What do Americans think of when they hear the words “general education”?

By definition, general education covers introductory college courses in arts and humanities, social sciences, and science and mathematics. It has different names, including core curriculum or distribution requirements, depending on the college or university.

It is also sometimes called liberal education, including by the American Association of Colleges and Universities, which describes it as providing “a sense of social responsibility, as well as strong and transferable intellectual and practical skills.”

The liberal label can be fodder for conservative groups who argue that today’s general education is part of an indoctrination into higher education’s purported left-leaning belief systems. Some other conservatives support general education as a concept but want more emphasis on so-called traditional values and less on cross-cultural understanding. These initiatives position general education and college as a space for ideological battles.

As a scholar of historical connections between literacy and social class, I know that general education was designed to provide opportunity for all students without regard for their political preferences.

The value of a college education can be shaped by political affiliation. bernarddobo/iStock via Getty Images

An Education for All

Eighty years ago, a group of Harvard University faculty created what many colleges and universities still follow as a template for general education. This plan was outlined in the book “General Education in a Free Society.”

Harvard’s plan was meant for all students, including veterans studying under the GI Bill, and others we today refer to as first generation, where neither parent had a college degree.

General education made college more accessible to students who were not becoming doctors or lawyers but who also wanted careers outside the vocational trades. It helped make college a place for educating all citizens, not just students of socioeconomic privilege.

Expanding access to higher education was central to the 1947 special report Higher Education for American Democracy, commissioned by President Harry Truman. The goal was to provide a foundational education for all, especially in math and science. But the report, commonly known as the Truman Commission Report, also included disciplines that help students understand the world – such as writing and communication, literature, psychology and history.

The purposes of general education are central to two competing views of college today, views that I also hear expressed by students and parents I’ve met in my 28 years as a professor.

One view of college is of an on-campus experience steeped in the liberal arts that holistically prepares students to live in a functioning democracy. These benefits are seen as worth the time and costs.

The other view is of college as a sum of career-focused credentials that can begin and end anywhere, not specific to one college campus. These benefits are completely financial, to be gained via the cheapest, quickest means.

Both of these views are informed by national perspectives that further divide citizens on higher education as a whole, such as Vice President JD Vance’s 2021 statement that “there was a wisdom in what Richard Nixon said approximately 40, 50 years ago. He said, and I quote, ‘The professors are the enemy.’”

Both these groups of Americans, however, hope that obtaining a college degree will pay off for graduates who find employment and reach a standard of living better than their parents’ generation.

For the first group, general education is critical to developing the whole student for jobs and life. For the latter, it is an expensive obstacle to it.

Not surprisingly, these views on education and college often correspond to political party identification and whether a person attended college themselves.

A July 2023 Lumina Foundation and Gallup Poll showed that only 36% of Americans have a “great deal” of confidence in higher education, with significant partisan differences between the 20% of Republicans who have this confidence, the 56% of Democrats and the 35% of independents who have it. There are also measurable differences between those who have earned a postgraduate degree and those who have not.

To cut costs, more students are searching for ways to complete general education requirements before they begin college. PeopleImages/E+ via Getty Images

Questioning Value

As college costs continue to rise in 2025, families are struggling – even taking on payment plans for everyday purchases, also known as phantom debt – to make ends meet.

General education represents about a third of the requirements of a bachelor’s degree and most of an associate degree.

For those who see college as a waste of money, general education courses are a calculable loss on future income. In the past two decades, this – and the increasingly competitive admissions process for college – has contributed to a tenfold increase in low-income students who take Advanced Placement courses and a 50% increase since 2021 in the number of students in dual-credit coursework. Both programs allow students to complete general education-equivalent courses for free while still in high school.

Complete College America, a nonprofit advocacy group that works with states to increase college completion rates, supports these moves by students and parents, classifying general education under “gateway courses” to be completed “as soon as possible.”

