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Core: the unnecessary necessity

editorial cartoon by Christian A. Lopez
editorial cartoon by Christian A. Lopez

Run, run, run! As you breathlessly turn the back corner of Woody Hall, you halt to check the board of closed classes for next semester. Core 340 – closed. What about 310? Requires transportation and 15 hours outside of class. And 320? It is three units and you are already planning to enroll in 15. Should you pay $550 for a one-unit overload so you can graduate this spring? Sound familiar? For most students, it usually is. So you are probably wondering, “Why do we have to take these classes, anyway?”

Well, according to the University of La Verne 2002- 2003 catalogue, the goal of core classes, which are required of all undergraduate students, are “to introduce students to the central values of the University as they are articulated in the mission statement-values, orientation, community and diversity, life-long learning and service to society.”

To achieve this, in 1995, ULV implemented the classes as an alternative to strict curriculum. The goal is to get students to make a connection from one discipline to another, a good example of how life interconnects.

Goal achieved? Yes. To attend an institution in which others look up to because of these interdisciplinary classes is great, and we should appreciate it. Through core classes, our minds are challenged and stimulated, our perspectives diversified and lengthened. However, so is our time spent at ULV.

And so the whining begins when the words “core class” are mentioned. But it does not have to be this way. Education is to each individual, what each individual absorbs from it.

When there are limited seats for core classes, however, students must sometimes resort to one that does not interest them at all. This forces students into classes that don’t appeal to them, causing stubborn resistance to learn information they are not interested in. Hence a great learning experience transforms into a burden.

Why not offer more sections? Not so fast. Faculty who teach these classes are doing so on a volunteer basis. Not only must professors teach classes in their discipline, but they must sometimes overload their schedule by donating their time to teach a core class. They do, however, get paid for taking on an overload.

Time consumption is not only a problem for faculty, but for students as well. This is especially true for core 305 and 310. On top of maintaining full-time status, working, interning, being involved on campus, family responsibilities and senior projects, students are required to volunteer time they may not have to spare, for not one, but two classes.

So before getting bitter all over again, we have some suggestions on how to make what could be a valuable learning experience just that.

1. Choice. Students should be allowed to choose either core 305 or core 310, core 320 or core 340. Not to say that any one subject is more significant than another, but it will help students welcome the experience more and focus on matters that they are confident about sharing with the rest of the world.

2. Lower unit worth. Currently, core classes total 11 extra units students must take. That is one unit shy of full-time status enrollment for a semester, hence holding some students back from graduation because they can not fit these units into their schedule. Decreasing units might allow more students to fit them into their schedule.

3. Lessen the workload a notch. Sometimes these classes require more work than requirements for our majors. Intensity is good, but our workload is already quite high. No matter how much we might enjoy the subject matter, if we are forced to rush through an assignment right before we go to work or in the car on the way to school, a percentage of the value of the class is lost.

4. Interweaving, no repeating. Core classes should not be another introductory course to the subject(s) the class is about. Since cores 320 and 340 are both senior status, students should have already had background in various subjects through other general education courses. When core classes overlap material with intro to psychology, for example, we are re-learning the same information all over again. Classes should expand our views on subjects, rather than re-teach us what we’ve already learned.

As for the students, we have one suggestion: no bitterness. Students should continue to appreciate what ULV is attempting to do.

Students here are fortunate to be able to incorporate these values into their lives and should, therefore, absorb all they can now.

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Unsigned editorials represent the opinion of the Campus Times Editorial Board.

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