lol phuriku, you revealed the connection between my old name and my new name. I'm trying to change my Internet name, but I'm still emotionally attached to simfish (hence why I'm alternating).
Anyways phuriku, I think it's important to make a distinction between "active interest" and "potential/latent" interest. In "active interest", I mean someone who is actively interested in other fields of study. In "potential/latent" interest, I mean someone whose personality type is such that he may enjoy a particular field of study, even though he doesn't realize it (and may not even take courses/self-study that field of study, unless he was forced to do so). Caltech's curriculum, for example, has non math/science courses that draw the attention of people who were originally planning on doing math/science (after all, 50% want to major in physics/math, and then learn enough information about themselves to change). Consequently, many students get exposed to fields that they may have never heard of before.
Since students usually apply to college due to a perceived connection between the college and the student's active interests, it may be good for the college to offer courses in the student's potential/latent interests, in case that the student gets dissatisfied with his original active interests or in case the student finds an interesting connection between active and potential interests. That's why a lot of professors in other fields who work at Caltech get the support of students who are very good in physics/math.
The main question is then this - should those with "potential interest" in other fields be forced to take courses in those other fields, even if it means that those who don't have "potential interest" in such fields must go through those courses as well?
Again, part of the problem is with the American school system, which covers so little (and the culture, which puts a sharp binary distinction between school/learning and non-school/non-learning).
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By the way, this thread is now the largest in the MIT forums. It still needs 24 more to surpass "Caltech vs. MIT for Engineering". It still needs thousands to surpass sarorah's "I have a new game", but I doubt it will surpass that.
