General Education Reform

Abstract:

Defined by the University, General Education courses here at Penn State offer students, “The inclusion of General Education in every degree program reflects Penn State’s deep conviction that successful, satisfying lives require a wide range of skills and knowledge.”(Penn State Bulletin). General Education courses are very important in the success of creating a student to become a more well-rounded student in all areas of knowledge domains as well as offering the chance for a student’s freedom to take a course in which sparks his or her interests. With General Education under possible reform here at Penn State University, I think it is in the University and students best interest to revamp the current system.   Three different prototypes were introduced to the community, Modern Literacies, Chosen Topics, and Scaffolded. I feel in order to have the student’s become a more rounded student with the ability to apply themselves to real world situations, the Modern Literacy prototype is the best option at hand as well as fusing it with the current system that is in place today.

Flawed Current System:

Here at Penn State a typical baccalaureate degree requires around 120 to 130 credits (Bulletin). Currently, there is a 45 credit requirement for Gen Ed Courses before graduating and to many, this is dreaded. 45 credits is a large chunk of time and large number of courses. After all, Gen Ed courses take up almost 1/3 of the required credits for one to graduate. Knowledge domains that are offered now for the 45 credit requirement include: writing, speaking, quantification, health and physical activity, natural science, art, humanities along with the First Year Seminar Course. With each of these areas needing to be fulfilled, hundreds of courses offered. However with so many courses offered, by the time freshmen go to schedule for the spring, many of the classes they are interested in taking have already been filled by upperclassmen. As a repercussion, student’s scramble to find a generally easier class that doesn’t interest them as much just because they hope to get an A and move on from that specific course. Popular websites around the Penn State community such as Onward State and the OdysseyOnline post links of easy general Education courses to take. A goal of the current Penn State Gen Ed is to “encourage students to consider how a course might be useful to their current interests and goals.” (Bulletin)   A goal of the current General Education system is not to provide easy A’s for all students. In order to benefit the student’s here, it would best to have General Education courses more focused onto their specific majors as well as with real-world application in order to them benefit in the long run even long after graduating.

Modern Literacies Combined with the Current System:

At the beginning of the deliberation for Gen Ed reform, I often found myself asking the question, “what is even wrong with the current system in place?” Upon further inspection, I saw many flaws, which I have already addressed.   But in order to benefit the student’s in the best way possible for them taking Gen Ed courses I believe by combining bits and pieces of the Modern Literacies prototype as well as the current system would work best. The Modern Literacies prototype provides a unique twist on the current system at hand. Many of the required Gen Ed courses in the Modern Literacies prototype such as quantification, writing, and speaking can also be found in today’s current system. The strongest aspects to the Modern Literacies prototype include the Exploration and Personal Financial Literacy. The goal for Exploration is to allow students to explore any area of a knowledge domain. I feel this is a very aspect because many students enter an intended major and realize that it isn’t for them. An estimated 20-50% enter college with an undecided major and an estimated 50-70% change their intended major.(Cite) For those student’s who are unsure or even just want to branch out and see what other possibilities are out their for them this is a great option to have. In addition to offering an exploration as said before, I believe the Personal Financial Literacy domain is extremely useful for college students. After 4 years of being in college, many come out thrilled to have a degree but often forget just how to manage debt or their personal finances. As of recently as 2013, CNN showed that the average college student faces up to $29,000 in debt. Learning to budget and be financially responsible is one of the many ways to make the students here at Penn State more well rounded, which is one of the current goals of the General Education System.

In order for this to be possible I believe that one of the first things should be to cut the First Year Seminar Courses or otherwise named as Learning to Learn in the Modern Literacies Prototype. From my own personal experience, the first year seminar classes involves a ton of busy work that doesn’t relate to much of anything. As a result, there’s nothing of value stemming from this course. By removing this one credit course, and making the Personal Financial Literacy a 3 credit course, instead of a 2 credit course, students would be highly benefitted. A tradeoff that can be seen to some is that students could take up to 3 credits in a domain and be done. However in my opinion, if it’s an area domain that isn’t one’s strongest suit this may be a better option. Another tradeoff that is addressed is that it would involve creating many new courses. However, with the current Gen Ed system many go to register for a course and it is already full. This would provide more opportunities for students to explore and make Gen Ed courses interesting compared to the current view of, “just a class to get over with”. Overall I believe this prototype fused with the current system would provide plenty of flexibility as well as real world use for student’s entering the work field.

