Ah, gen eds. How they trick the naive Penn State freshman. These general education credits always seem like they will be a breeze. And often they are. However, I learned quickly that just because a course is low-level or in one of the more 'fun' colleges does not necessarily mean that it's going to be easy. As a freshman, I found a few courses that I determined would be easy and quickly threw them onto my schedule. My reasoning: they focused on the 'fun' subjects of music, art, and design. Because of this assumption, I unknowingly enrolled myself in two classes that would be extremely time-consuming and frustrating for me: MUSIC 7 "Evolution of Jazz" with Arthur Goldstein and LARCH 60 "History of Design on the Land" with Bonj Szczygiel.
My point is not to bash these courses or to say that they could not be easy for someone else. The problem was, they were a terrible fit for me. As a communications major with a psychology minor, I realized that these two courses were way outside of my area of interest. The MUSIC 7 teacher Goldstein was so knowledgeable of music terminology that terms he knew to be elementary went way over my head. The topics LARCH 60 covered were so unfamiliar to me that the detailed exams seemed nearly impossible.
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So, although these courses were low-level and seemed interesting, they made my semester really difficult. However, they did help me by making me realize just how important it is to know what a course will ask of you and who is teaching it before enrolling. Thinking you've signed up for a
Here are five gen eds that seem to be easy, fun, and worthwhile for Penn State students from all educational backgrounds and majors:
1. MUSIC 109 "The Beatles"
This is one of the best and most interesting classes I've taken. I took it online this past semester with Vincent Benitez and it was a piece of cake. All of the grading besides one paper is objective and based on your computer generated scores from three exams, a handful of quizzes, and two brief discussion board posts. You can complete all of this work from home and there is no final exam, only a non-cumulative third exam during finals week.
There are no prerequisities for this music history course. The only assignment that is graded subjectively is the 5-page creative paper which he grades pretty leniently. He gave me a B- on my terrible paper even though it barely reached 5 pages and even though all he (rightfully) had was complaints about it. So I think that sums up this course's level of difficulty pretty well.
2. SOC 119 "Race and Ethnic Relations"
This is one course that every upperclassman at Penn State will tell you to take before you graduate. If you talk to someone who has taken this course (or even someone who hasn't) they will most likely tell you about how professor Sam Richards makes learning a blast. The class basically focuses on how screwed up society is when it comes to our thoughts on race and ethnicity. It helps students to discover their own biases and to dissect stereotypes by sharing experiences, histories, statistics, and stories from Sam, class guests, and the countless amounts of brave students who offer to speak up.
There are no prerequisites for this three-credit course. I'm currently enrolled in it this semester and our only assignments are to share a video clip from class with someone then have a 300-word conversation about it once a week, to take three quizzes throughout the semester which are each on about 15 articles/videos (which sounds like a lot but you have months to read and watch those), and to participate in one World in Conversation video chat. Sam does take attendance but his lectures and the weekly small group discussion are seriously a great time. You'll find yourself not wanting to miss out.
3. HDFS 129 "Introduction to Human Development and Family Studies"
This course is described as an "introduction to psychosocial and family development at all stages of the individual and family life cycle. " It covers the issues that arise and the processes that we all go through while we experience relationships, hardships, joys, and eye-opening moments during our journey from infancy to adulthood. I'm a psychology minor and the course has been really easy for me, as there is a huge overlap of material from courses on adolescent psychology and other similar courses I've taken for my minor.
There are no prerequisites for this course and Molly Countermine is one of the best teachers I've had. She's so open and honest about her own personal experiences and life story which not only helps to make the material more memorable by making it more relatable and applicable to real life but also encourages students to share their stories and thoughts and well. Not to mention, her life is inspiring, her family is insanely adorable, and she's a band chick. She's a pretty cool lady.
4. BISC 003 "Environmental Science"
Anyone who has experienced BISC 3 will tell you that it is not your average science course. The material is about reflecting on your feelings and concerns about nature and the forces that oppose nature, rather than facts and terminology. The course's lecturer Christopher Uhl is not a RateMyProfessor.com favorite, but I don't think this should keep anyone from taking the course. I personally finished the class with no negative opinion about him, you are not required to participate during his lectures, you work with your TA 95% of the time, and you get to have lab outside sometimes if the weather allows.
There are no prerequisites for this course. Because your grade is determined almost entirely by/on journal entries, this is not a gen ed for anyone who's looking to spend little to no time working outside of class. However, there are no exams and as long as you take the time to fulfill the more-than-reasonable length requirements it's an easy A.
5. MATH 034 "The Mathematics of Money"
This course is one that surprisingly goes unmentioned in similar articles, but I feel is definitely worth taking. The course is described to cover "simple interest, simple discount, compound interest, annuities, investments, retirement plans, taxes, credit cards, and mortgages". No, that dry description does not make it sounds too appealing. But it basically teaches you how to use math in everyday business or financial situations that most of us will have to deal with in our lifetime, such as making smart choices when it comes to 401Ks or loaning versus buying a car. Most other math classes are not as helpful for non-math majors.
The class has a prerequisite of one unit of algebra or the course MATH 004. Unfortunately, the teachers for this course have changed since I took it so I cannot speak on how the course may have changed because of different teaching styles. Luckily, that's where RateMyProfessor comes in handy.
Although these courses have all been positive experiences for myself and my classmates, it's important to remember that the teacher of the course can make or break a good experience. One teacher that has made learning easier for me was psychology professor Jeff Love. Dr. Love (yes, that is his real title) is the bomb. If you're a psych major or minor who is willing to put an average amount of work into a class you should look into taking classes with him! I had him for PSYCH 412 "Adolescence".
Alright, I think I've sufficiently rambled about classes enough and mentioned RateMyProfessor enough for them to hire me as a campus rep. I hope that this article helps any PSU students who are looking for the right gen ed. Just remember to check which professor is assigned to a course's section, to do a few minutes of online research on them, and to ask your upperclassman friends for suggestions!
