EDITORIAL: Revamp the Sacramento State GE program

State Hornet

The Sacramento State general education program has kept on the same course for a long time now, and has certainly been a valuable part of education at the university. But unless the program starts providing students with a new, fresh educational experience, it is not doing its job.

Students are being required to take classes they have already completed in high school like history, math, English, and science.

Why should we have to prove our proficiency in these courses again? High school was meant to teach us most of these concepts.

And if the high schools are not doing their job in accomplishing this, then maybe the high school curriculum needs to be restructured alongside our university’s GE program revamp.

Granted, a high school education might not be on the same level as a college education, and students might be less motivated to learn there, but they still somehow make it to college in hopes of getting a career.

However, going to college is not simply to gain the skills required for a specific job.

Part of the reason students should go to college is to be exposed to different subjects, ideas and to challenge their personal beliefs through the classes they take.

Sheree Meyer, associate dean for undergraduate studies, said GE programs are meant to complement a student’s major studies.

“There are certain kinds of knowledge, abilities and skills that are important for all students, regardless of major,” Meyer said.

She said while high school does help prepare us for the real world – critical thinking, oral and written communication and quantitative literacy skills are all developed further in college.

GE is a way for students to rise to the academic level of students in other countries.

Roberto Pomo, professor of theater and dance, helped start the Sac State GE Honors Program. He is a firm believer in having a public education grounded in GE classes.

“We have a problem in this country; we’re not international enough as a society,” Pomo said. “Our students don’t speak two, three, four languages.”

He said that while students in other countries speak many languages, we do not have this kind of an intellectual foundation.

Already, we have some catching up to do in terms of our GE program standards.

Sac State, as well as other universities, already distinguishes itself from trade schools by striving to produce “educated” people, according to its GE program standards. These people are intellectuals who are well versed in subjects other than their major field of study.

While this is a good reason to have a GE program, several problems remain with the way it is. Pomo pointed out that our GE is very unstructured, does not have a sense of focus, and contains too many courses to choose from.

He said a better GE foundation would give students a focused global perspective, particularly focusing on what humanity is doing to improve the world, and would utilize technology in the classrooms.

Such a program would force our minds to think outside of the box. It would engage us in the subject matter in interactive and interesting ways.

Overall, it would help us be more successful citizens of our communities that we will eventually serve when we get out and get on with our careers.

With the way the program is right now, students often choose the easiest classes in order to fulfill their requirements. While it is good to have choices, it is sometimes hard to make the right one.

Students should feel interested in the classes they are taking, as opposed to just doing enough to pass them to graduate.

“(If) it’s going to be (just) another requirement to fulfill to get the diploma &- that’s not an education,” Pomo said.

He also said student input is vital to creating a successful GE program.

A GE pilot, called Sacramento State Studies, which will be phased in starting in spring of 2011, is on the right track by incorporating student input into its final design.

Janet Hecsh, a chair for the faculty committee that oversaw the drafting of the pilot, said student panels in 2008 and 2009 reviewed the proposal, 100 student participants were surveyed regarding the program, and Associated Students Inc. reviewed the program twice.

At first, this GE pilot will be available to only a select group of students, beginning with second-semester freshmen. It would fulfill 36 units of lower-division undergraduate work with its four 9-unit classes.

Each 9-unit class will satisfy three GE content areas. The classes will be interdisciplinary, team-taught, and would incorporate library research, according to the GE pilot outline.

This is a great step toward building a more coherent GE program for the university.

Attending college should not feel like we are repeating our high school classes again.

The GE program needs to be reworked to have a clear focus so that students do not question its presence.

From the moment students arrive at Sac State, their educational experience should be fresh, engaging, and based upon their suggestions.

The editorial staff can be reached at [email protected].