Does anyone here hate the liberal arts as much as me?

Why do students who want to go into mathematics have to know about edgar allan poe?! What the hell?! Why does someone who's crunching numbers need to know anything about symbolism and crap? My god, what a waste. In colleges in india, Britain, etc. they just make you study what you need to study. here they make you to take garbage classes like anthropology, english comp, philosophy, etc. When in actuality, you will NEVER need these skills to do what you want to do in life.

To know about something must be add whit to know about a lot of things .The contary we will produce stupid scientists

Why do students who want to go into mathematics have to know about edgar allan poe?! What the hell?! Why does someone who's crunching numbers need to know anything about symbolism and crap? My god, what a waste. In colleges in india, Britain, etc. they just make you study what you need to study. here they make you to take garbage classes like anthropology, english comp, philosophy, etc. When in actuality, you will NEVER need these skills to do what you want to do in life.

Athavan123

Its called being a well rounded and educated person.

I too have a problem with requiring classes(in high-school and college) that a student may not want to take because they already know what they want to do.

Someone who wants to study English shouldn't have to go through Mathematics, and someone who wants to study Mathematics shouldn't have to English. The basics should be taught throughout highschool and that's it. College should be completely about what the student wants to study built around their chosen major.

Why do students who want to go into mathematics have to know about edgar allan poe?! What the hell?! Why does someone who's crunching numbers need to know anything about symbolism and crap? My god, what a waste. In colleges in india, Britain, etc. they just make you study what you need to study. here they make you to take garbage classes like anthropology, english comp, philosophy, etc. When in actuality, you will NEVER need these skills to do what you want to do in life.

Athavan123

Why do liberal arts students have to take math? For the same reason math students have to take liberal arts, because it makes them more well-rounded individuals and students. And yes, liberal arts can definitely help you in life. Philosophy, psychology, sociology all have real life application. I'm sure you coiuld make an argument for anthro as well, but I'm not an anthropologist. It can at least help you have a better appreciation of different cultures.

I like learning for the sake of learning. I know that's not everyone's POV when approaching college, some prefer a more practical and specific curriculum, but I enjoyed the compulsory perspective. Would not have settled on the major I did were it not for the broad prereqs.

I'm studying Liberal Arts, so no.lancelot200

Yeah, same.

"There is nothing so stupid as the educated man if you get him off the thing he was educated in" - Will Rodgers limpbizkit818

[QUOTE="Athavan123"]

Why do students who want to go into mathematics have to know about edgar allan poe?! What the hell?! Why does someone who's crunching numbers need to know anything about symbolism and crap? My god, what a waste. In colleges in india, Britain, etc. they just make you study what you need to study. here they make you to take garbage classes like anthropology, english comp, philosophy, etc. When in actuality, you will NEVER need these skills to do what you want to do in life.

AiurProtoss

Its called being a well rounded and educated person.

I dont hate them, but I think there needs to be more emphasis on math and science. With all this talk about unemployment, there are thousands of jobs where employers cant find enough people to hire. Mainly because graduating US seniors dont have the math and science background necessary. If you want to get a job, learn something useful.

I dont hate them, but I think there needs to be more emphasis on math and science. With all this talk about unemployment, there are thousands of jobs where employers cant find enough people to hire. Mainly because graduating US seniors dont have the math and science background necessary. If you want to get a job, learn something useful.

sonicare

Who says a bigger emphasis on liberal arts can't improve math and science? You know calculus was invented by a philospopher? Besides, we're talking about college mostly, people typically know by college if they're good at math and science or not. ALso, many fields of liberal arts, such as psychology,study learning and can help devise ways to imrpove math and science scores.

[QUOTE="sonicare"]

I dont hate them, but I think there needs to be more emphasis on math and science. With all this talk about unemployment, there are thousands of jobs where employers cant find enough people to hire. Mainly because graduating US seniors dont have the math and science background necessary. If you want to get a job, learn something useful.

theone86

Who says a bigger emphasis on liberal arts can't improve math and science? You know calculus was invented by a philospopher? Besides, we're talking about college mostly, people typically know by college if they're good at math and science or not. ALso, many fields of liberal arts, such as psychology,study learning and can help devise ways to imrpove math and science scores.

