In the Spring of 2014, English 1003 and 1004 students held a symposium on the role of the humanities in their university educations. The majority of the students were in STEM fields or in business, but not all of them. They exchanged information on their educational goals and objectives, and then they went out and interviewed other students, then collaborated on group presentations reporting the results of their research. All of the groups reported a broad spectrum of responses to their questions about the importance of humanities and general education requirements.
Below are some excerpts from the final reports:
–When I asked some people here in U.S. about this issue, most of them agreed that they see college education as an investment for future and choose their major based on the job prospects. When asked if they think humanities is necessary for college education, half of them said yes and half of them said no. But the people who said they think humanities is necessary is just because they think it helps improving their writing skills and they need it as an extra service but they don’t prefer a humanities subject as their primary major. The excessive cost of tuition is the primary cause that makes students majoring in the science and technology subjects because there is a better chance to get a job to pay off the debt that they take to pay their tuition and to lead a comfortable life.
Though the above reasons are true and relevant we should not forget the value of humanities in our lives. The humanities — history, literature, languages, art, philosophy and the social sciences focus on the challenges of our lives: connecting the past and the present, communicating effectively with others, invoking creative thinking and connecting with people beyond country’s boundary. Even in science and technology fields one needs strong leadership skill, cultural understanding and decision making capability apart from technical knowledge in order to be successful.
–Whether college students should take elective courses or general education courses unrelated with their majors is really a controversial topic. People have different education background, different opinions on choosing majors and different ideas about finding jobs. In our interviews, we asked the question, “Do you think college students will have more opportunities if they study more elective courses unrelated with their major? Is that a waste of time and money to take general education? Why?”
The answers:
“It depends. General education is a waste of time for people who know what to do and have a potential of doing it well. However, it is better for students who did not have a clear goal or major. General education can help them cultivate their interests and discover what they like most.”
“No. It doesn’t make any sense. College forces students to take general education courses, however, some of the courses we have already learned in the high school. It doesn’t make any sense to take them again because it wastes my time and money.”
“No. Studying more does not mean you have more opportunities. My major is Music. Why should music major take Statistics? I will have more opportunities if I spend less time on the general education courses and spend more time on clubs or activities.”
“Yes, you can have more opportunities. The more knowledge you know, the more opportunity you have. I can gain some of the inspiration for my artwork from history, philosophy and even Maths.”
“Yes. I will probably have more topics to build on my resume when I interview with my employers. They will have a deep impression of me if I have some other special talents. It is not a waste of time and money.”
“No. It is a waste of time to take general education courses. Because the university is a place for students to enhance their major knowledge for the future career. Students can gain more general education knowledge of areas like history or English through different ways like clubs or reading.”
“Yes, you can have more opportunities. It is not a waste of time. It helps you to become a complete human, and you need to use the knowledge.”
–In our survey we focused on the experience of International Students in humanities course at UConn. Here are some of the problems that we found:
First, the language problem. When International Students take a class about Shakespeare’s works, most of us may not able to understand well. I remember that the teacher in my high school led us to go through the whole book of Romeo and Juliet, analyzed every chapter and explained the contents line by line, word by word, in easier words. I only learnt something from Romeo and Juliet because I could understand it. Another example, I am taking PYSC 1100 this semester, my professor is a good man but he always uses rare words and complicated grammar sentences to explain the terms. I feel so confused in class and I have to spend much time to make it up after class. So I suggest that some instructors should use easier language, or blackboard-writing to help international students to study.
Second, there are many contents in some humanities class, like history and geography. Many of those things that are “common sense” for local students are new for us. But we have to remember them to pass exams. So, I suggest that the teachers can give us more interesting projects. For example, my friend in California told me he had to design a travelling route for his geography homework assignment. He picked four locations he liked and introduced them. He also made a pamphlet that strung the locations together to a tour. He also had many field studies outside class. I think it is more interesting than reciting the knowledge from textbooks and forget them after the final exam.
Third, there are culture differences that affect students’ understanding. For example, if an American student takes a Chinese class, he may not understand why idioms in Chinese that debase people are always related to pig and dog. So we have to explain that in Chinese culture, people think dogs don’t have their own ideas and do anything as long as giving them food. And pigs are lazy, they never think of anything except sleeping and eating. Then, the American student could understand. That’s what I say, ‘more information and background’.
Fourth, some topics in humanities classes could be too abstract, or remote from life. For example, we talked about human rights in this class, and we had lots of material for writing essay, like Benton museum, the book Persepolis, guest speakers, and movie Girl Rising. I think the movie Girl Rising provided me most information and aroused my empathy. Therefore, I think vivid materials could help us do a better job in humanities class.
In a word, I really hope that instructors in UConn could take some strategies to help international students in humanities class. Then we could enjoy them, practice our soft skills, learn the knowledge, enrich our brain, and won’t afraid of lowering GPA and costing too much time.