Worst Paying College Degrees

applicannot
Tue, 11 May 2010 11:13:42 +0000

To be fair, I think the ability for a humanities major to only take a simple “math for non-majors” type of course, a couple similar “science for non-majors” courses, and never touch a quantitative course again is a huge problem.



I partially agree. Not all “math or science for non-majors” courses are non-rigorous. Physics for majors is going to focus on the facts. I agree that non-majors should learn the facts, but sometimes it helps to focus more on the application or the idea than the details of the equations. This way, people who aren’t math or science oriented can get a math or science education without feeling “overwhelmed.” Not to mention, “math in music” classes are really cool. Stanford has a class called “Introduction to Computers” for non-majors. It is what you would call a “CS for non-majors” class. I agree that’s it’s light weight, but for someone who is not CS oriented, learning about how computers work - rather than the ins and outs of Java - is much more beneficial.

I also agree with the vice versa. I don’t necessarily think math and science oriented people should have to take a class on Chaucer. But they should have to take classes on fundamental skills regarding literature, composition, comprehension, and grammar.