Finally, the University has gone and decided to strip every incoming student of the hope of ever becoming a well-rounded individual. Way to go! More specifically, the currently lacking General Education Requirements have been replaced by a much more deficient General Education Program.
The new program reduces the number of general course hours needed from 50 to 53 hours to 39 to 40 hours. Math and natural science classes lose 7 hours, humanities and social sciences lose a whopping 9 hours and the rest — besides the very important physical education requirement — is reduced to 8 or 9 hours of “additional breadth” courses and “interdisciplinary perspectives.” It’s less of a program and more of a demo.
In the old days, university educations meant rigorous study in multiple discipline areas, not just a single semester in a lecture hall getting an overview of European history. Granted, society and technology have progressed to the point where some people should be experts in more specialized areas, but that does not mean that those individuals should be able to skip out on learned the basic facts and theories of the way the world works, used to work, may possibly work in the future and how to interact with that world.
Every student who holds a four-year degree from this University should know how to write a coherent, intelligent paragraph. He or she should be able to speak with head held high and interact with other people like a reasonable adult. He or she should understand basic mathematics and natural science and political and economic principles — if there was ever a time to stress the knowledge of economic principles among the public, it is now.
These aren’t “extra” areas of “interest” that can be skimmed over. They are necessary. Already, too many people don’t have the ability to have an education from a school like N.C. State, they may never be adequately exposed to the basics. We can’t let that happen to the other half who does have that chance.
Someone may argue that allowing students more time in their specializations is more important. With the exception of doctors, lawyers and technical experts who really did work in their specialization? Most people don’t. I know accounting majors who ended up managing moving companies, English majors who became bookkeepers, theater majors who found themselves working in television and radio technology.
Just look at our presidents. Ideally, they should all have PhDs in political science, right? Or not. President-elect Barack Obama was trained as a lawyer, President George W. Bush has an MBA, President Bill Clinton went to law school, President George H.W. Bush has an economics degree, President Ronald Regan majored in sociology and economics and President Jimmy Carter has a B.S. from the Naval Academy.
Now, none of these men majored in political science, and they still became presidents. It wasn’t their majors that made them successful, it was their entire life experience — most of it outside those fields — that made them successful. And, folks, it’s hard to have meaningful life experiences when you only know a lot about one thing.
Specialization is good and should be encouraged but not at the expense of general understanding. This new General Education Program is leading our University down a dangerous path. In five years NCSU may be graduating students with no practical knowledge of the world they live in. More general ignorance is not what the world needs. Lets re-focus on well-roundedness.
Send Taylor your thoughts on the University’s General Education Requirements to [email protected].
