Reply to Gen-ed requirements: part of a well-rounded liberal arts education or high school 2.0?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I'm not talking about elite institutions like Yale or Columbia where the breadth requirements are part of a curated humanistic curriculum.

But it seems at say, UMCP or Penn State, a lot of time is spent on these requirements, more than a third of the degree in the arts and sciences.  I can see the merit, but in practice it seems to lean to a lot of undisciplined and unfocused learning.  In a lot of ways it's like high school again - take your English, take your math, take your foreign language, take your gym etc.  In fact the gen-ed requirements are often more extensive than the major to which students are only devoting about 30% of the degree to.

Maybe this is why in a lot of countries the bachelor's degree is 3 years because gen-ed is mainly an American thing.[/quote]

I have one on the gen ed model and one that will be on the SLAC model as to course diversification.  The first has generally liked the gen ed classes and used them to take things of interest outside her major (which is pre-professional and very prescriptive), but I think the value there is limited.  Plus at larger schools like Maryland or Penn State, getting into a good gen ed course can be a bit of a crap shoot.  Much prefer the SLAC model where breadth of experience is more intentional and the course selection process doesn't resemble the Hunger Games.  [/quote]

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