I think it is sad. The reason for requiring Multi Cultural courses is to introduce students to cultures other than their own, since we live and work in multicultural communities. I love these classes and have taken several of them. So do other students, who find them a joy, as well as enlightening.
Removal of Physical Education class requirements was hotly debated in 2007 within the Curriculum committee (I witnessed this as representative for the Associated Students) with many PE teachers complaining that FC bigwigs didn’t care about them, and that initiative was voted down. I have known people who didn’t want to take PE classes: some who argued that because they served in the armed forces that they should not have to — but my late husband, Larry, a combat veteran, was in bad shape (from his various disabilities. including diabetes and old-age) when he returned to college at age 62 and would have benefitted from learning a new way to build muscle and health, as would the veterans who had injuries. I knew one man who was disabled from a car accident, and had never learned a new way to re-build the muscle he lost — he actually gave up on getting an AA rather than take a PE class, but that had to do with his own foolish vanity — he was embarrassed by the way he looked, so quit a 2-week Winter Intercession swimming class; if only he would not have quit, he would have learned a valuable tool in rebuilding muscle.

Of course, one way these instructors might keep enrollment up is for FC to actually pay attention to older people to encourage older people to take classes. Many senior citizens need exercise badly and would benefit from the various classes. Unfortunately, I feel that FC and NOCCCD really don’t value us older students. The Ambassador program has always turned me down when I applied, as it appears that they only want younger ambassadors to recruit High School students. A great many of the multicultural classes I have taken have older students, so there you go, the attitude of the bigwigs causes problems.

I think a really important class is Business Law, which teaches valuable information for anyone — people who are employers as well as employees; people who want to serve in either private or public sectors. Too many people don’t know the laws they need to obey. I think Business Law ought to be required.