The university finally backed down and scrapped these forced GE requirements. We dragged them away from their bureaucratic obsession so students can actually focus on their own studies. Stay sharp because we need to ensure they do not try to sneak these nonsense mandates back into the curriculum later.
October 10, 2016
Final supporters
This petition is mainly targeted at students, former students and staff of Hong Kong Baptist University.
A university should be the area that prepares students on the path that they have decided to follow. Unlike secondary institutions, a university's main goal is to specialize students.
Students should be able to choose the courses they wish to take outside of their faculties instead of being imposed to fulfil bureaucratic requirements such as Physical Education, Mathematics (even if they are arts students), et cetera. Such requirements are deviating students and academics from their fields, thus giving them less time for specialisation and research. Students pay universities to be the best in their fields, not to take compulsory off-topic courses. Shall students be interested in such courses, they can be given the possibility to take them voluntarily on a Free Elective basis.
Why shall students pay for General Education (GE) courses they are not interested at? Instead of spending time on these courses, isn't it better for them to take more classes in their major and other points of interest? Wouldn't it be more fruitful to have an open curriculum choice instead of obliging students to attend courses that are not related to their major concentration?
Despite the claims made by some administrators in charge of promoting this so called 'model', compulsory GE is not helping students to be successful in their career neither does it broaden their general knowledge. Instead, it has profitable outcomes as students are obliged to take a number of compulsory GE courses in order to fulfil the graduation requirements; therefore constraining them to pay for courses that will unlikely be useful to their future endeavors. Without personal interest, students will not gain from it.
While the principle of liberal education is a brave one, the implementation of GE is anything but liberal. Is it liberal to require an arts, communication or history student to take mathematics, sciences and marketing? Isn't the fact of imposing this system contradictory to the principal of liberal studies?
After the age of 18, a person is considered a major: capable to take decisions, drive, vote, et cetera. However - in the case mentioned - they are almost not given the opportunity to choose the courses they wish to take outside of their faculty, students are instead obliged to respond to what the university's administrative authority believes is useful to them. This strongly undermines academic freedom. In addition, a number academics are opposed to it too.
Another notorious measure that has failed is CCL's: it is a student's moral responsibility to attend talks and lectures outside of the university. CCL's are doing anything but broadening student's knowledge. Instead, many students will attend CCL lectures for the sake of fulfilling their CCL requirements, not because of their personal interest. HKBU has plenty of passionate scholars and students, the problem lies with the administrative structure.
GE courses should be optional and available for undeclared students who are still exploring their areas of interest. Other students should not be constrained to take off topic courses. Unfortunately, Hong Kong Baptist University seems to overemphasize and advertise this so called 'model' which is - in the opinion of many students and academics - a superficial one.
Academic freedom is not only about political freedom, it is primarily about the freedom to choose courses bringing self-interest. Imposing courses isn't a university's purpose.
Having said that, this does not mean that students should not fulfil credit requirements, they should simply be able to choose all non-major courses on a free elective basis.
GENERAL EDUCATION SHOULD NOT BE COMPULSORY.
'Study without desire spoils the memory, and it retains nothing that it takes in.' ~ Leonardo da Vinci.
NNNN
Updates
August 26, 2016
The administrators at HKBU are still ignoring the fact that students are being forced to pay for useless credits that distract from our actual degrees. I have been fielding messages from students who are burnt out from these mandatory hurdles and I am currently working to force a formal response from the department heads.
Reached 100 supporters
August 26, 2016
66 Comments
Dear Wai, Thanks for your comment ! Unfortunately, the current implementation of GE is useless as you say so well. A General Education can only be useful if students are given a choice about what they take. Yet, the school's authority seems not to understand this. Let's hope that we soon are able to review the whole mechanism ! Best regards,
GE courses are useless for us and certainly a waste of time on topics that we are not interested in when we can barely utilise them in the future. The school must face the reality and do not just expect the ideal outcome that is not real. This spoonful system must be changed.
Thanks for your comment ! This is why the current GE mechanism should be reviewed. A university should not be a place where students 'hate' the courses. If it would be optional, that would not be the case. Regards,
We have only four years to explore our own field of interest, which is barely enough to do so. Please stop the unnecessary lessons that act as barricades for us from reaching to our own goals.
Stop forcing us to study something we don't want. Let us focus on our major courses so we can spend more time and passion in what we want to study
I support this petitioner's views. I am a HKBU student in International Journalism just like him. He one of my many editors for TYR. I have to take Numeracy this semester and it is a complete waste of my time. I would much rather be writing something for TYR or Jenny's class, not to mention that I am genuinely terrible at math. Anyways, I will just end this comment with a quote as well. Knowledge that is acquired under compulsion obtains no hold on the mind. ------Plato
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The university finally backed down and scrapped these forced GE requirements. We dragged them away from their bureaucratic obsession so students can actually focus on their own studies. Stay sharp because we need to ensure they do not try to sneak these nonsense mandates back into the curriculum later.
