Adam Ullerich | Opinion Assistant Editor
Buena Vista University (BVU) has announced that a new course will be added to the general education requirements for the 2015-16 academic year and subsequent years. It is titled “Interdisciplinary studies of general education” or IDST 400. The following course listing will look similar to how it will appear in the catalog:
“IDST400 serves as a culminating seminar experience in the general education component of the BVU Storm Lake curriculum. Required of all matriculating students, IDST400 is an interdisciplinary investigation of the most vexing issues facing human beings, their societies, and their planet. Particular attention is paid to emerging technologies, new paradigms for learning, changing conceptions of community, and the challenges of living in a globalized world. IDST400 emphasizes the development of interdisciplinary perspectives, advanced academic skills, and analytical thinking.”
The purpose of this course is to act as the capstone class to the general education requirements for students. Similar to University Seminar, the whole class will be split up into 20 member groups, but unlike University Seminar these groups will be selected specifically for diversity in each group member’s major or field of study. In these classes the plan is to address, discuss, and design possible solutions to pertinent problems, challenges, and exigencies on campus, in society, and around the world.
Over the last year of my life, I have been thinking quite frequently on two fascinating words: empathy and diversity. On the economic level, I think of empathy as finding a problem or slow process and providing something the consumers wants or needs and diversity is the different needs of the consumers that present themselves. As a future educator, I need to know how each student learns best, what may be detracting them from learning, and how I can help form a learning friendly environment. I must also note though that every student will not be the same and it will take some work on my part to fully achieve the goals that I have set for myself and the students. For example if I were a pharmacist, I may be looking for a less painful means of injecting a medication (empathy), but must also note that all people are not the same. This paragraph and article could go on forever with examples of empathy and diversity paired together in life each day.
But there is a word limit, so it won’t.
Empathy and diversity are huge for recognizing problems and noting exigency. But let’s go one step further, what if you use empathy and diversity to solve every single problem you personally, a group, society, or the world face? The results would be something like this: a true understanding of the specific problem and solutions that can work for the least to most fortunate. Obviously this is ideal bu there are many things that can get in the way (hidden agendas, greed, ability to hire really slick lawyers and lobby to change policy to decrease competitors significantly and raise profits significantly). However, most things get done this way in everyday life, and when you first empathize and then see what others have to say solutions are much more accepted, productive, and beneficial to a society as a whole.
I am very pleased with the addition of IDST400 to the academic catalogue for the 2015-16 year. The more practice and experience future graduates get at empathizing with others and seeing the vast stances on a particular topic the better, as I don’t expect every human to instantly agree with everything everyone else does. Thus we live life, learning from each other, using our gifts and talents to the best (or not best) of our abilities, always noting the problems, not necessarily the solutions. So finally, thank you BVU for bringing the campus together to share our experiences, for giving us the opportunity to share ideas we have in academic fields not necessarily even closely related to our major, and for hiring professors that are just as interested in change and solution as we are.
General education and liberal arts do not teach me something I’ll never use; instead they reveal extremely useful things about which I have never even imagined.
