<p>Something completely out of your comfort zone that will introduce you to an entirely new way of understanding the world.</p>
<p>I agree that english and communications would be useful</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Evolution.</p>
<p>I think to counter the generally west-centric high school curriculum (at least that’s what I experienced in HS) it would be nice for everyone to take a class focusing on the culture and/or politics of another region, just for some cultural relativity. I definitely agree with people on here that US government is important though, since we’re supposed to participate in it so we should really all try to understand it. I also think everyone should take at least a year of a language so they’re less inhibited in who they talk to.</p>
<p>Public Speaking.</p>
<p>Some type of public speaking and or interviewing course
Writing- especially writing reports and proposals
basic Biology
American Politics/Government
Western History (if not world history)
Spanish 101
Stats</p>
<p>I really wish we could make study abroad- homestays- mandatory. Alas, there will never be funding for that :(. I wish everyone were forced to live outside of the US for a bit and preferably in a place that doesn’t speak English.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>At most schools, this is all just stuff that everyone should already know, and those who don’t will probably never learn it anyway. Unfortunately forcing everyone to take a class on something will not force them to be educated about it.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>While this is critically important for people in many different majors, I fail to see how this could possibly be useful to anyone in a humanities major or most social science majors (save some of the quantitative ones like PoliSci or Econ). </p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I get the feeling that at most schools this is just a ******** class. If it wasn’t I might agree. </p>
<p>Everyone’s saying statistics, but I have taken multiple stats classes and I really have learned/retained little-nothing. I don’t see how it’s really useful. Did anyone who took stats 2 years ago (and isn’t in a heavily stats based major) remember how to do an ANOVA test? All I remember is that we spent weeks doing it. </p>
<p>What part of stats did people find so useful and important that they think everyone should take it?</p>
<p>^I learned how to use SPSS (questionable value depending on your major though, I will admit), but also how to read and evaluate statistics, understand when and why differences are significant, etc., and I think that is something everyone should be able to do.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>CS is a very different way of approaching problems, and requires you learn methodical methods of looking at problems and trying to figure out how to troubleshoot them. Fixing a program that’s malfunctioning takes a lot of the same skills as figuring out how to troubleshoot anything. A technique I’m always amazed at how few people have learned.</p>
<p>Re: computer science</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>A properly designed course for non-majors could give a useful understanding of how computers work, what they can and cannot do, and how they impact individuals and society.</p>
<p>For example, computers have been applied to humanities in the analysis of word use in languages over time: [Google</a> Ngram Viewer](<a href=“http://books.google.com/ngrams]Google”>Google Ngram Viewer)</p>
<p>They also have obvious applications in the social studies, including the mapping of relationships via social networking web sites.</p>
<p>An agriculture course (preferably with field/lab). It’s good to know where your next meal is coming from.</p>
<p>A Sociology class can be eye-opening for those who think society is perfect and free of inequality. Think again. Although, I know some people who still deny racism and accept an idea that we live in a color-blind society after they’ve taken a Sociology course.</p>
<p>Well, you can’t reason someone out of a position they didn’t reason themselves into.</p>
<p>Research Methods and Analysis (being able to analyze the data you find everywhere for reliability and validity, critically thinking about whether the conclusions drawn seem correct or are there other possible explanations, etc. Some light Statistics is usually taught here; I don’t think a full-blown stats course is necessary unless you’d like to do your own research.)</p>
<p>Writing courses - especially ones for business, such as effectively using Word and Excel, being able to write a resume and cover letter worth reading, writing basic summary reports without a million errors, etc. I realize this should all be taught in high school, but somewhere, someone’s not getting the memo (or the memo was written so poorly no one bothered to read it). </p>
<p>Public Speaking (Critical if you land a job where you need to pitch sales ideas, or even just selling yourself in the interview process. We all will have times, expected or not, when we’ll need to share some sort of public message.)</p>
<p>At least one or two courses that teach you about different people, including Comparative Religion, East Asian Studies, etc.</p>
<p>Nutrition (too many people think just about fat content or calories, or buy into fad dieting and popular exercise programs and products. I think we need a more back-to-basics understanding of our bodies and how bodies differ according to genetic makeup, socioeconomic status, geographic location, etc.).</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>What do you mean by read and evaluate statistics. If you mean what a confidence interval means or what a standard deviation is, that can be explained in 5 minutes to someone who’s reasonably smart. Those are the only statistics I run into in every day life. I have no idea what a chi-sq value of 45 for 18 degrees of freedom means (or if I’m using any of those things correctly in this sentence) and I would be very surprised if many people did remember that.</p>
<p>Yeah, most people won’t use the technical details (not even professionals since it’s all done by computer) but I think it gives you some good skills. You can evaluate a scientific claim or statistic for yourself instead of having to have someone interpret it for you. You can also determine more about whether a statistic is very persuading or not, sometimes when news comes out of some study (even just like from the news or whatever) they proclaim these new findings, but the difference is just barely significant. Things like that. I think it can help protect people from bias and let them form their own opinions.</p>
<p>My top ten not necessarily in order:
Stats I
Public Speaking
Calculus I
Intro to Philosophy
Intro to Writing
Chemistry I
Physics I
Biology I
Art History
Macroeconomics</p>
<p>A course or two on the Great Books. People can’t write or analyze these days; it’s disheartening.</p>
<p>Public speaking classes are good in theory, but usually end up being jokes, just like Writing 101 (see above). </p>
<p>Art history and astronomy would round out my selection.</p>
<p>I would vote for a basic personal accounting class. I chose my profession (speech pathology) when I was 11, and never wavered, but made the mistake of never taking any business classes. The single Personal Accounting class,coupled with the statistics classes that were required for my major, allow me to
1 - Read our profit and loss statement
2 - Have a basic understanding of interest rates, compounding, life insurance, the importance and measurement of a profit margin, a gross understanding of what happens when i lower my price incrementally, etc. It also gives me a healthy disrespect for statistics and studies that I read in my area as well as other areas - you would be surprised what baloney some people believe who don’t understand how you can lie with statistics!</p>