All of the schools in the University of North Carolina system pay lip service to a general education program that is supposed to ensure students graduate with a well-rounded, fundamental education in addition to their major courses. UNC at Greensboro says that it seeks to “foster the knowledge, character, and sensibility of a university-educated person.”
That sounds good. But I have been examining the general education programs throughout the UNC system and find that most are rather weak, mainly because they allow students to choose from such a range of courses that they can easily avoid taking those that would be regarded as pillars of a college education.
In that regard, UNC-G is better than some schools — most notably UNC at Chapel Hill and North Carolina State University — but still doesn’t do enough to channel students into taking really useful, basic courses. Let’s take a look.
The general education program at UNC-G requires students to take a prescribed number of semester hours in each of six areas: Humanities and Fine Arts, Historical Perspectives on Western Culture, Mathematics, Social and Behavioral Sciences, Natural Sciences, and Reasoning and Discourse.
In the humanities, students must take at least one literature course. They can choose from a number of courses covering traditional literary studies (for instance, Introduction to Shakespeare, European Literary Classics, and Major American Authors), but the requirement is equally satisfied with courses such as Comparative Studies in World Epics, Topics in Global Literature, and Women in Literature. The latter three may be good courses, but they can’t be regarded as fundamental.
Another component of the humanities is a course in philosophy or religion. Some are clearly appropriate for general education, such as Introduction to Philosophy and Contemporary Moral Problems. The requirement can just as well be filled, however, with courses such as Introduction to Feminist Theories, Religious Traditions and Care of the Earth, or Ancient Cosmology.
To complete the Historical Perspectives on Western Culture requirement, students have to choose one course out of more than 50. They could take meat and potatoes courses such as American History, or Western Civilization. However, they can also fulfill the requirement with The Ottoman Empire and the Republic of Turkey, Latin America: Colonial Period, or Women in Nonwestern Cultures. Those might be great courses, but they should be side dishes or desserts.
UNC-G students have to take two courses in social and behavioral science. The selections range from such foundational courses as Introduction to Economics and American Politics to narrow and trendy courses such as Sociocultural Analyses of Sport and Exercise, Human Sexuality, Leisure and American Lifestyles, and Sociology of Deviant Behavior.
Is it just as important to learn about economics as it is to learn about Leisure and American Lifestyles? I don’t think so, but one is as good as the other as far as the university is concerned.
Students also have to take several “Global Perspective” courses, including at least one labeled “Nonwestern.” This bow to the great multicultural fad obligates students to choose among long lists of courses such as Unity and Unrest in Medieval Towns, Race and Culture Contact in the Caribbean, and World Dance Traditions. That’s not exactly the stuff of a general education.
When all is said and done, it is quite possible for UNC-G students to graduate without ever having taken a course in American history, a course covering the classics of our literature, the workings of our economic or political systems, logic, or the foundations of Western civilization. The educational foundation the school says it aims for can be negated by capricious student choices.
It would be best if UNC-G turned its general education program into a true core curriculum of essential courses. But that’s unlikely, since it would offend many professors and departments whose courses would be deemed non-essential. Chancellors don’t want to stir up such a hornets’ nest.
Therefore, it falls to parents to provide the guidance that students need. If you have a child attending UNC-G — or almost any other college or university — you ought to sit down with him and go over the curricular choices. Encourage him to sign up for courses that will have lasting educational benefit, not just ones that are reputed to be fun or easy.
UNC-G might be thought of as a cafeteria. It offers nutritious main dishes as well as tasty, fattening desserts. Do your best to make sure that your student gets a good foundational education by eating main dishes most of the time, rather than the desserts.