Chosen Topics:

The Chosen Topics prototype is designed to “designed to reaffirm the foundational importance of writing, speaking, and numeracy, and to infuse a dimension of exploration into the curriculum.” (cite) In simpler words, the Chosen Topics prototype allows for a student to practically pick another major of their interest, in order to fulfill the Gen Ed requirement. While this seems like a good route to allow students to be excited to take courses, there are many issues that arise that wouldn’t allow this option to be successful. To begin, when choosing a topic how is it guaranteed that the student would get the topic of his or her choosing? We see many times where the most desirable courses, or in this scenario, topics, would be selected first.

Why the scaffolded would never work: (needs completed)

Conclusion: (Needs to be completed)

Sources:

http://money.cnn.com/2013/12/04/pf/college/student-loan-debt/

http://dus.psu.edu/mentor/2013/06/disconnect-choosing-major/

http://bulletins.psu.edu/undergrad/generaleducation/

http://gened.psu.edu/prototypes/

As a whole I really enjoyed the deliberation on General Education here at Penn State. It opened my eyes to so much about General Education that I wasn’t even aware of. As a freshman, I didn’t even know my own requirements because my advisor usually just instructs me what to take and I do as I’m told. I was even surprised by the movement to change General Education because I had never seen all the flaws prior to the deliberation. I still am on the border of if I think there’s something really wrong with it here at Penn State. In addition, I was nervous about what I would even have to say for my papers because at first glance of the prototypes I was dumbfounded. I also believe the deliberation went so smoothly because our group worked really well together throwing around ideas and weighing the pros and cons for each prototype. The moderators were successful in keeping the conversation flowing and there was never and silence. Everyone always had something to say or argue.   As a whole we decided that the 3^rd prototype was way too complicated to ever be successful. It would give way to much rigor for student’s and would become extremely overwhelming by taking multiple Gen Ed courses in the 400 level. In my opinion, Gen Ed courses shouldn’t be the most challenging and should really introduce students to the way of how college courses work. They should also help a student become more well-rounded by taking so many various courses whether it’s from math, natural sciences, or humanities. With this being said, the prototype that I found would work the best is the Modern Literacies one. It gives the student the most flexibility to take the courses that they choose and it also introduces them to the idea of personal finance. I think this is very important because this topic allows real world application and will be most beneficial to all students here at the University. I will definitely be exploring this prototype further for my paper.

It’s important that the Gen Ed requirements not only be beneficial to one’s intended major, but also to be able to help in the real world. As a freshmen and new to the Gen Ed system, I think that so far what I have taken have been good courses that have provided me with helpful and solid information to benefit me in the future. However, I feel, as though I haven’t been around long enough and know enough information to say what I think is currently wrong. I think the deliberative approach is a great idea because it enables everyone who wants to be a part of the change state their stances and views. The three different prototypes Gen Ed reforms come with videos and descriptions, which are helpful in deciding which one you, agree/disagree with. However, I feel that some Gen Ed requirements are a little extreme. For a business major, I don’t understand how 9 credits of science is necessary. Maybe a class here or there that is relatable to business in some way but most students will just find the easiest course to take, just to take it. Really all they are caring about is receiving an A and moving on to the next general course in which they will have to fulfill to receive their degree. As mentioned before, I strongly believe that Gen Ed courses should reflect and help students with real world situations. With that being said, I think the Modern Literacies Prototype would be a successful way to start with the Gen Ed Reform. Not only would you take other Gen Ed courses, students would also learn about personal finances. After four years of living in the college bubble, what good is a degree if you aren’t able to go out their and thrive on your own.

If your son or daughter were engaging in sexual activity, whether you were for or against it, wouldn’t you want to ensure that he or she was practicing safe sex? Sex Education for teens in the United States is a widely known debatable topic.   It is often posed with the question, should we teach education through the means of abstinence or through one that involves abstinence with contraceptives.   Whether parents want to believe their children are participating in sexually activity or not, there are hundreds of thousands of other teens who are.   As teens become sexually active, they are allowing themselves to be at risk for pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. By opening the eyes of teens and young adults about the ways to prevent this from happening it will increase the health and wellness of our younger generations to come. The United States government should fund sex education for teens to involve contraceptives as well as abstinence.

The argument at hand here is whether it is morally correct to be teaching our youth ways to prevent pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases.   I can also agree that in a degree abstinence education will work. I can agree to this merely because any education is better than none. If providing more accurate and informative information to teens today is the goal, then steering away from the abstinence only preaches is what is needed to occur.  The teachings of abstinence no longer cut it. In today’s society, more than 40% of unmarried teens have had sex with one or more partners (2). That is nearly 50% of our teens in the United States. By definition, abstinence is the can be taught as the “consequences of premarital activity and empowers teens to make the healthiest choice — abstaining from sex until they are in a lifelong, monogamous relationship”(1). The idea of abstinence is becoming a thing from the past and as times changes, our views also have to change with them. In a perfect world teaching abstinence to prevent teens from engaging in sexual activity would be ideal. However as many know, there is no perfect world in today’s society and further action needs to be implemented.

