Imogen Kane is among the handful of freshmen on the pre-med track who were handed a white sheet from their adviser that guides their schedule for the next four years. On that sheet was a new two-credit class, physical wellness and dynamics, one of the newest requirements imposed by the updated core requirements.
With a rigid schedule, Kane said she is frustrated that the two-credit class that meets four times a week secures the place of an elective classes.
Senior Rachel Warner, a chemistry major, took physical wellness and dynamics her freshman year and is convinced that every student should take the class.
“I liked it for the simple fact that it brought more awareness to fitness and health,” she said. “It should be mandatory because if you’re forced to take Constitution, I don’t see why you shouldn’t be forced to take a P.E. class. It is good for Hillsdale students that have never had a health class before.”
Warner is also a runner for the Hillsdale cross country team. Even though her involvement in a varsity sport has made her more aware of her health, she liked reviewing the material.
Physical wellness and dynamics has a lecture component that meets twice a week. For seven weeks of the semester, a lab component is also implemented that meets twice a week, on different days than the lectures.
“The cost-benefit is not worth it,” Kane said. “I’d rather take a 50-minute cycling class to get a workout rather than sitting down in a classroom.”
Although the new core only requires physical wellness and dynamics and one P.E. class, the 2013 incoming class will earn one less credit in the core while spending two additional hours completing the sports studies portion.
Registrar Douglas McArthur said that change triggers concern in all students, both directly affected by the core and not.
“It is natural to be a bit nervous,” he said. “But when change does come, we can help them find a sane, reasonable path to complete requirements. It is not a cause for panic. Maybe a cause for planning but not panic.”
The core curriculum will change gradually over the course of an undetermined period of time. One of the changes next year will move the biology requirement from four credit hours to three. Rather than scheduling a different day for labs, lab exercises will fuse with lectures. Eventually, Provost David Whalen said, the core will reach between 61-65 credits. The former core was 55.
In order to complete the core, honors program requirements, and the pre-med track, Kane plans on taking summer classes. Her college tuition will not cover the cost of her mandatory courses.
“I have to pay extra to graduate on time,” Kane said. “Whether it’s during a summer class or exceeding the credit limit per semester. I think that’s unfair.”
Although Kane doesn’t mind spending the summer working toward completing her academic requirements, she wishes there was an opportunity to take more electives. But there simply isn’t time.
“I look at physical wellness as an academic class,” Kane said. “If it were the same work level as a P.E. class, I could take another academic class. But I can’t.”
