The university I'm considering makes one African American related course a requirement and I find that silly (program, requirements)
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There's something to be said for reading on your own. Then you can expand your horizons with no limitations. By the time I had finished junior high school, I had read everything from Toni Morrison and Richard Wright to Kate Chopin and Ernest Hemingway. No special literature courses necessary.
Now, there is something to be said for a college directing students to expand their knowledge base. It is part of the goals of higher education, but why focus specifically on African-Americans and a course limited to that group. How about a well-rounded English course that touches on various cultures and groups?
I suspect that is an option. OP said "an African-American 'related' course. OP has never listed the available choices and I would bet they are more diverse than OP presented.
OP, if you'd clicked on the "2 courses" link, it would have taken you to a long list of courses that will fulfill that requirement. For example, there are courses on the history of slavery or on contemporary urban issues or racial/ethnic inequality. Personally, I think a lot of the courses sound really interesting.
You said you were looking at 15 other colleges/universities and none of them have this requirement. OK, go to one of those, if this requirement bothers you so much. I mean, seriously, it's an easy fix.
This.
If a given school's stated course requirements don't speak to you, attend a school where they do.
I went to a (loosely) religiously affiliated college, traditionally Lutheran, and it required one class from the religion department, as part of a rounded out liberal arts education base (which, like this requirement, could be selected from a wide variety of topics). I was fine with the requirement, but doubtless, some would-be students probably crossed the school of their list as a result. As is their right.
Perhaps some of the old-timers here remember when ROTC (two years) was mandatory at many state universities and all land-grants (land grants often have the word "state" in their names -- Michigan State, NC State, Iowa State, etc.).
The ROTC mandate was not a good idea then, as the AA-studies mandate is not a good idea now.
As stated, if you don't like it choose a different school
For one of my free electives in college I picked the history of jazz. I double majored in finance and economics, so this course was something different. It was part of the AA studies path and some music majors path. Part of the requirement was to go to the clubs and talk to the musicians, which was well outside my comfort zone. The professor was a jerk ( verified by some of the aforementioned musicians......). The class ended up being challenging, I definitely learned some things, pushed to do things I otherwise would have avoided and I shared a classroom with kids I normally wouldn't have.
My exact thoughts. requiring everybody to choose a course focused on one specific race is the opposite of diversity.
Your claim is complete nonsense in two respects.
First, the requirement constitutes precisely 3 of 120 credits. Requiring that 2.5% of courses focus on 'one specific race' is most certainly not 'the opposite of diversity' but a requirement that will guarantee at least modicum of diversity to a course load.
Second, your assertion that the requirement is a course 'focused on one specific race' itself is false. How do I know this? From the very link that you posted. https://www.csuohio.edu/gened/genera...cial-diversity
37 courses that satisfy the 'African-American' requirement are listed. They include: COM 332 Interracial Communication
ENG 208 Womanism/Feminism
HIS 302 US Slavery, Abolition, and Politics, 1820-1860
HIS 317 Civil War and Reconstruction, 1848 to 1877
PSM/UST 302 Contemporary Urban Issues
Either you were so busy being bent out of shape that you didn't even bother to peruse the potential courses that would satisfy this requirement, or you're being intentionally dishonest, because to claim that any of these courses 'focused on one specific race's is flat-out factually wrong.
Sounds to me like a bunch of snowflakes need a 'safe space' from scary courses that might expose them to something that makes them all... uncomfortable!
First, the requirement constitutes precisely 3 of 120 credits. Requiring that 2.5% of courses focus on 'one specific race' is most certainly not 'the opposite of diversity' but a requirement that will guarantee at least modicum of diversity to a course load.
This is not a correct analysis. A rigorous major (mostly the STEMs) leaves little room for arts and flowers courses. One is talking about three out of perhaps 24 credits, not simply three out of 120. The AA requirement comes at the direct expense of a slot for something potentially more worthwhile and more of interest to the particular student. A lot of kids could use -- and never get -- a solid course in American history or English-language literature or basic economics, not to mention some in-depth study of a foreign language (there's at least 12, right there, for the foreign language). There just isn't enough room.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Hamish Forbes
This is not a correct analysis. A rigorous major (mostly the STEMs) leaves little room for arts and flowers courses. One is talking about three out of perhaps 24 credits, not simply three out of 120. The AA requirement comes at the direct expense of a slot for something potentially more worthwhile and more of interest to the particular student. A lot of kids could use -- and never get -- a solid course in American history or English-language literature or basic economics, not to mention some in-depth study of a foreign language (there's at least 12, right there, for the foreign language). There just isn't enough room.
There is room. Heck, I had semesters with 4 lab sciences (16 credits) fitting it all in with genetics, and organic, etc. You can still fit in one course over 8 semesters.
Heck, mine was Eastern Asian Religions, and an anthropology class, and yeah, I used some of the other of my very very few electives for other elective science classes I wanted to take (i.e. ecology of fishes (which is different from ichthyology)). Being born and raised in the U.S. I didn't really need more exposure to the bible, we're inundated with it from birth, but the I Ching and Bhagavad Gita? That was my first exposure, and yeah, it was kind of forced, and yes, I'm better for it. Everyone would be.