The government has spent over $1 billion on abstinence education. With $1 billion being spent, there was no research or evidence to prove that abstinence education was working (1). In 2006 the nations teen pregnancy rate rose 3% (3). In that same year, President George Bush requested $206 million for abstinence based sexual education in his fiscal budget. Clearly it’s all in the numbers that this isn’t enough. According to the Sexuality Information Education Council of the United States or SIECUS, there is strong evidence that a more comprehensive approach to sex education, “helps young people both withstand the pressures to have sex too soon and learn the skills to build a healthy, responsible, and mutually protective relationships when they do become sexually active” (3).   In addition comprehensive sexuality education is aimed to reduce negative health outcomes for young teens while providing accurate information that allows them to make healthy life decisions (3). Compared to the abstinence route, it is age-appropriate, medically accurate, and relates to modern day. With the principal of abstinence still being taught as well, with the extension of providing information about contraceptives and sexually transmitted diseases it allowed the students to be prepared for when they do become sexually active one day. Not only are the parents pushing for this reform, but when 8/10 teens want to receive comprehensive sex education something needs to be done.

Another very serious reason for why teens should be educated on contraceptive methods is in order to prevent the transmission of sexually transmitted diseases from person to person. In the United States today, 19 million new STD cases occur each year are due to young people ages 15-24 (3). Although young people make up only one-fourth of the nation’s sexually active population, teens in this age group make up one-half of the nations’ cases of STDS (3). It is no surprise for why this statistic is so large considering prevention methods from obtaining STDs are not taught. By sheltering teens from the use of contraceptive methods such as birth control and condoms, in the end teens are the ones who are receiving the repercussion for their actions. Instead of telling students not to have sex, who most likely will, provide information to allow themselves to prevent from pregnancy and other STDs.   Further research is used to show that compared to abstinence teachings, comprehensive sex education shows that teens are more likely to use condoms and other contraceptive methods when they do become sexually active (3). These practices of using contraceptives as a teen don’t just stop when they are young; according to the SIECUS studies show that teens will continue to use safe sex implications when they are older as well.

Not only are parents of teens pushing for this change in sex education, but 8/10 teens want to receive a comprehensive sex education.   Parents as well as teen are not alone; major medical and public health organizations are also in strong support. To name a few, according to SICEUS, “American Medical Association, the American Nurses Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the American Public Health Association, the Institute of Medicine, and the Society of Adolescent Medicine—expressed support for a comprehensive approach to educating young people about sex and issued significant statements articulating this support.”(3).  As a one time sophomore in high school and I can relate to those who sit through abstinence presentations who’s strong point is abstinence is the only 100% safe way to guarantee zero pregnancies and STDS. This statement may be true however it is not plausible for today’s culture and the amount of teens that do in engage in sexual activity.

Keeping teens in the dark about sex education is only hurting our country. Sex education is a very relevant topic and should be taken seriously.   The idea of pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases is no longer a strong enough argument to keep teens from becoming involved with sexual activity. By having the government fund comprehensive sex education, it will increase the health and wellness of our younger generations to come. Many of the mistakes teens make today are made out of the lack of knowledge. All it takes is one mistake for a teen to be just another number in the teen pregnancy statistic. By informing teens and young adults on the importance of practicing safe sex, teens can hopefully make better decisions and steer clear or mistakes that could be stuck with them for the rest of their lives.

The article in which I found that contains a strong rebuttal argument discusses whether or not the drinking age should be 18 years of age instead of the current drinking age of 21.  This is a very debatable topic and I feel that the author does a great job defending his or her stance on the issue. I found the article here on: https://star.txstate.edu/node/1704

What first struck me the most about argument made was the very first line went right into the argument and stated it’s position. By stating, “People 18 years and older are considered adults and should be treated as such by being allowed to legally purchase and consume alcohol, ”The author comes right to say his or her position. From the very beginning we know what we are dealing with.

I also found this article or rebuttal piece to be considered strong because of the evidence that backs its stance. Not only is there a lot of information used, the evidence used isn’t all just opinion-based. There is factual evidence that is able to support it. For instance in the article, it states, “At the age of 18, a U.S. citizen can vote in an election, defend and possibly die for their country and make all kinds of decisions regarding their life and body.” It also states, “90 percent of underage drinking is consumed via binge drinking.” Both are factual pieces of information that go on to further support the author’s claim that the drinking age should in fact be lowered to the age of 18.

Another way in which I found this rebuttal piece to be strong is that after a fact or statistic is used, the author is able to make her own opinion known through her voice and word choice. Overall I think that is a strong rebuttal piece and the author did a great job making her argument persuasive to readers.