By the very nature of being a university we already incorporate technologies related to our studies. No major teaches obsolete material (intentionally).
By isolating the technology requirement away from major programs the technological component of an Area F class either omits practical applications, or it teaches them at a remedial level compared to topic specific classes.
Area F classes are forced to start assuming students have no prior experience and classes are limited to a single quarter so they can never progress as far as classes already taught within each discipline. This conflicts with Area F learning objectives “to place knowledge in a larger context” and in multiple perspectives.
Currently, Area F even fails the current interdisciplinary criteria of Area F. Students are interested in interdisciplinary coursework as long as one of the disciplines is their own. For example, I am a math major and will be interested in the interdisciplinary interaction between math and biology, math and economics, math and english, etc. I will be less interested in learning the interdisciplinary interaction between accounting and English, English and law, law and physics and other interesting interactions which don’t relate to my field. In this way, even the interdisciplinary aspect of Area F is best accomplished when the criteria are focused. As it stands, Area F needs some serious revision. The all-encompassing Area F criteria needs to be focused onto specific topics, or discarded altogether.
Two topic revisions I have heard are to switch GE Area F to be specifically an environmental science requirement or to switch GE Area F to be only a technological literacy requirement.
Jay Hann
Mathematics junior