Community

Dec 4, 2012 -- 12:22PM, jetshield wrote:

You gots a brokted pic ther, RH. 

It's been doing that to me all day.
Funny thing is, it's there after I submit the post and goes away afterward.
Happened to me "in group" as well.
I blame these wonderful forums.

Yeah maybe. Well actually its just CSUS. for quite a while they've been adding in more and more general ed requirements at bother lower and upper division levels. They even have some requirements that are school specific so if you transfer into the school you still have general ed you gotta take and junk. the amusing thing is that some majors have way too many units now, such as all the sciences, and so the school has tried asking them to cut back classes for those majors cuz like you can't cut back general ed requirements cuz that cuts back money for all departments. so yeah school has been trying to get the science departments to can as many of their classes (by combining them in some cases) so that the unit count for science majors can be reduced down so they can get out in a much shorter time.

Cus at CSUS its like 3 years of general ed classes about and then like a years worth of upper division courses or whatnot that are major related. But for the sciences without taking full summer and winter courses each year that is about 2-3 years worth or more courses to take. Like for instance in order to get a BS in physics I'm about 2 courses away from a minor in chem, 1 from a minor in math (depending on route) a class or two from a minor in bio and if you decide to take the astronomy based writing intensive course for general ed req then only 2 courses from a minor in astronomy. So if i cut like 1 semester of GE out and replace it with other courses i could leave the college with a BS in physics and like 4-5 minors. And this is pretty much the case with most the science degrees on campus, which is not the case for basically no other degree on campus.

Dec 4, 2012 -- 3:26PM, KillerGM wrote:

*shrug* I support a liberal arts education, because I believe that it is important to diversify your knowledge and that learning other subjects, even beyond the subjects themselves, helps you to learn to think differently. While I think the subjects have value, I also think that you learn difference processes and ways of thinking when you study different subjects.

But I have a BFA, so feel free to disregard my opinion.

Also: citations/footnotes are annoying.

I think, as I said, that it's ok for a lot of kids right out of HS.  Most don't really know what they want to be or, if they do, have a poor understanding of what that would actually entail.  A little variety here and there very well could be of benefit to them.  However, for an engineer or a doctor wannabe, those extra classes are worse than useless.  They distract from the studies the kid actually needs to be what they've chosen to be.  I dunno about you, but I'd feel a lot safer with a doctor that spent all his or her time studying doctor stuff than I would with one who had to struggle through Spanish, Lit and Art Appreciation while also trying to learn doctor stuff.  If the class will be of no real benefit it should not be required for graduation.  Let them study what will actually help them do what they want to do.  It just makes sense.

And, again, you have adults who want to go back to school who will be subjected to the same crap some clueless 18 year old will be.  What's the benefit to me if I have to take some art class?  I'm an IT professional.  What the hell is that gonna do for me but waste my time and money?  But distract me from classes that I actually need and may have trouble with?  I know how to budget my time.  I know how to handle more than one problem at once.  I mean, it's no small part of what I do for a living.  Oh, and I also know what I want to do for a living.  Art has nothing to do with it.  Surprisingly, neither does lit even though I read like an addict.  All those extra classes do for me is turn me off of going back.  It makes the idea of college seem ... I dunno, somewhat fake. 

Additionally, most people attain diversity of knowledge on their own.  I did.  I mean, I have hobbies.  I read.  I don't need to pay someone to tell me about different stuff.  I really, really don't want to pay someone to tell me about different stuff I don't have any interest in and the idea of being forced to pay someone to do it is, well, I'm sure you get the picture by now.

Dec 4, 2012 -- 8:27PM, EscherEnigma wrote:

Hrm... at my school I think I had to take College English I and II (mostly just about writing papers since everyone has to write papers, no matter what their field is) and then Technical Writing (again, because everyone has to write technical documents).

The only other "liberal arts" stuff we had to take was 6 credit hours of a social science, 6 credits of a humanities, and then 3 credits of either.  I bagged that with psychology and philosophy.

But all together, I think my required non-science and non-engineering credits totalled something like 24 credit hours, not even a fifth of my total required credits.

My school did, however, required that everyone complete Calc I and II, Chemistry I and II (with labs) and Physics I and II (with labs), with a requirement that you also finish 8 credit hours (2 being lab hours) of some other engineering/science (most got this covered by their major regardless).

But the bulk of my credit hours were in Comp Sci and Information Technology (they largely were cross-listed but some weren't).  I did finish up a few more math courses (probability and statistics mostly).

So if you're going for a hard science or engineering degree but half your time is wasted on fine arts stuff... you're at the wrong school. 

Well, in my case, my choices are limited.  I can't just up and leave the state.  I can't expect my mom and dad to expense an apartment for me to live somewhere closer to a technical school.  I can't commute massive distances.  I have a home, a wife, a stepson, a career and all the responsibilities that go along with those things.  So it's not just a matter of going to the right school.  There's one - maybe two - colleges near enough to me to make going actually possible.  And the one I prefer requires those BS courses even for IT peeps like us.  Er, and the other one does, too.  See, you made a great choice in the school you attended - something that should be complimented.  Thing is, it's not so easy once your life is past that just graduated HS phase.  At least not for a lot of us.  I really wish I could avoid that garbage, though.  I wasn't as smart as you are when I was 18, though. 

I guess I just don't see the same value in it that you do.  Er, I mean I don't see the programs as doing what you say they do - at least on the level that you think.  I'd much prefer it if classes that were outside of your major were offered but not required.  When you're paying for an education you should be able to have some say in what that education should be.  My degree should not depend upon anything that's not important in my field.  I should not have to stress over a class that means nothing to my future outside of what some school decided to say it does.  That's just the way I see it.