<p>No, you missed it. Look at the requirements for getting a BA in International Studies from American: [BA</a> in International Studies | American University](<a href=“http://www.american.edu/sis/degrees/BA-INST.cfm]BA”>Undergraduate | School of International Service | American University, Washington, DC)</p>
<p>So you need 120 hours (standard and just like Tulane) of which 10 courses have to be general Education courses, i.e. things like math and science that are outside the major. Then when you look at the foundation courses for the major, there are numerous history, philosophy, anthropology and religion courses, for example, not to mention a foreign language and culture requirement. That is, to me my friend, a liberal arts education as it is classically defined. The fact that they group these things into different SCHOOLS (since you insist on capitalizing) is not relevant to the argument I am making. And while Tulane does have a SCHOOL of Science and engineering, it is all grouped under Newcomb-Tulane College, which has requirements everyone must meet. But I specifically excluded Engineering and Architecture, because these are, in fact, more like “trade school” disciplines. Before anyone gets upset, I don’t mean that term in a demeaning or lesser way. Far from it. I just mean that those disciplines are so involved and require so much course work specific to them, there is not as much opportunity to take a broad range of courses in the tradition of the classic liberal arts education.</p>
<p>Brown, Amherst and Smith can do what they want to, of course. I didn’t say there were not other models. I am simply saying that the vast majority of US universities do not treat the general “tone” of a college education as being a “trade school” experience. Some people think they should, that the only purpose for going to college is to get a job. I happen to disagree, but that is a totally different discussion. As things stand today, most of the higher level universities still, to a greater or lesser degree at each I suppose, treat the purpose of a college education as the pursuit of a broad range of knowledge and to learn to think critically or to sharpen one’s critical thinking skills. I for one would hate to see that be lost.</p>