Re: grades, pass/fail etc.

[Rick Tarara <rtarara@SAINTMARYS.EDU>]

I think that Tina's list of courses below is very interesting!   Clearly NOT
a classical education.  The ultimate question is (and certainly can't be
answered by any one graduate) whether this 'interesting' and popular set of
courses produces better teachers, lawyers (like we need more), doctors,
CEOs, Indian Chiefs, etc. than more traditional courses.  Now it may be that
these _are_ traditional courses just dressed up with interesting  (and in
some cases 'political') names.

OTOH--I think a College like mine (Saint Mary's
College--Indiana--Women's/Catholic) with a much more traditional (both in
name and content) set of General Ed requirements, can point to a _very_ high
success rate of our graduates in a wide variety of fields.  The point being,
whether or not the students are 'flocking' to our Literature, Philosophy,
History, Math, and Science courses, in the end, their education is serving
them quite well (and  graduates agree with this assessment.)

Rick

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Richard W. Tarara
Professor of Physics
Saint Mary's College
Notre Dame, Indiana
rtarara@saintmarys.edu
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----- Original Message -----
From: "Tina Fanetti" <FanettT@WITCC.COM>
To: <PHYS-L@lists.nau.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, October 02, 2002 8:28 AM
Subject: Re: grades, pass/fail etc.


> On this subject, I must say that I was not unhappy to jump through mickey
mouse hoops as an undergraduate.
> The reason - all my gen ed requirements were taken through an Honors
college.  The classes were limited to 17.  There were no tests, but loads of
writing and reading.  Teachers were recruited and only the best were chosen.
The dean was accessible.
> Then there was the topics.  The classes I took were
> Cyberculture
> Game Theory
> Rich and poor in American Literature
> Debate (ok the teacher sucked in that class and I led a revolt to have him
removed)
> Western Traditions
> Non-western traditions (Indians)
> Advertising in our culture
> The biology and evolution of sex (refer to what I learned in that class
all the time)
> There were a wide variety of courses to choose from and if there were
multibple sections of a class, like western traditions, a different teacher
usually taught each section and the readings were usually different.
> I think what helps is a wide variety rather than you must take course X.
>  Oh I forgot.  There was one class I actually dreaded.  I dont remember
the name of it, but I remeber the teacher and the books we read.  Billy
Budd.  I HATE THAT BOOK!
> Tina
>
> Tina Fanetti
> Physics Instructor
> Western Iowa Technical Community College
> 4647 Stone Ave
> Sioux City IA 51102
> 712-274-8733 ext 1429
>
> This posting is the position of the writer, not that of SUNY-BSC, NAU or
the AAPT.

This posting is the position of the writer, not that of SUNY-BSC, NAU or the AAPT.