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comment by mk
mk  ·  4356 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: The Folly of the College Credit Hour

    I feel it's a matter of viewpoint, but I don't feel that engineering students should be forced to take say, cultural anthropology, in order to fill a requirement.

My undergraduate was in physics, however when the professor was good, I found my liberal arts electives to be very valuable. I actually had a 'music appreciation' class that I got a lot from, just because the instructor was so knowledgeable and passionate. My biggest problem is with fluff that costs a lot. But I do feel that a proper education is a well-rounded one.





Wintermute  ·  4356 days ago  ·  link  ·  

|My biggest problem is with fluff that costs a lot.

One solution would be to charge different rates for different subjects. Of course, that would likely end with engineering and science credits costing more, not music appreciation credits costing less.

ButterflyEffect  ·  4356 days ago  ·  link  ·  

I agree with this, what I dislike is how some of the requirements are defined. I don't believe that a student should be forced to take x number of humanities courses, along with y number of arts of expression courses. I think the system would be better served having a requirement for general education, but not defining the subjects that must be taken. Allow the student to explore his/her interests. I have taken some very useful and interesting courses, but have also taken some worthless ones due to being forced to choose between a narrow selection to complete some requirements.

mk  ·  4355 days ago  ·  link  ·  

I agree that a program like that would probably work well. Require someone to learn outside their major, but give them the freedom to focus on a limited number of other things that interest them.