That's What Schwenk Said | Minor changes, major problems

Call me old-fashioned, but every time I hear about a new, specialized major or minor in the College — like the announcement earlier this month of an international-development minor — I get suspicious. Maybe it’s because my majors (history and communication) are wonderfully vague in terms of their potential applications, but nontraditional majors and minors automatically make me worry about universities caving into students’ whims and possibly eliminating older, but important, programs.

Conversations with College Dean Dennis DeTurck and Career Services Director Patricia Rose reassured me that eliminating older programs in favor of flashy young things is unlikely to happen at Penn. DeTurck pointed to the fact that majors like Philosophy, Politics and Economics and Biological Basis of Behavior — as well as Penn’s general focus on studying the blurred lines between traditional disciplines — hasn’t lessened enrollment in majors like history and chemistry. And labeling these connections between disciplines, he said, brings a sort of “intellectual coherence. If you think of the liberal arts writ large, [nontraditional programs] strengthen them.”

Rose added that while Penn students are generally a “pretty practical crew” who put heavy focus on their futures, minors are just that — a minor area of study. Adding one that dozens (out of thousands) students will pursue won’t change the academic climate. And while a minor in international development has more practical applications than one in classics, Rose pointed out that “it isn’t anti-intellectual to have an interest in a discipline that leads to a career.”

So Penn and Penn students are safe. But Penn tends not to follow most higher-education trends. Our reputation and institutional wealth keep us relatively insulated from the questions that colleges across the country are asking — keep programs in classics or religion, or cut them and add new tracks like social entrepreneurship? A recent New York Times article highlights several schools that are completely abandoning tracks like philosophy because interest has waned and keeping the programs is no longer economically practical. Similarly, Penn’s prestige means students don’t have to worry about whether an employer will find them attractive even if majoring in something archaic.

One of the reasons behind the trend, DeTurck said, “could be a lack of ability of specific departments in specific places to adapt and change.” He pointed out that, at Penn, it was the Philosophy Department that led the charge when creating the PPE program. And while the change in major offerings seems rapid, he notes that a major shake-up in curriculum occurred about 100 years ago as well, indicating that it’s cyclical.

But I think that, currently, economics, more than any reevaluation of education, is driving the shift in majors nationally. For that reason, colleges need to stand stronger in keeping traditional programs. At the very least, these decisions should, whenever at all possible, be pushed until the economy’s stable and people are thinking more clearly. Right now, students are more preoccupied than ever with making sure they’ll have a job in four years; the skyrocketing costs of college and the rough job market are making parents ask more frequently, “And what are you planning on doing with that degree?” I know it sounds like I ripped it off of a Hallmark card, but college actually is the time to figure out who you are and what you love to study. And because college students are highly sensitive to pressure from others, it’s easy to be swayed when parental pressure and institutional opportunity are colluding to offer students “practical” majors.

Colleges and programs need to evolve, but we need to make sure they’re doing so for the right reasons. While the international development minor will be a welcome addition at Penn, similar majors shouldn’t be replacing traditional programs at Cash-Strapped State U.

Alyssa Schwenk is a College senior from Ottumwa, Iowa. She is editor of The Report Card and former Editorial Page Editor of the DP Her e-mail address is schwenk@dailypennsylvanian.com. That’s What Schwenk Said appears on Mondays.

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