Gen. ed. courses enrich education

I have just read Laura C. Sliger's column on the University-Wide General Education Proposal and would like to comment on the issue. Like Ms. Sliger, I agree that the proposal, a standardized General Education format, is a ludicrous step taken by the Faculty Senate. Certainly, the University must change its General Education policy if it wants to keep up with other prestigious schools.

Ms. Sliger states that "[she] believes that General Education requirements need to be changed by being reduced." I must disagree. The problem the university now has is that these requirements are too lax. Students that study here are not required to challenge themselves in a way that my parents and some of my professors did. The problem cannot be readily allayed by reduction and/or standardization of general education requirements. There are too many complex interdepartmental forces at work. Each department rightly feels that its program has its own merit and is of some value for study. While I agree with this, there is just too much information that needs to be absorbed, rendering it almost impossible to cover in four years of school.

Therefore, students who want to study at the college level must arrive at college ready to work hard and be willing to learn about anything. The problem is that the overall attitude in students over the past years has become worse. A few friends of mine, who are now science graduate students, are still puzzled about why they were required to study the humanities, foreign languages, and social sciences. They didn'treally care. This apathy towards general education is the heart of this dilemma.

If, by some miraculous mechanism, the university enrolls students who are intrinsically curious about the world and all its complexities, then ridiculous conceptions like the University-Wide General Education proposal will cease to be. The opportunity to be caught in l'esprit d'academie will be available for anyone who wishes to seize it. Moreover, the enthusiasm for the chance to learn will eclipse the apathy that is currently abound.

By S. Jenkins (letter)
Arizona Daily Wildcat
February 21, 1997