Dive Brief:
- The Baltimore Sun reports on a new pilot program to offer liberal arts majors statistics as a core math requirement instead of algebra, a move that officials hope will spur higher academic performance and faster degree completion.
- More than 1,500 students in 12 colleges and universities will pilot the new course layout, which has always allowed statistics as an alternative math requirement, but has rarely promoted it to students before the launch of this initiative.
- Supporters say the initiative will help students to keep pace with a growing industrial reliance upon big data for graduates to stand out in the marketplace, but skeptics say the change may condition students to excel in a specific job, and not as a well-rounded person capable of entering a variety of careers.
Dive Insight:
According to the Sun, 15 other states have adopted this core requirement flexibility for students in non-STEM majors, and it would appear that it is a smart choice for helping students to grow professional capacity for an increasingly competitive workforce. But from academic executive perspectives, it also clears a path for working professionals to join campus communities as adjunct professors in a specific and complex fields.
Creating pathways to professional success does not just involve courses which translate to work skills, but the professional insight to inspire and reveal just how a career can be forged. With adjuncts and lecturers who also work in some of the important STEM and liberal arts fields, students will be able to receive a more robust exposure to learning and translation of skill into the workforce.