Lacking the ST requirement

Here are some fun classes to take next semester: Rocks for Jocks, Stars for Stoners and Physics for Poets. Ranked number one in the country, why does the University offer these classes? The best class I've heard of is PHY 116: Music and Physics. Offered last year, the class fulfilled an ST with lab distribution requirement. One of the labs was to go in, pluck a violin string, record the frequency and go back home. Seriously awesome, right? But seriously ... with the vast majority of us having aced Calculus BC and received near perfect scores on the math section of the SAT, I think we're more capable than that.

Last year I read a princeton.edu article about CEE 102, Engineering in the Modern World. This is likely one of the courses that allows the Office of Admission to report that around 75 percent of Princeton students take engineering courses. The article specifically stated that the professor was removing engineering aspects of the class and trading them in for historical facts to accommodate the more humanities-oriented students. The professor "radically simplified the emphasis on calculations so [that the course would] appeal to all students." Instead of having a final like most science courses, students prepared a presentation of the history of some man-made, engineered structure.

Sure, these classes expose students to the sciences, and it's important to have engineers learn about the history of previous engineering feats, but the problem is that these classes don't train students to think like scientists. Taking Music and Physics is very different than taking Physics 101. The teaching style is different, the problem sets are different, the side of the brain we use is probably different. It's not only the material, but also the mindset and scientific inquiry that comes from an actual science class that makes a load of difference. Yes, I am actually saying using a graphing calculator in one of your classes may make a difference.

But with classes like these and with the University's grade inflation policy, there's no incentive for students in the humanities to take a genuine physics, biology, chemistry or engineering course. It seems as if professors want to lower science standards in these classes just so more non-science majors enroll. Of course, getting more students into a department means getting more funding. Perhaps it could even be the University pushing for this so that it can keep reporting such positive statistics, useful for showing prospective students how diverse a Princeton education is.

The University goes through a great deal of effort to make sure every student knows how to write a well-composed essay. Every freshman is required to take a writing seminar, and there is a broad spectrum of topics to choose from so that the classes are interesting to the students. Even engineers have to go through it, and some of them may never have to write a term paper ever in their four years at Princeton. Granted, writing effectively is an important tool that every Princeton student should have, but every student should be seriously engaged in science for at least one semester for the same reason. Having classes like Music and Physics may widen the spectrum of possible physics classes to take (how about PHY123: Slavic Languages and Physics?), but most of the mixing of non-science topics with physics has been like mixing water and oil.

For students, the ST may seem like a silly extra distribution requirement, but down the road it could have a significant impact. As a top university, Princeton fields strong science departments and a strong engineering school. Not all students get a taste of these underused resources, but I think it's important that all Princeton students take a strong science course so they can carry it to whatever they do. This especially applies to future leaders in business and politics. When we look at issues such as global warming, stem cells, disease and right-to-die situations like Terri Schiavo, many politicians tend to misunderstand the science behind them. Without a solid understanding, we become less capable of differentiating between the genuine article and the counterfeit, and our leaders end up botching up potentially good policy.

The administration should consider changing course requirements to produce more well-rounded graduates with stronger backgrounds in science. The professors of classes that mix science with other topics restore increase the emphasis on science to bolster what is represented by that ST requirement. Science and technology are becoming increasingly important in today's world, and we Princetonians should be prepared to handle it well. Ben Chen is a Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering major from Los Altos, Calif. He may be reached at bc@princeton.edu.