Matt Peters
map006@marietta.edu
The Student Government Association (SGA) met on Monday, September Sept. 28, to discuss how the current general education curriculum can be improved upon. Spearheading the “General Education Task Force Committee,” Provost Dr. Janet Bland and business and economics department chair Dr. Jacqueline Khorassani were also in attendance to hear from the body.
Khorassani opened the discussion with the question, “What is general education to you personally; when you think of general education, what comes to mind?”
Several students stressed the value of being academically ‘well-rounded,’ asserting that general education courses provide students with a wide range of knowledge and skills while also broadening their perspectives.
“You have these opportunities to learn things you wouldn’t necessarily have the opportunity to learn inside your own major,” senior SGA Rep. Erin McNulty said.
Junior Rep. Paul Bieniek*, who additionally serves as editor-in-chief of this publication, also emphasized the importance of taking classes outside of your prospective major.
“Not only does it help you with your job,” he said, “it makes you appreciate different aspects of life even more.”
Bieniek explained that, while his major is Political Science, he has enjoyed the experiences he has had with other departments such as Biology and Theatre – experiences he would not have had if he not taken biology and acting classes to fulfill various general education requirements.
Others emphasized the important role general education plays in developing applicable career skills such as writing, communication and critical thinking.
“It’s supposed to provide skills that can be used in any profession,” sophomore Rep. Cody Alderman said.
Khorassani’s second question followed; “What don’t you like about the current general education program?”
Some students pointed out that course offerings are distributed unevenly and disproportionately across general education subjects. For example, there are plenty of classes to fulfill the required eight Scientific Inquiry (“B”) credits. Yet, there are only a handful of courses to fulfill the six required Social Analysis (“Y”) credits.
Others called into question the validity of the classification system for general education courses. With some classes falling into as many as four different letter categories, many feel that the current system is too flexible and, for some classes, a misrepresentation of the actual content.
“If you truly want to pursue this idea of a general education… then we need to be promoting the diversity of the class, not just that it checks something off of your list,” Senior Rep. Dillon said.
Still, others enjoy the flexibility of the classification system, arguing that many courses do, in fact, deserve the multiple letter designations.
Provost Bland commented, “I taught Concepts of Gender and it was a Writing Proficiency [‘W’] because I made you write multiple papers. It was an ‘L’ [Literature] because we read five books and discussed them… and it was gender and we covered every possible aspect of that… So that class happened to be very evenly weighted. Each one of them was hitting you as hard as I could.”
“When a faculty member presents a proposal to the curriculum committee to have General Education designations assigned to a specific course, they have to present the rationale to the curriculum committee about why they feel that course fits whichever Gen Ed designation they’re seeking,” said Vice President for Student Life Dr. Richard Danford, also in attendance.
Khorassani’s third question was, “What do you like about the current General Education program?”
Bieniek said he believes that the “general education aspect” of Marietta College is one of its hallmarks.
“I think what instructors do a really good job of doing is showing the connections between different disciplines… As we’re moving forward, looking at reworking the Gen Ed program, I hope that we work to improve upon it where there’s need for improvement, but I hope we also preserve [what needs to be preserved],” Bieniek said.
Several students praised the system’s flexibility and variety of course offerings.
“I personally like having that flexibility of choosing what [a class] is going to count for. To me, it makes me feel that I have more of an impact on my own education and I can work to my interests or to my weaknesses to know what personally will work for me,” said SGA Vice President Emily Drabeck.
McNulty agrees that the flexibility of general education requirements is beneficial for students.
“I’ve never had a problem fulfilling any of the general education requirements lowercase and I think it’s because of the way it’s set up currently,” McNulty said.
Others appreciate the freedom it offers. For instance, rather than being forced into taking specific science courses, Marietta students have a wide range of sciences
to choose from; everything from dinosaurs to physics.
Khorassani then asked, “What changes would you like to see?
Student Body President Kennedy Clyde said she’d like to see advisers play a larger role in assisting students throughout their four years.
“I’ve been very fortunate in having such a close relationship with my adviser… We’ve sat down every semester and worked for about a half an hour on which courses I need in order to graduate on time… I would like to see a larger emphasis on that adviser role,” she said.
Clyde added that, while her adviser has been extremely helpful, many professors do not take their advising role very seriously.
“I would just like to see that guidance and that mentorship across the board,” she said.
The fifth discussion question was, “What should an MC grad know, do, be and understand?”
Neill said, “Four things I came up with for Marietta College that I feel like we’re prepared for… I think we need to be able to write, communicate, problem-solve, and think critically. And, I think, if we can articulate that we know how to do those four things and we know how to do them well… then we’re good to go.”
Students unanimously agreed that good communication skills are essential for Marietta College graduates, and that communication should remain a major focus of general education.
Khorassani said the general education task force would continue collecting feedback from the student body through early October. They will then place comments in different categories into a data collecting system to see which themes recur. A proposal for new general education requirements could be recommended by the end of October. Khorassani emphasized that students would be informed about each step of the process.
*Note: Views expressed by Mr. Bieniek do not necessarily reflect the those of The Marcolian, its staff, or its adviser.
