GWU: Critical languages satisfy no general curriculum requirements

[Renee Stillings]

Out of curiosity, does anyone know just what courses GWU has deemed so much more important than foreign languages (particularly level II and III!!) in the development of critical thinking? 

And I will bet that a 100-level logic course (which anyone who can handle critical languages could likely sleep through) probably does count toward general requirements! 

The irony in this is that when I was studying engineering at Boston U we had 6 "elective" course slots ov er our 4 years. Lower level languages could only fill one course and were one advanced enough, still only 2-3 language courses max would count in those slots. I could take two semesters of Russian only by overloading one semester. So a bit of this mentality already existed in engineering curricula at least as far back as the late 80s. Not that it is an excuse, but there was not the focus on critical languages then that there is now. But we could fill a slot with basic logic, and many engineers did, looking for a class for nap time. Seeing as more complex logic was already a required course within engineering, that was a no-brainer. 

Is this happening anywhere else or is the short-sightedness (actually lunacy is the word that really comes to mind) limited to GWU?

Personally I find that it is the very people who are unable to learn a second language (and/or never had an interest in doing so) that I would be very unlikely to ever hire - be it for my international businesses or my children's nanny. I see it as one indicator of critical thinking ability. 

Renee

Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

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