International students share thoughts on CUE
By Alisha Wassenaar
Staff Reporter

International students shared their thoughts on the Common Undergraduate Experience Thursday evening with Nowell Donovan, chairman of the University Assessment Committee on the CUE.

The International Student Association asked Donovan to speak about the CUE and listen to their feedback, said Raquel Torres, a senior e-business major from Colombia and president of the International Student Association.

Torres and other ISA members said students should have a broader understanding of world events as part of the curriculum.

“If we are going to have global awareness classes, they need to be hands on,” Torres said.

“Global awareness needs to be more than lectures,” she said. “If you are taking a Spanish class, maybe you should go to an area of Fort Worth where the majority population is Hispanic and learn from there.”

Annuja Nair Gangadaran, a senior psychology major from Malaysia, said the British educational system in her country is more structured than the American educational system.

“The British system has one big test at the end (of the university experience),” she said. “There is no extra credit. You either make it or break it.

“The U.S. allows freedom to explore what you want to study, but the British system teaches discipline.”

The secondary education that students receive in other countries is more extensive than the high school education students receive in the United States, Torres said.

“High school curriculum seems to be more well-rounded in other countries,” Torres said. “Our classes included science, philosophy, language, logic and history of the world.”

Torres said few people have access to a good education in Latin America. Those who do have access savor the opportunity, she said.

“I would like to see TCU be more flexible with their prerequisites,” Torres said.

Gangadaran would like to see each school develop a regimented course of action in which students could graduate in four years.

Donovan, who is also a geology professor, said the goal of the curriculum is an outcome approach.

“What do you want the non-science major to know when he graduates?” Donovan asked.

The goal is to make sure the student understands the role of scientists and their thought process, Donovan said.

“Picture a castle with thousands of rooms. We want to show you all the doors so you can open them later on,” Donovan said.

Alisha Wassenaar
a.a.wassenaar@student.tcu.edu

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