I’m not a fan of Gen Ed courses. I feel that they are a requirement that distracts from the actual degrees that people want to obtain. Although an engineer could be served by understanding human biology or Van Gough’s paintings, I do not feel they should be a required part of the curriculum. So much of this information is freely available online, through resources like YouTube, Wikipedia, and Khan Academy. But instead, I have to pay $300 for the class and another $150 for the textbook. Maybe if these classes at least just utilized the free resources, like my Political Science class did, I would feel like it is more worth my time. But I already knew the majority of what came up in the course through self-education. 

This class hasn’t really changed my opinion. It wasn’t run poorly. The teacher set up the modules very well, and the discussions were interesting. But not $450 worth of interesting. I have had much more fascinating conversations over reddit for free, and have learned from many of the same resources the teacher used, like Crash Course. But John Green didn’t charge me a bunch of money. The slight silver lining is that this made me go out and do a few things I was putting off. I always try to use my paid volunteer time, so going to the food bank helps. My catholic friend wanted me to try going to a mass, so it was nice to be able to do it for class. But I could have also do so for free. 

I don’t mean to know the humanities as a whole. It is important to understand cultures, history, and art. If I had been able to take this class as an elective, maybe I’d have had a better experience. But being required to take it left a sour taste in my mouth. After completing the class, not much has changed.