The special Strategic Diversity Committee appointed last year by UA President Stuart Bell has recommended that the University of Alabama to create a diversity requirement in the core curriculum. Wayne State University, a college in Detroit, has eliminated its core math requirement and has replaced it with courses that include diversity topics. Instead of all students having to take math regardless of their major, students at Wayne State will be required to take “signature” classes, two designed for freshmen and one that will serve as a “capstone” class for upperclassmen. These “signature” classes will be designed to interact with modern-day issues such as culture, sustainability, health, ethics, and urban development and renewal. Perhaps, with all the change in society, the University of Alabama should follow in Wayne State’s footsteps and re-envision its core curriculum.
Until recently, all students at Wayne State University had to either take one of three basic math classes to earn their degree or test out by performing sufficiently on a relevant SAT, CLEP, or AP test. According to the Detroit Free Press, Wayne State University officials justified their elimination of the math requirement explaining that the core math curriculum was only requiring students to learn math currently required for a high school diploma. Wayne Sate University’s decision to drop the math core requirement if a student is not a math major is something that should be considered in any discussion of revisions to the UA core. For far too many UA students who are not majoring in business, science, math or engineering, the math requirement becomes a huge obstacle to their degrees. If the University of Alabama wants to keep a math core requirement, then perhaps the officials should create a course similar to Wayne State University’s as a substitute for students whose majors are not related to math.
All math core courses at UA are currently taught in the Math Department, except Consumer Sciences Management 116, which is taught in Human Environmental Sciences. CSM 116 is not allowed for any major in Arts and Sciences. It is not fair for students to be forced to complete a math requirement when they are not math majors or do not have a major that requires any type of math. Students majoring in areas like communication, the arts, English and philosophy will likely never use math in their careers. UA officials should consider eliminating math from the core and replacing it with something that affects all students, such as diversity.
The core math requirement also is problematic for students with a learning disability as registered in UA’s Office of Disability Services. The approved math substitutes for students with math disability at the University of Alabama include PHIL 195, BER 345, and CJ 380. All of these math substitute classes are all related to statistical math. At the very minimum, UA officials must broaden the alternate math substitutes beyond math classes that focus on statistics. I personally have been caught in this situation, as none of the approved math alternatives were structured for people with my diagnosed math disability as tied to a medical diagnosis. Classes like the ones Wayne State University created could substitute for the math requirement and would clearly benefit to students with a math disability.
For students like me, a lot of time is devoted to trying to pass the math requirement. We study many hours longer than the average person who does not have a disability. All of the extra tutoring, studying, and trying to solve homework math problems takes so much time out of other courses that are important to the student’s major and other requirement classes. Also, struggling in any course is stressful for a student with a math disability who is doing well in all other academic areas, especially in the classes involving their major.
If the University Of Alabama created a diversity course or courses, it would not just benefit individuals who are passionate about requiring diversity instruction for all. It also would benefit students whose major has nothing to do with math and those who have math disabilities, if the diversity course could replace math or be a math substitute. This needed core switch would help all students be successful here at The Capstone.