Nix course warnings, add descriptions
To the editor,
It seems that all this discussion on course description warning labels and "truth in packaging" has been taken to an absurd extreme. I don't believe that the original intent of the concerned parent, nor of any student that has since raised their voice on the issue, has been to create discriminatory "warning labels" citing that certain courses contain "explicit" material. We're all mature students looking for a good education, right? After all, that's why were here.
Now, we're the ones paying for the courses, and we're the ones picking the courses that we believe will shape our academic lives in the appropriate way to attain our goals. But, we can only pick the right courses if we know what they'll be about. I think effort might be better directed not at getting mandated warning labels but calling for course descriptions that are more true to the course. God only knows how old the course descriptions currently in use in the catalogue are, and for the most part, they're not written by the professors who design and teach the courses. So, I think it's time we stop the useless arguing over censorship, when censorship isn't the issue. The issue is simply course descriptions that are not informative about course content.
Zachary Neal
Philosophy and Latin sophomore
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