Posted on 06/30/2016 6:53:08 AM PDT by MichCapCon
A faculty committee has proposed adding a three credit hours requirement in diversity to the general education curriculum at Wayne State University. It also recommended that WSU drop its university-wide requirement in mathematics, an idea that was carried out on June 13.
“We are proposing the creation of specific ‘Diversity’ courses, with students required to take one course in this designation,” said a document from the General Education Reform Committee, which is recalibrating what the university will expect from all students who earn a degree from the state university. It released the proposal in May.
The committee report said, “These courses will provide opportunities for students to explore diversity at the domestic level and consider the ways in which it intersects with real world challenges at the local, national and/or global level.”
In announcing the change in mathematics, the university said, "This decision was made largely because the current (math) requirement is at a level already required by most high school mathematics curriculum."
Committee co-chair Monica Brockmeyer told the Detroit Free Press, “We felt the math requirement was better left to the various programs and majors to decide and to decide what levels of mathematics would be needed.” She added, “We still continue to support mathematics at Wayne State.” The university has announced that the math requirement in the general education curriculum will be dropped until 2018, or until it is replaced by a new program.
Ashley Thorne, the executive director of the National Association of Scholars, which promotes liberal arts education and academic freedom, was critical of the recommendations.
“Colleges and universities use general education requirements to ensure that students learn the subjects it deems most important,” Thorne said in an email. “Wayne State University’s decision to drop math and add diversity to its requirements reveals that its leaders do not have their priorities straight.”
“Mathematical ability is an objective and practical skill that will serve students the rest of their lives, which is why it has traditionally been a core part of college curricula. ‘Diversity’ is not an academic subject. It is a concept invented to classify people by their social identities,” she said. “Focusing on individuals’ race, ethnicity, sex, and sexuality in this way has been demonstrated to lead to racial animus, segregation, stigmas, discrimination, and poor academic performance. It also politicizes education.”
The College Fix first reported on the diversity requirement. Brockmeyer, who did not immediately respond to a request for comment, made $176,760 in 2015 in her job as the associate provost for academic success.
The committee’s proposal for the new curriculum recommended replacing the math requirement with a quantitative requirement and creating “quantitative experience courses.” It’s unclear if the quantitative courses will replace the math requirement. The goal of those courses, according to the committee, would be for students to develop "the ability to interpret quantitative representations of information (such as graphs and tables), and the ability to use quantitative information to communicate in a purposeful way."
In the 2015-16 fiscal year, 32 percent of Wayne State’s general fund budget of $602 million — or $190 million — came from Michigan taxpayers in the form of state aid.
According to the most recent information released by WSU about its demographics, 27,578 students are enrolled. Black students make up the largest minority, at 4,881 students, or approximately 18 percent of the student body. The 2,057 Asian students represent 7 percent. There are 15,004 white students, making up 54 percent of the student body.
That’s nice. Will that diversity include conservative viewpoints? < /sarc >
I don’t respect the French enough to have bothered learning Frogspeak. Summary in English, please?
More stench from the American madrasses.
Progressive education rejects reason, abstractions, generalizations, principles, and transmission of acquired knowledge, and instead favors concretes and concrete bound mentality, looking up information when it is needed, and activities that interest the student and which allow his self expression and which help develop his social adaptability.
Pluralistic education favors an irreducible nonintegrated multiplicity of subjects, leading to no specific goal except expressing libtard propaganda, and treats all subjects of equal importance, so that no group is offended or feels left out.
Both pluralistic and progressive education of products of the libtard disintegrated mode of thought.
“Diversity 201” = “Islam is NOT a Religion of Peace. It is a Religion of Piss” (Reference: Yasar Arafag at Camp David.
“Diversity 301” = “Islam is NOT a Religion of Peace. It is a Religion of Pieces. They will blow you up.”
That’s right; get rid of all of the courses that people need to get through life and a job. We must make sure that they are educated in the “right” courses. /sarc
Help a 20 something young lady with comparing construction costs I asked her to divide the cost by total square footage, both numbers were written down.
She whipped out her Blackberry, stared at the screen for a long moment and said, “ I can’t”.
Stunned, I asked her why not.
“Because I don’t have a divide key”
“What!”
Firmly and slowly, as though talking to a slow child she repeated, “My phone app doesn’t have a divide key.”
I asked to see her phone... sure enough it had no ÷ key, it had a / key above the x key.
This from a woman with a BA and a good paying job.
Held my laughter until I was in my car.
It depends on the degree. Hillary has the fix by promising to attach a green card to foreign students getting STEM degrees.
Yet another reason to question affirmative-action people.
“En mathématiques, la transformation de Laplace est une transformation intégrale”
In mathematics, the transformation of Laplace is an integral transform . . .
You don’t want to know the rest, unless you already know it.
I was a math major and although I don't think mathematics in general should be replaced with diversity, I'm not sure it matters all that much to eliminate a requirement that every college student must take math.
A certain level of math should be required for college entrance. One additional course is not in general going to somehow make students more well rounded. An exception might be if they can come up with an interesting math survey course for non-STEM majors.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.