Observations Regarding the Cultural Diversity of Students in Different Academic Majors

The arts and humanities tend be anathemas to students in the engineering fields. These students often do not appreciate the social value of these topics and they tend to see their incorporation in engineering works as an intrusion into their world that they do not understand. Student in classes in the humanities are most often there only because their technical curricula require that they take a few courses in these areas and/or the class they are in is the only one that fits their schedule well. These students feel compelled to be there by outside forces beyond their own control and therefore rebel against the course even before the first session. This article looks at various cultural elements that inform and influence those feelings and discusses ways to begin to change those attitudes within the student bodies.