By Kenneth M. Heilman MD, Monday, November 26, 2012, The Gainesville Sun
Gov. Rick Scott does not believe liberal arts-humanity programs contribute much to Florida’s economy.
Scott therefore is strongly advocating shifting funding to degrees that have the best job prospects and wants to shift more undergraduate funding to science, technology, engineering and math departments, also called “STEM” disciplines.
He wants to discourage students from being humanity-liberal arts majors by charging them a higher tuition.
In addition to not understanding that college education is more than an apprenticeship, the Governor’s policy if implemented, may very well have adverse effects on students quality of life as well as their professional careers.
Support for my concern is in part based on a publication I recently received, called the “Dean’s Quarterly” (Fall, 2012) which is published by Mount Sinai Medical School in NYC. In brief, this medical school has admitted one quarter of its classes with incoming medical students who majored in the humanities.
Read more on the Gainesville Sun’s website.
The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily the positions of UFF-UF.