Blog#1 rise and fall of western civilization course

Nicole Pfister

Akman

HUMN 220

Blog #1

University’s history departments were not always structured as they are today. At one point, universities did not offer any introductory courses, so students had to start off with upper level courses with out any previous knowledge of the history being taught. As a result, western civilization became an introductory general education course. It was broken down into different time periods of history including European history, which was not taught in previous courses  (695). Also, the universities initially did not have highly qualified instructors teaching the courses. So to further improve their history program they replaced them with instructors that were highly knowledgeable on western civilization (699).  

The rise in popularity of western civilization came into play after the First World War. From this other courses such as war issues and then contemporary civilization were developed (707). Western civilization classes became popular because it brought in a new idea of culture through out history (699). The students were educated about the different cultures through out the world, so they knew more than just their own culture.  Even though western civilization struggled in becoming an introductory course, it became very popular and is now required course in many universities.

The purpose for a general education course is to create a broad foundation for students’ academic career. This is why courses such as, western civilization are required by many universities. However, do required general education courses benefit all students? I believe that students should not be required to take a general education classes that do not pertain to their major. The students who are forced to take classes that they are not interested in will most likely not paying attention. This leads to the greater possibility of the students doing poorly in the class. Also, taking a class that a student doesn’t need will not help them after college when they are looking for a job. So being forced to take classes that has nothing to do an individuals major will not benefit them. So each major should have there own general education requirements that relates to the major.