely defeated.

Then of course there are Newton’s Laws of Motion, which would fully explain why running off a hill would only result in smashing into whatever lies in wait at the bottom.

If these guys went to school, they were probably were too wrapped up in business classes (not paying for dinner means saving money… genius) to pay attention to the result of a body tumbling down a hillside.

My personal favorite is the 72-year-old woman who was caught selling crack at a day care. Police described the house as a “drive through for crack-cocaine,” saying that the suspect, Carrie Ingram, was selling the drugs out of a Head Start Daycare where she volunteers. I smell a grandmother of the year nomination in the works.

Wow, where to start. Aside from a slew of introductory business classes, I’m the thinking the most pressing course would be PHIL 102: Ethics. Apparantly this woman could use some knowledge in the “right-from-wrong” department if she has no qualms selling crack while attending to young children.

Once again, had this woman gone through the BG Perspective courses which all freshman at the University are required to fulfill, this never would have been a problem.

Sure, it seems as though that an Introduction to American Culture Studies class may never pay off, but just remember that these gen-ed classes are a fact of college life, and a necessary one at that. While it may not seem like it now, attending and achieving in these classes may save you both money and jail time a worthwhile investment indeed.