Gen Ed requirements are a controversial part of the college experience. While some students love the opportunity to explore classes outside of their core curriculum, others consider it a pointless waste of time. Generally, the idea behind General Education requirements is valiant. Students should be experienced in a diverse range of topics in their education. While it makes sense to specialize our knowledge in one area, it’s also incredibly beneficial to experience other fields and have at least a cursory level knowledge of a wide array of things.
Gen Eds generally give STEM students the opportunity to engage with humanities, and vice versa. This is incredibly important for our culture, and as we find ourselves shifting more and more to a culture driven by thinking machines and artificial images it’s more important now than ever that students are being taught the cultural importance of art and humanities. As the administration and faculty at this school are reevaluating the Gen Ed CORE requirements and curriculum, I believe it’s time to make the case for a Fine Arts Gen Ed requirement at UMaine.
The current Artistic and Creative Expression category is a bit too broad and encapsulates too many courses that don’t involve a hands-on engagement with the Fine Arts. Students should be taking something more directly involved with art, whether it’s a studio class or an introductory music course. There needs to be a requirement for students to create something. While courses like art history are important and do promote engagement with art and culture, they don’t promote hands-on learning experiences where students practice creative expression and begin to understand art and the artistic process.
We have a good art program here at this university. I personally have taken Drawing I here and it taught me so much about art and the process. It fostered an understanding and an appreciation that I never would’ve gotten from taking something like HTY 265: The Power of Maps, which is a real example of a class that fulfills the Artistic and Creative Expression category. Art is something everyone can do. While it takes years to master a craft, anyone can pick up a pencil or a brush and start learning. It’s one of the truest forms of expression we have. The work force wants to take your time and your labor, art is how you reclaim it. You make something that belongs to you and only to you.
This wouldn’t be an unfair expectation for students. While lab courses are long, they are not impossible to fit into a busy schedule. Many schools require students to do a hands-on Fine Arts class. Even my high school required us to take one. My high school digital media class gave me hands-on experience with Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Premiere Pro. These are valuable tools in a wide range of career fields. The things you learn in an art class you can take with you your entire life. We are starting to forget how important art is for culture, and this is one way that we can begin to reclaim it.