[QUOTE="limpbizkit818"]"There is nothing so stupid as the educated man if you get him off the thing he was educated in" - Will Rodgers cybrcatter

Reading a little Edgar Allan Poe never hurt anyone. -Sun_Tzu-

[QUOTE="theone86"]

[QUOTE="sonicare"]

I dont hate them, but I think there needs to be more emphasis on math and science. With all this talk about unemployment, there are thousands of jobs where employers cant find enough people to hire. Mainly because graduating US seniors dont have the math and science background necessary. If you want to get a job, learn something useful.

sonicare

Who says a bigger emphasis on liberal arts can't improve math and science? You know calculus was invented by a philospopher? Besides, we're talking about college mostly, people typically know by college if they're good at math and science or not. ALso, many fields of liberal arts, such as psychology,study learning and can help devise ways to imrpove math and science scores.

And Newton was somewhat of a philospher himself, a testament to how one-dimensional our thinking about math and science has become. They're not mutally exclusive with the liberal arts, but somehow we've lost sight of that. I was talking about, though, how the invention of calculus was dependent on mathematical discoveries made by René Descartes. As for employment terms, perhaps they are underutuilized, but how much of that is college's fault and how much is grade and high school's? And as I said, a lot of people are studying liberal arts programs in order to go into fields like education and help further the fields of math and science.

I think it's BS that we only teach the liberal arts. Why can't we teach art done by conservatives as well?chessmaster1989

[QUOTE="sonicare"]

[QUOTE="theone86"]

Who says a bigger emphasis on liberal arts can't improve math and science? You know calculus was invented by a philospopher? Besides, we're talking about college mostly, people typically know by college if they're good at math and science or not. ALso, many fields of liberal arts, such as psychology,study learning and can help devise ways to imrpove math and science scores.

theone86

And Newton was somewhat of a philospher himself, a testament to how one-dimensional our thinking about math and science has become. They're not mutally exclusive with the liberal arts, but somehow we've lost sight of that. I was talking about, though, how the invention of calculus was dependent on mathematical discoveries made by René Descartes. As for employment terms, perhaps they are underutuilized, but how much of that is college's fault and how much is grade and high school's? And as I said, a lot of people are studying liberal arts programs in order to go into fields like education and help further the fields of math and science.

[QUOTE="theone86"]

[QUOTE="sonicare"] I thought Newton invented calculus to help explain physics. But regardless, there's too many people majoring in things like criminal justice, english, etc. and not enough people going into math and science fields. At least in employment terms, those fields are majorly under utilized.

sonicare

And Newton was somewhat of a philospher himself, a testament to how one-dimensional our thinking about math and science has become. They're not mutally exclusive with the liberal arts, but somehow we've lost sight of that. I was talking about, though, how the invention of calculus was dependent on mathematical discoveries made by René Descartes. As for employment terms, perhaps they are underutuilized, but how much of that is college's fault and how much is grade and high school's? And as I said, a lot of people are studying liberal arts programs in order to go into fields like education and help further the fields of math and science.

[QUOTE="theone86"]

[QUOTE="sonicare"] I thought Newton invented calculus to help explain physics. But regardless, there's too many people majoring in things like criminal justice, english, etc. and not enough people going into math and science fields. At least in employment terms, those fields are majorly under utilized.

sonicare

And Newton was somewhat of a philospher himself, a testament to how one-dimensional our thinking about math and science has become. They're not mutally exclusive with the liberal arts, but somehow we've lost sight of that. I was talking about, though, how the invention of calculus was dependent on mathematical discoveries made by René Descartes. As for employment terms, perhaps they are underutuilized, but how much of that is college's fault and how much is grade and high school's? And as I said, a lot of people are studying liberal arts programs in order to go into fields like education and help further the fields of math and science.

