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Started By
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re: University of Alabama proposes changes to core curriculum: Lit and History not required
Posted on 11/3/22 at 3:15 pm to DownshiftAndFloorIt
Posted on 11/3/22 at 3:15 pm to DownshiftAndFloorIt
quote:
I strongly disagree. I got absolutely no value from anything I did in college outside of my major courses and their prerequisites.
They should be an option for people who want to take them, but them being required is ridiculous. It's just a way to keep those other shitty departments and their staffs busy.
Like I said, put it to a vote that STEM majors should have a two-year Associate's Degree option (with no penalty for graduate or professional school acceptance or salary-wise for choosing that degree compared to a graduate with a B.S. degree) and I'll vote for it.
(If I'm not mistaken, the typical curriculum for 19th century American engineering did culminate in an A.S. degree rather than a B.S., but I might be mistaken.)
This post was edited on 11/3/22 at 3:19 pm
0
Posted on 11/3/22 at 3:35 pm to StringedInstruments
Dumb it down 
Posted on 11/3/22 at 3:36 pm to Willie Stroker
quote:
The point I took from Rockford’s statement is that kids get basic math before college. What they need is something to elevate their thinking about math. Statistics is applied mathematics in a real world environment. Since it also relies on spreadsheets like Excel, it creates an opportunity to learn about math in an interactive environment where you can skip the keystrokes on a calculator and go straight to the results.
I was a terrible math student and hated having to take every math class. But statistics changed the way I think. It helped me focus on the process and data visualization that helps persuade others.
Statistics and economics should be core curriculum because both also provide valuable life skills.
I hear you but the way statistics is set up now you need to be proficient in college algebra to be ready for the introductory statistics course. And to go any further than the basics you'll need to know calculus. Unless you're talking about some new dumbed down statistics course for non business,non engineering, non science majors.
Posted on 11/3/22 at 3:39 pm to StringedInstruments
Reducing literature requirements or allowing workarounds is perfectly fine by me. Kids headed to college have to read enough terrible classics in high school.
I don't like doing the same for history though. Something about being doomed to repeat it.
This was the case when I went to college over 20 years ago.
I don't like doing the same for history though. Something about being doomed to repeat it.
quote:
Further, they no longer have to take a foreign language in college if they've satisfied the requirements in high school.
This was the case when I went to college over 20 years ago.
Posted on 11/3/22 at 4:04 pm to LSUBoo
Foreign language is the one thing they shouldn't eliminate
Posted on 11/3/22 at 4:06 pm to Willie Stroker
quote:Says the guy who got nothing out of history and literature classes. You should be ashamed of yourself
You should have studied harder in school.
Posted on 11/3/22 at 4:14 pm to Pettifogger
As an engineering student 45 years ago, I knew I needed to improve my public speaking and writing beyond English requirements for my degree. What did I do? I took public speaking and technical writing. Great decision. I had 6 years of Latin in school, but I still needed a foreign language. Fortunately, engineers had to take Fortran, which met the foreign language requirements.
Posted on 11/3/22 at 4:18 pm to GreatLakesTiger24
quote:
Says the guy who got nothing out of history and literature classes. You should be ashamed of yourself
I’m not ashamed. I’m proud. Why wouldn’t I be? But keep wagging that finger.
This post was edited on 11/3/22 at 4:19 pm
Posted on 11/3/22 at 4:30 pm to Willie Stroker
quote:
But shouldn’t there be better evidence of me being a dummy than me not experiencing anything meaningful in my life as a result of having to take literature and history classes?
But didn't you just say that you did find meaning in history later in life? Granted, that was from an author who is considered a 'pop' historian, but the position that finding something 'meaningful' in literature begs the question as to whether that is the point of teaching history and literature. From my perspective, it certainly isn't. What it does do is lay out a very messy and complicated origin about 'Western Civilization' and what it means to be both 'Western' and 'Civilized.' While it may not be personally worthwhile to many, I'd rather keep curriculums as they are than to tinker with them by people who don't value them as disciplines, as the proof of their worth reflects in many aspects of American society especially.
Posted on 11/3/22 at 5:18 pm to Jim Rockford
quote:
Foreign language is the one thing they shouldn't eliminate
The problem is that the minimum requirements are nowhere near in depth or immersive enough to really learn a language. I took three years of French in high school, tested out of LSU's requirements and have lost 99% of that knowledge.
So, either increase the required foreign language to a level where it's useful in the real world, or just let the three years in high school count and move on.
Posted on 11/3/22 at 5:50 pm to DownshiftAndFloorIt
quote:
I strongly disagree. I got absolutely no value from anything I did in college outside of my major courses and their prerequisites.
Plenty of students coast by and don’t value their education. You get what you put in, and if you didn’t give a shite about particular classes, that’s on you. Your personal experience though is merely anecdotal and doesn’t offer much of a cogent counterargument against the purpose of a university education.
As stated by the other poster, there are options for people who want to learn basic skills. Trade school for one. Associate degrees are another option. But for someone going for a bachelor’s, they should have the opportunity to get a well-rounded education that prepares them to be a better citizen.
This post was edited on 11/3/22 at 5:53 pm
Posted on 11/3/22 at 6:00 pm to StringedInstruments
quote:
Kids headed to college have to read enough terrible classics in high school.
With the way public school is set up around testing now, very few kids are reading full novels at all. At best they are getting excerpts of classics, for the most part they are getting short, meaningless pieces geared towards being easy to evaluate “skills.”
Posted on 11/3/22 at 6:00 pm to GetCocky11
quote:
If you don't actually want to learn, you really shouldn't be going to a 4 year university.
I used to work at a regional public school with students from all walks of life. There were some students who were working ridiculous hours outside of school and/or having children at home, who were just some star students that I had A LOT of respect for
There were other students who had no business being there, were wasting their time/money, and were wasting my time trying to help them when their actions clearly showed they had no desire to be in college.
The students who were disasters in the classroom took up, by far, the largest percentage of an advisor's time. I was happy to help the students that genuinely wanted to be there but were struggling. I was not happy to help the ones who didn't give a crap.
Honestly, there's nothing wrong with not going to college and going to trade school or finding some other career path that doesn't involve a four-year degree. But, don't just go because you think you think that you "have" to. You're wasting everyone's time.
This post was edited on 11/3/22 at 6:31 pm
Posted on 11/3/22 at 6:25 pm to RogerTheShrubber
quote:
People will opt out of actual relevant classes to take this class which is just marxism presented as social science.
That’s the point. They are taking your children
Posted on 11/3/22 at 6:49 pm to StringedInstruments
Football programs are to blame.
Posted on 11/3/22 at 6:57 pm to StringedInstruments
Most of that is repeats from HS. Take the redundancy out is a good thing.
Posted on 11/3/22 at 7:00 pm to StringedInstruments
The jokes write themselves but this seems like a good thing. Less time in gens/basics and more time in the major.
Posted on 11/3/22 at 7:00 pm to Turf Taint
quote:
Most of that is repeats from HS. Take the redundancy out is a good thing.
I’m halfway there on your position. What I would say is the high schools need to up their game so that redundancy isn’t needed.
Posted on 11/3/22 at 7:53 pm to StringedInstruments
This won’t impact the athletes graduation rate. Bookmark.
Posted on 11/3/22 at 9:01 pm to StringedInstruments
quote:
Requirement for all UA graduates to have completed foreign language in high school or at UA (by removal of computer science option)
frick taking foreign language.
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