It was a requirement for graduation with a Arts & Sciences degree (I dual-degreed with CS from Engineering) that I demonstrated an interest in subjects covering things other than dead white males. For reasons which were never really clear to me, "I'm an East Asian Studies major!" was not sufficient, so my choices were either Gender Studies or The History of Jazz.
I will say this for required common curricula: if you only take courses which you're interested in or whose built-in intellectual biases are flattering to yours, then you're missing out on a good deal of the educational experience.
I will also say this against required common curricula: there were no gender studies majors in AI class.
It was a requirement for graduation with a Arts & Sciences degree (I dual-degreed with CS from Engineering) that I demonstrated an interest in subjects covering things other than dead white males. For reasons which were never really clear to me, "I'm an East Asian Studies major!" was not sufficient, so my choices were either Gender Studies or The History of Jazz.
I will say this for required common curricula: if you only take courses which you're interested in or whose built-in intellectual biases are flattering to yours, then you're missing out on a good deal of the educational experience.
I will also say this against required common curricula: there were no gender studies majors in AI class.