In an effort to address declining enrollment and a financial deficit, The University of Wisconsin at Stevens Point is proposing to eliminate 13 liberal arts programs (American Studies, Art, English, French, Geography, Geoscience, German, History, Music Literature, Philosophy, Political Science, Sociology and Spanish) and expand more marketable programs, such as Computer Information Systems. You can read about the full proposal here and an opinion piece here. Do you think it is a good idea for universities to eliminate some programs in favor of others that are more marketable and teach skills that are in demand by employers? Is studying liberal arts a mistake? Will this set a precedent for other colleges? 4/29/2018 10:12:18 pm
This is so sad! I think without a liberal arts program, you are just a trade school. Trade schools are great and perfectly valid options for education, but people normally choose the course of a 4-year college because they are able to received a more well-rounded education there that will give them a taste of liberal and applied arts.
Viri
4/30/2018 10:13:41 pm
Thank you for your feedback Danielle! 5/9/2018 08:45:49 pm
This is definitely not fair. I believe that liberal arts is as important as the sciences! We need more teachers, artists, and political scientists, so I think it is as marketable as the sciences. This is just my opinion though, but I am certain that getting rid of liberal arts programs will leave that university pretty bland. A university is a collection of schools, and if they are only sciences then it would just be a trade school.
Viri
5/12/2018 09:54:45 pm
Haru, thank you for your feedback, I appreciate you stopping by to comment!
Steven Carvente
5/13/2018 01:38:26 pm
This is crazy! Even if they intend to still offer classes in some of those majors that are being discontinued it just wouldn't be the same. I feel like the faculty who would elect to teach such classes might not be as great becasue I think the university would just move towards hiring individuals who require less pay as well--since they'd be teaching less classes and classes that wouldn't even lead to a degree. I feel like this kinda reminds me of high school where we only had one class required in arts and everything else was mostly science and math.
Viri
5/14/2018 08:17:22 pm
Indeed! Once you go down this road, it alters everything about the college experience. Thank you for stopping by Steven!
Eduardo Catalan Olivares
5/14/2018 10:30:46 pm
I can see why the university is proposing doing this but there is no guarantee that the riddance of these majors will save them from their financial troubles. I am a mathematics major and I would encourage people to enter the STEM field but all other majors should be open for students to pursue, that is the beauty of choice, not to mention the plethora of knowledge that one gains by studying these majors. If the university eliminates these majors, they might dig themselves deeper into ruin, for students may enroll in other colleges to obtain their desired majors.
Neiah
5/16/2018 01:35:39 pm
Wow, Sadly this news comes as no surprise, however the efforts made towards improving such issues are inspiring. Great read! Comments are closed.
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