A state legislature committee drafted a law requiring a revision in the General Education Program, cutting courses in September 2013.
This new law will change the number of hours of the General Education Program (GEP) to 30 hours, instead of the current 36-hour requirement, according to the initial draft recommendations of the General Education Steering and Faculty Committees, given in December 2012.
The first part of the program is a statewide core; so all institutions in Florida will have the same core requirements that can be accepted in Florida’s colleges and universities. The second part of the program is specific to each institution. The first part of the GEP does not include economics any longer, according to the draft.
Dr. Mark Dickie, chair of the department of economics at UCF, cannot say why the General Education Steering and Faculty Committees chose economics to be cut from the GEP, but he opposes to this decision.
“I think it’s a bad idea for many reasons,” said Dickie. “Economics is concerned with the nation’s growth and development.”
Dickie recognizes economics as a “social science” and he appreciates what the course offers students. Most students will have careers directed to markets and businesses. Economics teaches the core information needed for students’ futures.
In the revised version of the GEP, the social science courses that are offered include the following: Introduction to Psychology, Principles of Sociology, 20th Century World History, Comparative Politics, and Introduction to Anthropology.
Economics is no longer a part of this curriculum, as noted in the initial draft. The new law is still going under revision and it will not go through the approval stages until later this year.
Do student’s really need economics as a part of their GEP? Cesar Neira, a sophomore at UCF, points out a positive note of the new curriculum that lacks this course.
“The basic concepts that are taught in the course can be learned through everyday life experiences. This new change will allow a student to take a different course in which they can learn something new or take something they are interested in,” said Neira. These life experiences include jobs and internships that students can be involved in.
Maybe the opportunity to take another course could benefit students that are already exposed to economic concepts. But, not all students have these experiences, and being in class could teach you a lot about the subject.
Andrew Goodman, a junior at UCF, puts a different perspective to the importance of taking an economics course, as he points out the nationwide debt.
“I believe that economics should be a required course. The majority of college students are in debt or have families that are in debt, so taking away a class that teaches us how to manage money makes no sense at all,” said Goodman.
Learning about how to manage money, the ins and outs of how businesses work, and how the money systems work nationally and globally through a textbook could help out students now and in their future. Students that aren’t required to take this course as an undergraduate won’t see the benefits of taking this course and how it can help.
“As much as I hated taking it, I actually learned a lot about it and I think while being a college student you should have some brief knowledge about economics,” said Nina Ricci, a sophomore at UCF.
Whether or not students support this course being cut from the core curriculum of all universities and colleges in Florida, this is a red flag to our state university system. Economics is a part of almost all the nation’s top universities’ core requirements, as Dickie mentioned. If this course is eliminated from the state’s core GEP requirements, Florida could be at risk of not offering the courses that students should take in order to get the best educational foundation in the first couple years in college, no matter what major students decide to pursue in.
“Economics is rigorous and demanding. It is appropriate in the inclusion of the GEP because it teaches skills targeted in education, such as problem solving and communication,” said Dickie.
Economics is an important class to take in order to be well-rounded students that understand critical concepts about how money works in businesses and around the world.
