University of Iowa courses that fall under lifetime leisure skills are not worth your time or the tuition money.

Lifetime leisure skills courses include team building, kickboxing, golfing, and canoeing. While these classes may sound fun, taking classes just for fun won’t help you graduate.

While I have not taken a lifetime leisure skills course before, I have been in online courses. Some classes online are general education courses that are required for graduation, but the curriculum is less significant and time-consuming than electives. 

Although these classes are designed to be easy, it’s easier to forget about these courses. This leads students to let course work build up — if they don’t forget about it entirely.

I know several intelligent students who ended with bad grades in “fun” or “easy” courses because they forgot about their online courses or their lifetime leisure skills course fell off their radar.

While this can’t be said about every student, the fact is, college students are overwhelmed. Although a lifetime leisure skills course might seem like a fun idea, it will ultimately become an additional chore on your task list.

Yes, almost 79 percent of UI students are stressed, and that issue goes beyond canoeing. 

You don’t need to take a lifetime leisure skills course to discover new skills. There are plenty of ways to gain beneficial life skills in your community for free.

This can include participating in free events at the Iowa City Public Library, learning hands-on at the community garden plots, or going to workshops at the UI’s libraries. 

Focus on classes that apply to your major and save the extra time for life outside of school.