To The Editor:
The dispute over general education in Florida (“Professors Ruined Gen Ed. Florida Is Fixing It.” and “Florida’s Nakedly Ideological Attack on Gen Ed”) has taken the form of a power struggle between the faculty and the state government. That’s important, but it misses the most important question: What do Florida’s young people need to know and be able to do as college graduates?
General education can certainly sprawl, and can certainly lose sight of what should be its core goal: providing students with the capacities they need for civic, intellectual, moral, and professional success regardless of the academic major they pursue. A great gen ed curriculum has to recognize that there is far more to learn than can be squeezed into a four-year degree. That’s why it should focus on giving students the intellectual tools to ask the right questions, gather and assess evidence to answer those questions, and act responsibly and effectively on those answers.
These are skills and tendencies academics can foster and practice — and that don’t imply ideological commitments or political dogma. This approach offers a substantive rationale for avoiding ideologically-driven courses in gen ed without just substituting the legislature’s preferred ideology for the faculty’s.
Andrew J. Perrin
Professor
Department of Sociology
Johns Hopkins University