And what have we done about it? We've increased our focus on math and science, decreased our focus on english programs, and it's only gotten worse. Like someone just said, philosophy helps people think abstractly and logically, if you increase the focus in high school on philosophy you could probably improve the performance in math adn science.

I find the exact opposite is happening. There are too many morons entering the math and science fields and they're filling jobs that they don't deserve.cd_rom

I think it's BS that we only teach the liberal arts. Why can't we teach art done by conservatives as well?chessmaster1989

[QUOTE="Athavan123"]

Why do students who want to go into mathematics have to know about edgar allan poe?! What the hell?! Why does someone who's crunching numbers need to know anything about symbolism and crap? My god, what a waste. In colleges in india, Britain, etc. they just make you study what you need to study. here they make you to take garbage classes like anthropology, english comp, philosophy, etc. When in actuality, you will NEVER need these skills to do what you want to do in life.

AiurProtoss

Its called being a well rounded and educated person.

This. It doesn't make sense to go into college, simply getting really educated about one thing.

Broadness is important. College isn't about getting a job, it's about learning and even if you're a math major, english courses do teach you important things. You're not going to use them every day necessarily but they make you a more rounded, intelligent person.

Philosophy and English are rather practical and I've run across a subject or two I ended up liking in the gen ed reqs.

I'd kinda like your system tbh, having a wide range of knowledge sounds much more interesting than just studying the same thing over and overWolls

Broadness is important. College isn't about getting a job, it's about learning and even if you're a math major, english courses do teach you important things. You're not going to use them every day necessarily but they make you a more rounded, intelligent person.

HomicidalCherry

And that would be fine if college was free and you weren't for example unable to get this science degree and you're going to get kicked out because of some comepletely unrealated klass that you weren't doing well in.SparkyProtocol

Oh no! Must reject intelligence!

Reading a little Edgar Allan Poe never hurt anyone. -Sun_Tzu-

[QUOTE="SparkyProtocol"]And that would be fine if college was free and you weren't for example unable to get this science degree and you're going to get kicked out because of some comepletely unrealated klass that you weren't doing well in.SolidSnake35

[QUOTE="cd_rom"]Philosophy teaches you how to think abstractly and come to conclusions logically. It teaches you how to start from the beginning rather than the end. English teaches you how to properly read and interpret what you are reading. Also, nobody give a crap if you can find a derivative, but if you can quote and author you're considered a brilliant person. Knowledge is never wasted. You can always apply gathered knowledge into various situations.Athavan123

It can help in all of those professions. How many people complain about doctors being cold? How much better would it be if doctors had some experience with psychology so that they could better relate to their patients? How much better would it be for an engineer to understand the society or the culture in which they are operating? How much better for insurance or finance agents to understand sociology or history? Aside from, as previously stated, philosophy DOES have a direct impact on some of these fields, as it can help develop reasoning abilities.

you will NEVER need these skills to do what you want to do in life.

Athavan123

now you know how I feel when people tried to push mathematical methods and sciences onto me.

Why do students who want to go into mathematics have to know about edgar allan poe?! What the hell?! Why does someone who's crunching numbers need to know anything about symbolism and crap? My god, what a waste. In colleges in india, Britain, etc. they just make you study what you need to study. here they make you to take garbage classes like anthropology, english comp, philosophy, etc. When in actuality, you will NEVER need these skills to do what you want to do in life.

Athavan123

EDIT: yes being broad is great but alot of these things you learn you can learn in english or something. Researching should be done on your own time.

Blame a guy named Cappella. He was a philosopher who created the whole "circle" of liberal arts crap. if you take gen eds. at university, you can blame him.

The arts, sciences, maths, languageswere all part of this "grand education" that everyone should have.

Not at all, I love the liberal arts and soft sciences. I also understand the importance of knowing some math and I love science on a conceptual level. Like others have said, being a well-rounded person is the one of the points of University and I think far too many people forget that.