What is of interest to me needs to be balanced with what is good for me, and what I and society will benefit from being an educated citizen. I personally think everyone should have to take an AA course, an Asian studies course, and a women's studies focused course. Micro economics, statistics, writing, etc were already required core courses, so they really don't conflict.
There is room. Heck, I had semesters with 4 lab sciences (16 credits) fitting it all in with genetics, and organic, etc. You can still fit in one course over 8 semesters.
Heck, mine was Eastern Asian Religions, and an anthropology class, and yeah, I used some of the other of my very very few electives for other elective science classes I wanted to take (i.e. ecology of fishes (which is different from ichthyology)). Being born and raised in the U.S. I didn't really need more exposure to the bible, we're inundated with it from birth, but the I Ching and Bhagavad Gita? That was my first exposure, and yeah, it was kind of forced, and yes, I'm better for it. Everyone would be.
What is of interest to me needs to be balanced with what is good for me, and what I and society will benefit from being an educated citizen. I personally think everyone should have to take an AA course, an Asian studies course, and a women's studies focused course. Micro economics, statistics, writing, etc were already required core courses, so they really don't conflict.
It's one thing for you to have an opinion about the question. Realize that your opinion is not universally held. It is not appropriate for the kind of course you mention to be REQUIRED for students who are at a point in life where they are essentially ignorant of their own Western culture. Those who believe that Bhagavad Gita is worthwhile can read it at their leisure, without requiring someone else to do the same.
One can decide which cultures are the best by how well their members flourish (eudaimonia, as Aristotle and I mentioned a while back). If one believes that some cultures are better than others, then some cultures must necessarily be at the bottom of the barrel and therefore not worthy of REQUIRED study. My thought would be that people should study their betters in order to improve themselves. Never in history have so many been so well off as those in the USA and in general the West, and yet be so ungrateful, so ignorant, and so unappreciative of their own mainstream culture.
Regarding the demands of time: we shall probably not agree on this. Many of my undergraduate students had their tongues hanging out, so to speak, from the beating they took from courses like thermodynamics, electromagnetic field theory, quantum mechanics, and so forth. They had precious little left over for arts and flowers, and needed to use whatever room they had in their schedules for the best of the basics.
Last edited by Hamish Forbes; 07-21-2017 at 01:51 PM..
This is not a correct analysis. A rigorous major (mostly the STEMs) leaves little room for arts and flowers courses. One is talking about three out of perhaps 24 credits, not simply three out of 120. The AA requirement comes at the direct expense of a slot for something potentially more worthwhile and more of interest to the particular student. A lot of kids could use -- and never get -- a solid course in American history or English-language literature or basic economics, not to mention some in-depth study of a foreign language (there's at least 12, right there, for the foreign language). There just isn't enough room.
If you'd bother to check the requirements, you'd see that I'm right and you're wrong.
That's probably why you're just throwing out claims and not seeing whether or not they have any basis in reality.
You're complaining about kids not having a chance to study American history? Did you even read my last post? Did you even glance at the courses that satisfy the African-American requirement? Several of them are specifically history courses. I even listed two of them - HIS 302 US Slavery, Abolition, and Politics, 1820-1860 and HIS 317 Civil War and Reconstruction, 1848 to 1877 . There are several literature courses that satisfy the same requirement. Economics? That can be taken as part of the general education requirements (it meets one of the requirements, which I - unlike you - bothered to check, but which anyone with even the most cursory familiarity with gen eds could have figured out). Foreign language? Yes, at Cleveland State that can be taken and used to meet the WAC gen en requirement. None of these options would have any overlap, which is to say that the Africa-American requirement provides no impediment at all to taken those courses as part of a normal degree program on a four-year track with a normal minimum credit load.
You're clearly very opposed to the African-American requirement. Maybe you can come up with a reason that actually has a factual basis.
And the fact that you automatically think it is a "hack" that is teaching the class tells all. Are there some that are bad? Sure, every school (just about) has some bad programs, and just about every big sports school has a program known for athletes to go into to skate by (aka hotel management at UNLV, or recreation management at other schools). That doesn't mean they are bad. And it certainly doesn't mean its a bad program because you think it was bad across the board, if anything, that is another indictment and and shows why this is necessary.
Sorry, but it's because they are. Science majors are used to classes for the most part being somewhat difficult and requiring minimal effort to even pass, let alone get anything above a C in. You're right though, generally the broad requirement courses are the automatic A type courses.... you know, like Communication 3/10 Intro to Public Speaking. I'm pretty sure no one in the history of mankind has ever not gotten an A in Speech. Good news is you can basically approaach those classes in two ways. You can show up about five times (first day in order not to get dropped, midterms/presentations, and finals) and get your GPA inflation. They only require about 45 minutes to an hour of work a week. I know when I did speech I just got up with a rough outline and winged it. They were pretty awful mostly because I ran out of time. Alternatively, I took an upper division sociology class that was really interesting. Same thing. Probably half the class showed up beyond the first day, midterms, and the final. Everyone got As but the lectures and reading (not that you had to do either) were to me very interesting.
In other words, the majority of the classes that satisfy the AA studies requirement will be automatic A classes. If you really are the opposed to it, just go on rate my professor or whatever and find out which ones are that and take one. Spend a sum total of maybe 20 wasted hours learning nothing and take the automatic A.
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