Gen Ed options
The Academic Senate acted appropriately by rescinding the DeJong Amendment.
The amendment, which would have placed an initial 100-course cap on the University Program, was a step in the wrong direction.
Providing a strict course cap may allow departments to better focus on ensuring their general education courses meet the objectives of the program.
But the cost comes from the students, not the departments - the DeJong Amendment would have greatly limited course options.
The University Program, which now has roughly 200 courses within it, provides respectable breadth for students. Narrowing this scope is not necessarily a wise decision.
For students to gain something from their general education, they need to be genuinely interested in the courses they are taking.
Capping the number of courses within the University Program, thereby severely limiting students' options to meet their general education requirements, runs the danger of being self-defeating. By having significantly fewer options, more students will be forced into classes through which they would much rather sleep.
This is not unreasonable apathy on students' part; rather, students should be able to find UP courses in which they have a genuine interest. A strict course cap reduces the likelihood that this occurs.
The A-Senate should take this into account as it proceeds. The Hartshorne/Stecker Plan addresses general education concerns but does not have anywhere near such stark limitations.
The Hartshorne/Stecker Plan, among other things, proposes to limit courses in the University Program to only those that broadly represent the analytic methodology - rather than only the content - of a discipline. This comes without a specific course-count cap, and after revision no longer includes a course-level cap.
This fits the mission of a strong general education program. Departments and the A-Senate now need to work toward providing as many courses as possible that introduce students to a discipline's methods. As methodology rather than particular content weighs heaviest, departments still may be able to provide a wide range of courses better tailored to operating within the UP.
Senators and departments need to be mindful that, although the UP should include only specific courses, the UP should have as wide a range as possible. To the contrary of the DeJong Amendment, senators should work toward including more, rather than fewer, courses, so long as they meet requirements.
For a general education model to be effective, it has to be flexible. The Hartshorne/Stecker Plan can allow this, but only if senators work toward it.
