LETTER: Foundation courses offer opportunity to enrich, explore non-major interests

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by Paul O'Brien

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This letter is written in response to Chris Ciompi's column in the Sept. 21 Thresher .

Chris has completed less than one fourth of a semester here at Rice and has obviously given up on some of his courses.

The ugly duckling principle may apply here -- give Rice time. Students adjust and find interesting facets to their classes.

I have yet to find a course at Rice boring or pointless. Even PHYS 101/102, which often seemed rather dull and painful, had its moments.

As a physics/classics major, I've taken courses in Greek, Latin, chemistry, physics, astrophysics, history, math, art history and more. Notice that I branch out beyond the courses "required" for my major.

As a double major, I do not have to take any foundation courses, but on that note, let me share an anecdote related to me by one of my professors.

He claims that once in a HUMA 101 class he offered a guaranteed "A" to anyone who wanted it. He explained that he would rather teach students who weren't worried about their grades.

He found that HUMA 101 students often feel, as Chris does, that the foundation courses are a waste of time.

The professor guessed that without grade pressure the students might be able to see the material for what it was worth, without constantly thinking of it as an obligation.

No one took him up on his offer. For my part, every time I register for courses I skim the humanities foundation courses to see if I have room for any of them. As of yet, I have not.

As a classics major, I am not obligated to take HUMA 101, but I think of that as a loss, not a gain.

Because of other pressures, I have not yet been able to take a HUMA class.

To Chris' credit, I feel fairly certain that I did not have this attitude as a freshman. Perhaps we are not as lost as Chris says.

Perhaps part of the Rice education is learning to enjoy learning itself.

If all I'd wanted out of an education was a bunch of hard-core physics classes, I would have applied to Cal Tech or MIT. Rice is a rare treasure in that it allows an otherwise S/E like me to enrich himself in a very exciting classics major as well as other random courses I enjoy taking.

Consider these courses outside of your major as a chance to enrich yourself -- someday you might want to have more to discuss over dinner than the intricacies of your chosen field of study.

And yes, I too procrastinate -- even in my most favorite classes.

Paul O'Brien

SRC '97

This item appeared in the Opinion section of the September 29, 1995 issue.

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