October 10, 2016
Final supporters
This petition is mainly targeted at students, former students and staff of Hong Kong Baptist University.
A university should be the area that prepares students on the path that they have decided to follow. Unlike secondary institutions, a university's main goal is to specialize students.
Students should be able to choose the courses they wish to take outside of their faculties instead of being imposed to fulfil bureaucratic requirements such as Physical Education, Mathematics (even if they are arts students), et cetera. Such requirements are deviating students and academics from their fields, thus giving them less time for specialisation and research. Students pay universities to be the best in their fields, not to take compulsory off-topic courses. Shall students be interested in such courses, they can be given the possibility to take them voluntarily on a Free Elective basis.
Why shall students pay for General Education (GE) courses they are not interested at? Instead of spending time on these courses, isn't it better for them to take more classes in their major and other points of interest? Wouldn't it be more fruitful to have an open curriculum choice instead of obliging students to attend courses that are not related to their major concentration?
Despite the claims made by some administrators in charge of promoting this so called 'model', compulsory GE is not helping students to be successful in their career neither does it broaden their general knowledge. Instead, it has profitable outcomes as students are obliged to take a number of compulsory GE courses in order to fulfil the graduation requirements; therefore constraining them to pay for courses that will unlikely be useful to their future endeavors. Without personal interest, students will not gain from it.
While the principle of liberal education is a brave one, the implementation of GE is anything but liberal. Is it liberal to require an arts, communication or history student to take mathematics, sciences and marketing? Isn't the fact of imposing this system contradictory to the principal of liberal studies?
After the age of 18, a person is considered a major: capable to take decisions, drive, vote, et cetera. However - in the case mentioned - they are almost not given the opportunity to choose the courses they wish to take outside of their faculty, students are instead obliged to respond to what the university's administrative authority believes is useful to them. This strongly undermines academic freedom. In addition, a number academics are opposed to it too.
Another notorious measure that has failed is CCL's: it is a student's moral responsibility to attend talks and lectures outside of the university. CCL's are doing anything but broadening student's knowledge. Instead, many students will attend CCL lectures for the sake of fulfilling their CCL requirements, not because of their personal interest. HKBU has plenty of passionate scholars and students, the problem lies with the administrative structure.
GE courses should be optional and available for undeclared students who are still exploring their areas of interest. Other students should not be constrained to take off topic courses. Unfortunately, Hong Kong Baptist University seems to overemphasize and advertise this so called 'model' which is - in the opinion of many students and academics - a superficial one.
Academic freedom is not only about political freedom, it is primarily about the freedom to choose courses bringing self-interest. Imposing courses isn't a university's purpose.
Having said that, this does not mean that students should not fulfil credit requirements, they should simply be able to choose all non-major courses on a free elective basis.
GENERAL EDUCATION SHOULD NOT BE COMPULSORY.
'Study without desire spoils the memory, and it retains nothing that it takes in.' ~ Leonardo da Vinci.
NNNN
Updates
August 26, 2016
The administrators at HKBU are still ignoring the fact that students are being forced to pay for useless credits that distract from our actual degrees. I have been fielding messages from students who are burnt out from these mandatory hurdles and I am currently working to force a formal response from the department heads.
Reached 100 supporters
August 26, 2016
66 Comments
Although GE course are aim to achieve "wholeperson development" most of the lecturer set it's requirement too high, while we need to waste our time on courses that I'm not interested in.
Dear Wai, Thanks for your comment ! Unfortunately, the current implementation of GE is useless as you say so well. A General Education can only be useful if students are given a choice about what they take. Yet, the school's authority seems not to understand this. Let's hope that we soon are able to review the whole mechanism ! Best regards,
GE courses are useless for us and certainly a waste of time on topics that we are not interested in when we can barely utilise them in the future. The school must face the reality and do not just expect the ideal outcome that is not real. This spoonful system must be changed.
Thanks for your comment ! This is why the current GE mechanism should be reviewed. A university should not be a place where students 'hate' the courses. If it would be optional, that would not be the case. Regards,
We have only four years to explore our own field of interest, which is barely enough to do so. Please stop the unnecessary lessons that act as barricades for us from reaching to our own goals.
Stop forcing us to study something we don't want. Let us focus on our major courses so we can spend more time and passion in what we want to study
I support this petitioner's views. I am a HKBU student in International Journalism just like him. He one of my many editors for TYR. I have to take Numeracy this semester and it is a complete waste of my time. I would much rather be writing something for TYR or Jenny's class, not to mention that I am genuinely terrible at math. Anyways, I will just end this comment with a quote as well. Knowledge that is acquired under compulsion obtains no hold on the mind. ------Plato
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Although GE course are aim to achieve "wholeperson development" most of the lecturer set it's requirement too high, while we need to waste our time on courses that I'm not interested in.