A shakeup in the general education curriculum may be coming Gustavus’ way in the near future. As many other schools appear to be dropping their fitness and athletic requirements in their curriculums, Gustavus is now considering its options as well.
While the FIT/ACT requirement has been an important part of Gustavus’ curriculum for many years, the education board is now considering dropping the requirement as part of the general curriculum here at Gustavus. While no decisions have been made yet, new developments are expected in the near future, potentially by next fall.
Since FIT/ACT has been such an important part to a Gustie education and has been enjoyable for students and professors alike, there are many varying opinions on the matter. While no decisions have been made, it is important to understand both sides of the argument.
Beginning last year, the faculty began talking about restructuring the general education curriculum in order to better benefit the student body and new ideas were presented for redesigning the GenEd requirements. Many of these designs did not include FIT/ACT, mostly due to the fact that it was difficult to find a way to fit the requirement into the new curriculum.
“It’s so important for everyone to know that it’s being discussed. I would strongly encourage students to speak up about this. Their voices definitely matter.” — Professor Otto
Shortly after, the FIT/ACT department began to redesign the ways that classes are presented and taught to students.
One of the new models that the faculty came up with was a new well-being class which was structured around a lecture-lab model. In this class, students would talk about fitness concepts and develop new skills along with analysing their own health behavior. The lab portion of the class would resemble something similar to the classes currently being offered in which the students would be able to engage in the physical activities studied in class.
The idea was well received by the curriculum committee and the class is now being offered this spring under the class title “Intro to Well-Being” where students can fulfill both their FIT/ACT requirements.
This model is now being considered as a more efficient and beneficial way to keep FIT/ACT in the general education curriculum and could potentially become an even more popular class structure for fitness classes.
Stephanie Otto, professor in Health and Excersize science, who was recently elected to the curriculum committee this past fall, gave her outlook on the situation.
“It really has been quite a long process and nothing is officially removed yet,” Otto said. “In the event that the department decides to drop the FIT/ACT requirement, there is a possibility that many, or maybe all, of these classes will disappear.”
If this were to happen, it may lead to fitness classes becoming solely elective classes and the faculty would then have to shift their focus to the majors that the department offers.
While classes focused on physical activity may not be necessarily appealing to some, it’s the underlying benefits that many people seem to overlook. Despite where you might stand on the importance of classes related to fitness and activity, it is important to understand the significant impact that exercise and well-being has on our lives.
“Our current FIT/ACT classes do contain a component in which we teach students why this is important for mental health and why this is important for sleep quality and academic performance,” Otto said.
If the decision is made sometime in the future to drop the FIT/ACT requirement, certain options will be considered to ensure that students will still strive to stay healthy and active.
FTS classes and fitness majors will still contain aspects directed towards physical wellness while intramurals will still be a large part of campus activity.
While a final decision is currently up in the air, a faculty vote will happen this coming April with the subject of the vote still not completely decided.
“It’s so important for everybody to know that it’s being discussed,” said Otto.
If students have any questions regarding the issue or would really like to have their voices heard on the matter, both Dr. Otto and Curriculum Committee student representative Shailagh Lannon can both serve as resources.
“I would strongly encourage students to speak up about this. Their voices definitely matter,” Otto said.