By Nicole Lumbreras
nicole-lumbreras@uiowa.edu
The UI may need to hit the books.
A national education council recently reported the UI’s general education courses are below expectations in the areas of U.S. government and history, economics, and mathematics.
But high scores in composition, literature, science, and foreign languages brought the university’s overall grade point to a ‘B.’
The American Council of Trustees and Alumni’s report, “What Will They Learn? A Report on General Education Requirements at 100 of the Nation’s Leading Colleges,” grades colleges by evaluating their general education programs.
The report used seven areas of education to judge universities. If a school accomplished six or seven of the programs, they received an ‘A’.
UI economics professor John Solow said the UI doesn’t offer any specific economics general education courses. But students can get a taste of economics in the two classes offered within the social science requirement — principles of microeconomics and principles of macroeconomics.
The lack of economic courses offered seems to be a national trend. Only two universities evaluated by the council fulfilled the requirement: the United States Military Academy and University of Alaska–Fairbanks.
UI spokesman Tom Moore said students and parents should not give too much weight to this report.
“There are other things to keep in mind,” he said. “When students and parents look at this information, they should not base their decisions solely on this report, or any report.”
Moore said UI officials are confident in graduates’ success post-graduation.
UI sophomore Heather Koenigs said she is satisfied with the UI’s general education offerings.
“It all depends on how you define the course,” she said of the report’s evaluation. “Their definition of what qualifies and what doesn’t seems a little off.”
While the UI didn’t receive a perfect score, many schools did worse.
Fellow regent institution Iowa State University earned a ‘C’ from the report, and Penn State University obtained a ‘D’.
Despite the harsh grades, most university officials said they aren’t too distressed.
ISU President Gregory Geoffroy said he was a bit skeptical about the report when he heard the news.
“We have not seen nor heard of this report and in general we don’t pay attention to those kinds of analyses,” he said in an e-mail. “We decide what works best for us and our students, and we are very comfortable with our programs.”
ISU’s general education requirements are largely set by each of the university’ individual colleges, and Geoffroy said he is confident in their quality.
Yale University received an ‘F’ for only fulfilling the council’s language requirement, but officials there are also unconcerned.
“Yale gives an extraordinarily fine, broad and deep liberal arts education to its students,” said Gila Reinstien, Yale’s associate director of public affairs. “It’s true, it’s well known, and we are not concerned with this at all.”
Seven colleges received ‘A’s, and of those, the schools only fulfilled six requirements.
