IMU during orientation and probably felt overwhelmed by the long list

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Until about twenty years ago, a university’s “General Education” (G.E) program required students to take courses that exposed them to the canon. Does the G.E. program at UI expose students to the canon? Apparently President Coleman thinks so:

During those hot summer days four or more years ago, you sat in the of course requirements and the maze of available class options before you. Very likely, as you looked over that mysterious conglomeration called the General Education Program, you wondered, "What in the world do courses like ‘Literature of the African Peoples' and ‘Principles of Microeconomics' have shop to do with each other?" Well, I hope you've discovered over the last few years that they have everything to do with each other. I hope you've discovered that understanding the narrative structure of an ancient Greek drama helps you understand the course of World War II.

A study I did last year on the G.E. programs at Iowa’s public universities found that UI’s G.E. program is hopelessly fragmented. The key finding is on page four. In 1960, UI’s G.E. program consisted of 33 courses; in 2000, it consisted of 296. Some of the courses in the G.E. program have titles that suggest they do expose students to the canon. But the G.E. program does not requires students to attend those courses. Instead, they can fulfill them with the likes of “Dance and Society,” “Literature and Sexualities,” “Group Piano,” and “History of Electronic Media.” In short, the G.E. program does not require students to learn much about Western Civilization.

President Coleman is right to suggest that the events of September 11 have accentuated the need for students to acquire a liberal education. Unfortunately, the University of Iowa does very little to provide one.

WHILE I’M ON THE SUBJECT…

While I’m on the subject, I found this gem at the Independent Women’s Forum while doing some research for a later blog. Not only are universities failing at providing a traditional liberal education, some courses mimic communist re-education camps.