- Boyer discusses several tensions in what are often heated discussions of what a college curriculum should entail. Identify one central tension Boyer discusses and describe some of the pros/cons and values behind it. How would you enter the debate, right now? Support your response with a quote from Boyer and at least 4 sentences of explanation.
One of the tensions that commonly arises within discussions of what a college curriculum should look like is a focus of vocational education rather than liberal education. Many argue that the sole purpose of a college education is to meet the requirements of most employment opportunities and there would be much fewer students if this were not the case, “over a third of the undergraduates at public institutions and slightly fewer of those at private ones say that if college did not increase their prospects for employment they would drop out” (Boyer 218). Therefore, employers are looking for applicants with skills and wisdom that cannot be learned or taught on the job. They are looking for smart, knowledgeable employees that will not have to be micromanaged or have their hand held through every learning experience. One of the main arguments of vocational education is that employers want their workers to have learned everything they are going to need to do on the job, all the skills and basic training, in vocational school so that the employers don’t have to do much training. However, this vocational education doesn’t consider the “what” or the “how” or the “why” of the practice and doesn’t account for how the particular profession has changed over time and might change as things progress. Enriching this profession would allow the student to understand what they are doing in a broader sense, understand why they are doing it and learn how they can use their skills to adapt to changes in whatever field they are pursuing.
- What is Boyer’s “Enriched Major” idea, and how does he imagine it as a response to a key tension? Support your response with a quote and at least 3 sentences of explanation.
Boyer’s concept “The Enriched Major” intertwines the goals of a liberal education and those of a vocational or specialized education. While some people fear that a liberal education will not allow someone to be successful in launching a student into one particular career, other people are concerned that a education too focused on the goal of a career will not allow the student to learn broadly enough about what the career entails and leave them narrow-minded and unable to excel. The “enriched major” addresses both of these grievances by combining the goals of specialized education and a liberal arts education into an educational experience guided by an enriched major in which a student can study broadly while also focusing on cultivating a deep understanding of one specific major that they plan to pursue as a career. As Boyer explains, “through such a curriculum the student can move from depth to breadth as departments put the specialty in larger context” (Boyer 223), which suggests that the directors of these departments will see to it that students learn about their specialty in many contexts including a historical and traditional one as well as socially, economically, ethically and morally. This contextualization also includes learning about your specialization from the perspective of students focused on other disciplines and maybe being able to observe how each of the types of work you are hoping to do could potentially, or does, affect each other. This also suggests that, if a specialty cannot, for whatever reason, be contextualized in this way, it belongs in a trade school as the goal of a college education is liberal learning.
- “Essential questions.” Boyer lists three things a major has to address, through its coursework, in order to be considered “enriched.” Start looking around the UNE website or course catalog of at least two majors you’re considering. Do they seem to be enriched in the way Boyer describes? Provide evidence.
Political Science
Based on the course description and the curriculum requirements, I believe that it is safe to say that the Political Science major at UNE is an enriched major. While this major offers four different future-career-related focuses, Pre-Law, General Concentration, Environmental Politics, and Global Politics, it still emphasizes the implementation of liberal learning principles within the curriculum, “the political science major emphasizes the development of skills in effective writing and speaking, as well as creative problem solving — some of the most useful skills in a wide variety of careers in the public, non-profit and private sectors” (Course Catalog). While this major is very rigorously focused on matters of political science, it is a major that requires very few credit requirements (42-46), which opens the opportunity for exploratory learning in open elective courses and provide a student with a multi-faceted perspective on their major which, I believe, enriches it that much more.
Marine Affairs
The Marine Affairs major is a very specific focus within itself and specifically to UNE, as it is something that can be studied up close and personal as a career. The course requirements explicitly mention courses such as “Science in Society”, “Environmental Economics” and “General Chemistry I” that all fit Boyer’s criteria for the “enriched major”. The variety of courses as well as a special focus on the major as a career collectively cultivate an enriched major, “suitable for students who are concerned about the marine environment, and are interested in careers in ecosystem and human health interactions, ocean management and political decision making, and marine sustainability science and policies” (Course Catalog).
