Bachelor of General Studies and Michigan Football
As a General Studies major I can talk a little bit about the debate surrounding the University of Michigan Football team. Jim Carty from the Ann Arbor News points out that a large number of football players are General Studies majors.
University of Michigan, 2006 juniors and seniors, 60 total in sample
General studies — 29 — (61.7 percent of declared majors)
Sports management — 6 — (12.7 percent)
Biology — 2 — (4.2 percent)
Movement science — 2 — (4.2 percent)
Psychology — 2 — (4.2 percent)
American culture — 1 (2.1 percent)
Biopsychology & cognitive science — 1
Chemistry — 1
History — 1
Philosophy — 1
Spanish — 1
Undecided — 13 — (21.6 percent of overall sample)Sources: Michigan media guides
Now if General Studies was truly one academic department I could see there being concern for so many football players majoring in one area of study. However the General Studies degree is earned when you complete 60 credits in three areas of study from any departments within the LS&A program. I took 20 credits at the 300 course level or higher in Philosophy, History and Literature. There are literally over 100 departments in the LS&A program. So just because two students are pursuing a General Studies degree it doesn’t mean they are studying in the same departments or even take the same classes.
There are a couple different reasons why students major in General Studies. One big reason is because there isn’t a foreign language requirement. Michigan’s foreign language department is very tough so some students who are on the fast track to grad school want to steer clear of those classes in order to maintain a high grade point average for when they eventually apply for law school, medical school, or other forms of graduate education. Some football players would probably never graduate if they didn’t major in General Studies and avoid the foreign language requirement.
I studied French in high school and took French at Michigan but eventually decided on a General Studies degree because it was the closest I was able to come to receiving a Liberal Arts education. Michigan does not have a Liberal Arts degree but I felt that by taking History, Philosophy and Literature classes I’d get a well-rounded education in the three areas I had an interest in studying.
Here is how Wikipedia describes a Liberal Arts education:
The term “liberal arts” is defined by the Encyclopædia Britannica Concise as a, “college or university curriculum aimed at imparting general knowledge and developing general intellectual capacities, in contrast to a professional, vocational, or technical curriculum…In modern colleges and universities, the liberal arts include the study of literature, languages, philosophy, history, mathematics, and science. ”
I had no interest in sticking to one department by choosing to major in either Literature or Philosophy or History. So I felt that by being a General Studies major I was able to receive a more well-rounded education. But the larger point when it comes to the Michigan football program is that the General Studies program can be quite varied, and it is possible that none of the 29 players who are pursuing the degree are studying in the same departments.
The overwhelming majority of University of Michigan students are in the LS&A program. Jim Harbaugh could complain about so many football players being in the LS&A program and the argument would be slightly more ridiculous than his criticism of so many football players majoring in the General Studies program.
I don’t think Michigan needs to address Jim Harbaugh directly. He just accepted quarterback Jason Forcier as a transfer who was a University of Michigan student prior to coming to Stanford, and he’s had no direct involvement with the Athletic Department since he graduated in 1986. The school should address the larger issue and explain how the General Studies program works and provide a general breakdown of which departments the players are concentrating their studies. For instance, Jason Avant was a second team Academic All America who happened to receive a General Studies degree. But I have no idea what were the departments where he concentrated his studies.
If a lot of the players are taking 20 of their credits in the Afro-American and African Studies deparment is that a problem? I honestly don’t think so. If the lion’s share however are studying in American Culture or Film & Video Studies then that might require some looking into. I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with those departments - my cousin was a Film & Video Studies major and will be starting Law School at Michigan this fall. But they can be viewed as being non-traditional or “soft” majors and it would probably be a good idea to look a little further into the classes they are taking.
So the big controversy as I see it is that a lot of football players don’t want to take a foreign language class and so are opting into the General Studies program. Is that Jim Harbaugh’s big complaint? Of course not. He’s suggesting that the General Studies degree is a soft degree that requires little or no work or intellectual capability. That story has a lot more sizzle and generates much more interest than saying Michigan football players don’t want to learn Spanish or French or German.
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