We the people of the United States of America, in order to form...

OK, so we have all heard this line before countless times in our four years of schooling way back in high school. We all know the founding fathers like the back of our hands, and some of us can quote lines from the musical 1776 in our sleep.

But what do we really know about it?

Students enrolling this summer at Penn State will be required to take two new three-credit requirements: United States Cultures (US) and International Cultures (IL), which will replace the existing three-credit Intercultural and International Competence requirement (GI).

The new requirement will not prolong graduation, since many of the classes would double-count for general education classes and the new diversity requirement -- although one course cannot count for both of the new requirements.

The reason behind the new requirement, according to many officials, is the new requirement would allow students to explore other cultures, while at the same allowing students to have a understanding of their own American culture.

Why must we be required to take a course central to United States history when we already have been made to study those long and mostly boring Macmillan textbooks in our pre-higher education days?

The truth is some students lack the basic understanding of what our country was founded on. Having such classes focused on United States would allow such students who were not quite awake during those long droned out lectures, to remember the basic facts.

At the same time the classes, which fall under the US requirement should not be taught in the same way as we learned them in high school.

These classes should provide an outlet for students to explore our American culture in an interesting fashion, allowing us to become keen observers and question what we learned in high school for the truth.

The US and IL requirements would provide students a strong foundation of what our country stands for and allow students to relate these values to other cultures, which have through the course of US history, intertwined into American culture.

As America becomes more a melting pot or tossed salad, it's essential that these required classes not only focus on the "basic facts" of the founding fathers and the "American Dream."

Courses should allow students to explore the history of the United States beyond the White Angelo-Saxon Protestant culture that we were taught about in high school, focusing on the struggle many Americans had in our history to obtain the so-called "dream."