Primer: Distros

Hello Political Unioners!

Hope everyone has had a wonderful past week! We cannot wait to see you all tonight at 7pm in Scott Hall! What are we debating you ask? Distribution requirements! More specifically: Resolved: Should Northwestern have distribution requirements?

Now I know not all the schools have distros (per say), however a large population of the undergraduate students do have some form of distros and it seems everyone, regardless of the college you’re in, have an opinion on them. In fact, Weinberg is set to change its distribution requirements for the incoming class of 2024! While the article linked is not the focus of our debate, it is definitely a good read.

• I think this is a good opinion piece arguing against distros. Written by Paul Hanstedt and published through Inside Higher Ed, it provides a compelling argument for how colleges need to adapt their structure to students today as many feel like higher ed is a scam or repeat of high school. (9 minutes)

• This Walden University article quickly outlines some advantages to having distros. I think its a great way to get a quick look into this side of the argument. (3 minutes)

• This Forbes opinion piece, by George Leef, argues colleges are failing students by not providing them with distribution requirements, and moreover, providing them with dubious courses that don’t actually fulfill the requirement as an easy scapegoat. (3 minutes)

• Finally, a student essay from the Harvard Crimson. I believe it reflects many student attitudes I see here at Northwestern in regards to distribution requirements. While it argues against them, it also leaves open the opportunity of reform and still recognizes their importance. (3 minutes)

"Totally illiterate cat discovering the advantage of literature" by Jan Tonnesen is marked with Public Domain Mark 1.0.