The university’s undergraduate required courses are a joke.
I’m not the first person to say this, but bear with me for a moment. Maybe it’s just because MSU is an enormous institution, but it seems like administrators could spend a few minutes each day thinking about how they could improve the quality of education for their undergraduate students.
ATL is a joke, ISS is out of control and IAH is a mess. I haven’t taken ISB or ISP yet but I’m trying to be optimistic.
My section of ATL was supposed to be American Radical Thought. It was Midwestern Culture. Who keeps track of these things?
It could be argued I didn’t put enough into the class. Had I put forth more effort, maybe I could have gotten more out of it. Maybe if the professor had put some effort toward making the class interesting, I could have gotten more out of that too.
If I wanted to learn on my own merit, I would have skipped college and studied on my own. I came to MSU because I thought the professors here had something to offer me.
Many of them do, of course, which is why I’m still here. Still, putting up with professors who are full of themselves is not what I came to college for.
Maybe I’m learning a real-life lesson. I’ve been told many times that once in awhile I just have to shut up and deal with the crap I’m handed.
They tell me sometimes you just have to deal with boring professors and required classes, but it’s hard to shell out so much money just to cope with people.
It’s not all the professors’ fault either. When you give someone a class of 30 people and tell them to teach the kids how to write, the professor has a lot of leeway.
My section of ISS was similarly vague. It was named something along the lines of “Time, Space and Change in Human Society.” What’s that supposed to mean?
That could be changes in technology, politics or social geography, couldn’t it? As long as it has to do with change and people, it’s fair game.
The professor I had taught what basically amounted to anthropology. That’s OK, I like anthropology, but it’s not what I really foresaw.
My IAH class is basically the same story. “United States and the World” was its name. Fortunately, this class had a required reading list mandated by the university. That’s good because at least the university knows what it wants students to get out of it.
Of course, my class was different. My teacher used the texts, but somehow tied it in with a course goal of questioning perception and reality. It was amusing, but I’m not sure what I got from it.
These integrative studies classes have a good intent - to give undergraduates a broad knowledge base. It’s not working.
I’ve learned more in college from working at The State News than I have in all my classes combined. Nothing forces you to learn like having to use what you’ve been taught.
Still, I’m optimistic. I’ve had a couple worthwhile classes and I’m hoping that as I get past my prerequisites, I’ll have a schedule that contains mostly worthwhile classes.
That’s not how it should be. If the university wants students to broaden their knowledge base and explore areas outside their majors, it should allow students to take classes like anthropology or sociology instead of ISS. It should allow them to take English instead of ATL and biology and physics instead of ISB and ISP.
Surprisingly, it does let students do this - Honors College students. That means if you had a high grade-point average in high school, or managed to get above a 3.5 here at MSU, you can improve the quality of your education more than the rest of us. That doesn’t seem quite right.
It’s understandable Honors students would get some extra perks - after all, the Honors College is why many of them chose MSU.
Most undergraduates taking required integrative studies classes don’t want to be there.
If those students were allowed to take the classes of their choice to broaden their horizons, they might be a little more enthusiastic.
And who can say the professors teaching integrative studies are excited about it? Each of the teachers I’ve had were from a different department. Why not leave the teachers to their respective department, like Anthropology or American Studies, and let us come to them to learn their field of expertise.
This fall, I’m taking ISB 204, Applications of Biomedical Sciences. It sounds pretty interesting, but then again it depends on the professor. I’ll try my best, I really will, but if the prof doesn’t care, neither will I. If it turns out to be like my other required courses, I’ll just spend the semester jumping through hoops and not aggravating anybody.
Ryan Weltzer, State News opinion writer, is trying to suppress his cynical side and mindlessly enjoy being part of the great rat race. Tell him how to cheer up at weltzerr@msu.edu.
