Wayne State University (WSU) recently dropped its general education mathematics requirement and is pushing for a mandatory diversity training class.
The Detroit, Michigan-based college is choosing to focus on the division of people rather than the multiplying of them. While having a mathematical and science-based background is becoming more necessary in an age of technological advancements, there is a higher value being placed on social division rather than truth - pushing forth a political agenda, putting students at a disadvantage in the competitive workforce.
Ashley Thorne, executive director of the National Association of Scholars (a program advocating academic freedom) criticized the new requirement.
“Colleges and universities use general education requirements to ensure that students learn the subjects it deems most important," said Thorne. “Wayne State University’s decision to drop math and add diversity to its requirements reveals that its leaders do not have their priorities straight.”
“Mathematical ability is an objective and practical skill that will serve students the rest of their lives, which is why it has traditionally been a core part of college curricula. ‘Diversity’ is not an academic subject. It is a concept invented to classify people by their social identities,” said Thorne. “Focusing on individuals’ race, ethnicity, sex, and sexuality in this way has been demonstrated to lead to racial animus, segregation, stigmas, discrimination, and poor academic performance. It also politicizes education.”
Politicizing education to push an agenda is not giving these students an advantage. According to The New American, Business Insider looked at how eliminating a mathematics requirement would have an effect on graduating students entering the job market. The organization wrote:
"A new study by my company and Beyond.com called “The Multi-Generational Job Search,” found that only 2% of employers are actively recruiting liberal arts degree holders. Compare that to the 27% that are recruiting engineering and computer information systems majors and 18% that are recruiting business majors."
Without the requirement to show proficient understanding in mathematics, WSU liberal arts majors are incredibly less likely to be considered for jobs by employers than students with a general math requirement at other colleges.
The same analysis showed that 73 percent of hiring employers believed that universities were "somewhat preparing students for the working world." The faculty committee creating this change in the curriculum only serves to affirm this point, but at least they'll know the difference between bisexual and bigender in 'How Not To Be Offensive 101.'
The nation and our corrupt education system is hitting the gas on the political bandwagon and is running its people over a cliff. After years of enlightenment, instead of being focused on truth, the nation is focused on fact-free feelings. This diversity requirement will only strive to divide its people rather than unify them. Math is the only subject that is universally true, no matter what culture, language, religion, or other socially-identifiable factors. These factors should be used to unite all of us. In fact, it's rather trivial. Why should skin tone, eye color, and whether or not I celebrate Christmas or Chanukah divide a group of people? It shouldn't. These aspects, making a group culturally diverse, should unite us, not divide us. We may all physically and socially be different and have different beliefs, but when it comes down to the facts, we are all homo sapiens sapiens.
Allowing trivial social differences to stand in the way of progress is nauseating. This is all at the expense of the student to push forward an agenda for corrupt politicians to shape the future of America into focusing on emotion over validated truth. Education should not be politicized, and brainwashing students to focus on division rather than unification will, ultimately, be the downfall into that metaphorical cliff. Anyone can 'do diversity,' and that's exactly why the faculty is pushing it forward.
