TESC Overhauling Gen Ed Reqs. Not enrolled, watch out!

[sanantone]

However, most of my experience growing up has been just the opposite. I moved to California when I was eight, and none of my teachers would put up with any sort of racism. The kids I grew up with were all kinds of different races, and and although kids from different races tended to hang out with each other, they still formed friendships with kids from others races as well, and I never felt the us vs. them type racism. When incidents of racism did occur, they were condemned by society. Adults seemed to take pride in NOT being racist -- this was early 70s and 80s. The books we read, the TV shows, the movies, and the entire culture that I grew up in had been all about embracing diversity and condemning racism.

You are basing your assumptions off of 1. you not being a minority and 2. your own experiences and location. It's unacceptable to openly be a lot of things, but those people and their problems still exist. Married individuals still cheat on their spouses in secret, pedophiles still molest children behind closed doors, and alcoholics still suffer in silence.

When I was in the Army, I was stationed at Ft. Gordon, Georgia -- in the heart of the deep South --- and one day there was a KKK rally that marched through downtown Augusta, GA. Myself and several of my fellow soldiers (including whites, blacks, and Hispanics) decided to go to the rally to protest the march. To my surprise, a lot of the residents of Augusta did the same thing. The number of people protesting the KKK marchers outnumbered their supporters by 10 to 1, and the actual KKK marchers were a pathetic group of a little more than a dozen morons who were getting booed on their walk of shame.

I think you should read these articles about the increasing number of hate groups since immigration became a hot topic and after the election of Barack Obama.

Report: A Surge in Hate Groups Across America
The State of Hate: White Supremacist Groups Growing - Confronting the New Faces of Hate

I am not arguing that racism doesn't exist or flare up. It surely does. However, I don't believe the U.S. is a racist nation, or evenly largely racist, and certainly not in need of colleges mandating diversity courses that will create socially responsible individuals with broadened perspectives.

So what is the purpose of teaching U.S. History and having humanities requirements? Those courses aren't going to help most people perform better on their jobs.
Everyone has prejudices. Everyone has stereotyped a person or group of people at one time. We live in an increasingly diverse society and there is nothing wrong with learning about the people you're going to have to deal with in life.

It should be the responsibility of universities to educate its students but not to somehow fashion better citizens. I don't want to see this being done by the political-right spectrum, and I don't want to see it done by members on the political-left spectrum (full disclosure, I'm Libertarian). I enjoy learning about political theories, different philosophies, and cultural beliefs. However, these kinds of topics are problematic in that instructors can easily use them to advance their political views, which I believe is the whole point of mandating these courses in the first place.

How come people complain about the government trying to mind read when making employers comply with anti-discrimination laws, but those same people try to read the minds of the policymakers who are mandating these courses. A lot of courses provide a platform for instructors to express their political views. Should we get rid of U.S. History courses because an instructor can take sides when discussing the Civil War and Civil Rights Movement? Should we get rid of science courses because instructors can take a stance on creationism, the big bang theory, and evolution? Should we get rid of economics courses because an instructor can side with or against Keynesian economics? How come no one is complaining about business ethics requirements in business programs? After all, it's not the school's place to create ethical business leaders. How come no one is complaining about ethics requirements in healthcare programs? It's not the school's place to create ethical healthcare professionals. Why do some criminal justice programs require an ethics course? We don't want universities turning out ethical law enforcement professionals. Why do we even need civics courses? The Constitution is there for everyone to read and civics courses provide the perfect platform for an instructor to express his or her political views.

I believe the goal here is NOT to educate students, but is to fashion better citizens, and they are changing their curriculum to make this happen.

Fashioning better citizens is so evil.

We also need to ask what needs to be dropped from the General Education requirements to make room for the new courses mentioned (e.g. Global Environmental Change, War and American Society, Philosophy of Religion, Cultural Diversity, Elements of Intercultural Communication, and Ethics and the Business Professional). Compare the old and new general education requirements for yourself---

Current General Education Requirements -- 60 Credits
__A. English Composition [6 credits]
__B. Humanities [12 credits]
__C. Social Sciences (2 subject areas) [12 credits]
__D. Natural Sciences and Mathematics [12 credits]
__E. General Education Electives [18 credits]

New General Education Requirements -- 60 Credits
__A. Intellectual and Practical Skills [15 credits]
____English Composition (6 credits)
____Math (3 credits)
____Intellectual and Practical Skills Electives (6 credits)
__B. Human Cultures and the Physical and Natural World [18 credits]
____Social Sciences (3 credits)
____Natural Sciences (3 credits)
____Humanities (3 credits)
____Human Cultures and the Physical World Electives (9 credits)
__C. Personal and Social Responsibility [9 credits]
____Diversity/Global Literacy (3 credits)
____Responsible and Ethical Leadership (3 credits)
____Personal and Social Responsibility Elective (3 credits)
__D. Integrative and Applied Learning Synthesized Across General and Specialized Disciplines [18 credits]
____Includes a Capstone and who knows based on the Academic Gobbledygook.

You're not missing out on anything important; you just have less freedom in choosing general education courses. You're still taking a bunch of courses that fall into the humanities and social science categories. Instead of having the freedom to take fingernail painting II, you'll have to take a required humanities course. If you're not a New Jersey resident, you'll either have to respect their laws or enroll in a school in another state. They have a right to make mandates and you have to freedom to attend school in another state. I don't like TESC's capstones; and even though I would have more of a right to complain as a student if this policy is of their own making, I have chosen not to pursue any degrees at TESC that require a capstone. I have other options.