Courses aim to diversify students' learning experience

By ALEXANDRA RODRIGUEZ
Collegian Staff Writer

To complement the growing mixture of cultures at Penn State, a variety of diversity-focused courses are offered.

Yet many students wonder if taking these courses will help them in the career of their choice.

"We all become ever so intertwined," said Peter Deines, professor of geochemistry. "Countries don't live in isolation anymore. If a student graduates today, he will not necessarily take a job in the United States. It is good for students to understand the world from a broader perspective."

Last semester, the Penn State Faculty Senate implemented changes to the general education requirements to include more active learning. As part of these changes, the diversity-focused courses were renamed intercultural and international competence courses.

Robert Pangborn, professor of engineering mechanics and associate dean in the College of Engineering, defined diversity-focused courses as those that include materials relating to a specific culture and comparisons between one culture and another. His definition did not change with the recent change in name, he added.

"All general education classes require active learning, so the changes in the diversity requirement were to promote more active learning -- more writing, more opportunity for discussion, more assignments that require student research, things that make students more active," he said.

Jeff Edling (senior-recreation and park management) said although diversity-focused courses are necessary, some offered at Penn State do not discuss other cultures.

"I took American Studies 105 (Popular Culture and Folklife), which really didn't open my eyes to anything I didn't already know. I think they should offer things that are foreign," he said.

While some students agree this kind of course is necessary to complement any career choice, others see them as unnecessary and a distraction from the courses required for each major.

"I think that my three credits can be better spent on an economics course or a business administration course," Mike Lacey (sophomore-engineering) said. "I think it would be more worthwhile to take something that applied to my major."

Students who want to learn about the world outside of gainful employment can gain perspective by studying other cultures. Laurie Wightman (senior-journalism) sees an expanded viewpoint as necessary a part of education as courses applying to majors.

"It is important to realize how much we have that other countries don't have, but there are some things we don't have that a lot of countries are fortunate to have," Wightman said. "I believe that we take a lot for granted and we think that we have everything, and we don't appreciate the little things that other countries do appreciate."