Now that you’re a student at The College of Wooster, it’s important to think about the purpose of a liberal arts education. So far as I can tell, the idea behind a liberal arts education is to expand your horizons and get a wide breadth of knowledge that can be applied to a centralized discipline. In other words, in order to succeed in solving problems from a desired discipline, it’s imperative to have knowledge of other disciplines.
Taking classes outside of your major is more than just a requirement at Wooster — it’s an essential part of being a well-rounded adult in an increasingly interdependent world. As we begin to study more about any given topic, the amount of information that can be learned only by the original area of interest will begin to dwindle quickly. However, by applying information we have gained in outside areas of study, we can begin to solve a multitude of multifaceted problems.
Some of the more interesting I.S. projects I’ve ever seen in my time at Wooster have been a result of a strong interdisciplinary research basis. I can even personally attest that some of my favorite classes at Wooster have been a part of the core curriculum requirements and not something that I have necessarily taken in the mathematics department (sorry Dr. Ramsay). I even picked up a second major from taking additional courses outside of my intended field in my first semester.
Maybe you don’t want to take classes outside of your major. That’s okay; you still have to do so. There are all sorts of fun classes to take! You could take an astronomy course with Professor Wentzel-Long, you could learn about the Amish with Dr. McConnell, or you could even take scuba diving. There is a plethora of exciting options that are waiting for you to focus in on and explore with the innate curiosity that we all have.
Whether you want to be an English major or a math major, take classes that lay beyond your comfort zone. These courses may be difficult, but they will expand your horizons and help you to become a well-rounded adult. Or, maybe you’ll never use the information you learned in class, but it’s a fun piece of trivia that helps to make your life a little more exciting and to bring a little bit more knowledge into your life.
Isaac Weiss, a Contributing Writer for the Voice, can be reached for comment at IWeiss20@wooster.edu.