Florida colleges and universities are losing some of their general education classes in response to recent laws approved by Gov. Ron DeSantis.
According to politico.com, Florida’s public universities are purging the list of general education courses they will offer next year to fall in line with a state law pushed for by DeSantis targeting “woke ideologies in higher education.”
There are people who disagree with what’s taking place because of the outcomes that could come later. Purging general education classes from Florida universities could take away the history and the basics that college students have been learning for so long.
There are pros and cons with purging general eduction classes from these universities. But many people are more concerned about the negative impacts because general education is a big part of the university systems, and taking that away could leave a bad effect on students moving forward.
There is not an official list of classes being purged courses, but some sources say that classes like humanities and gender and sexuality classes would be removed from the curriculum.
Most Florida universities are being affected by this. The University of Florida, Florida Atlantic University, Florida International University, Florida State University, Florida A&M University are among the schools eliminating some of their general education courses.
This would mean that these universities have to change the path of their students and their track to graduate as well. According to readlion.com, Florida’s Board of Governors along with the different schools looked at removing any courses that was “too narrowly focused,” making it difficult to be considered a general education class.
Florida State’s Office of Communications contacted, but it was not able to provide an answer on specific courses that have been eliminated. A spokesman said, “The review process is still ongoing, and it’s too early to answer any other questions until we have a final list of approved courses.”
There is not an approved list of classes that are going to be purged yet, but with that this will change what universities are planning for their staff and students, as well as this could possibly have teachers losing their jobs since they would not be able to teach their selected course.
A spokeswoman at FAMU said, “The Division of Academic Affairs continually collaborates with program faculty and leaders to review existing general education courses and ensure they conform to institutional and state requirements.” This topic with purging general education classes could make or break how these universities are run in the coming years.
There is a possibility that this does not affect universities too extensively because these classes could also be offered online. Unfortunately, there is not much information available on this topic, but fo more information, head to https://www.politico.com/news/2024/10/14/florida-university-classes-ron-desantis-00183453