Other groups promote stackable units of credit toward college degrees. This push to complete general education requirements before entering college is gaining momentum, despite studies that show Advanced Placement classes, and exams, favor and benefit mostly white, middle- to upper-class students because these students tend to have more time and resources to devote to AP coursework and also take multiple exams in order to earn college credit.

For college students, general education can offer benefits beyond career attainment. ferrantraite/E+ via Getty Images

Understanding the World

While arguments for streamlining college and its costs are evergreen, foundational lessons taught across fields of study are as relevant in 2025 as they were in 1945. The U.S. faces threats to its democracy, is navigating rapid advances in technology, and is adapting to population shifts that will change how its residents live and work.

General education gives students broad foundational knowledge that can be used in a variety of careers. By design, it teaches an understanding of the world outside one’s own and how to live in it – a core requirement for a functioning democracy.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Midway through her doctoral studies in the School of Literature, Media, and Communication, Zhao’s commitments expanded in two demanding directions: she became a mother and a business co-owner with her husband. Suddenly, time for research became a particularly precious commodity.

“After becoming a mother, my available working time each day became extremely limited — sometimes only two hours,” Zhao said. “I had to become very efficient and focused with the time I had.”

It was within those tight constraints — balancing the rigors of entrepreneurship and parenthood — that Zhao developed BioVR, which looks to reimagine how humans interact with technology. The technology is at the heart of Zhao’s other startup.

Innovating from the Inside Out

Zhao’s research moves beyond the standard handheld controllers and head-tracking used in many virtual reality and augmented reality experiences. BioVR, on the other hand, is all about how internal physiological signals such as heart rate, blood pressure, and breathing rhythm can control a virtual environment in real time.

"I wanted to investigate what happens when the interaction comes from inside the body," Zhao said. "BioVR demonstrates how internal states can become meaningful, expressive input for interactive systems."

The applications of her work are myriad, from horror games that adapt to a player’s fear levels to rehabilitation systems that automatically adjust difficulty based on a patient's physiological response.

Zhao credits the pressure of her personal life with sharpening her academic focus. Running a business while pursuing a degree prevented her from staying in an "academic bubble."

"Running a business opened my eyes to another path — how research can connect to real societal needs," she said. "Becoming a mother also reshaped my values. It reminded me that health and family relationships should never be taken for granted."

Next Steps

Zhao is now headed to Yale University, where she will work as a postdoctoral associate and continue her research.

Before she goes, however, she has advice to other Georgia Tech students facing similar juggling acts: success is built on sustainability.

"I learned that physical and mental health are the foundation of everything," she said. "No matter how many tasks you have, try not to panic or rush. Organize priorities step by step, and most importantly, protect your sleep."

Watch the full talk on YouTube.

His dedication to students even extended to learning Italian so that he could better teach a class called “The Age of Galileo.”

“For ten ‘generations’ of Tech students, Bob brought news of Dante and DaVinci and Galileo and Shakespeare and exposed them to the masterworks of classical Hollywood,” said LMC Associate Professor Blake Leland, who worked with Wood for nearly four decades.

Wood, a poet and scholar who retired as an associate professor in the School of Literature, Media, and Communication (LMC) in May 2025 after 50 years of service with Georgia Tech, passed away recently.

“He will be missed,” Leland said. “I will miss him.”

Wood, who had a Ph.D. in English and a master’s degree in mathematics, arrived at Georgia Tech in 1974 after two years as a math instructor at Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute.

A poet and specialist in Renaissance drama, the science and culture of the renaissance, and film and television, he was the author of books including Some Necessary Questions of the Play: A Stage-Centered Analysis of Shakespeare's 'Hamlet’; the 2014 Georgia Author of the Year award-winning book of poetry, The Awkward Poses of Others; Alms for Oblivion, and a chapbook — a short book of poetry — called Gorizia Notebook.

His poems were published in outlets including Blue Fifth Review, Jelly Bucket, Jabberwock Review, Sojourn, and Prairie Schooner.

At Georgia Tech, he taught classes ranging from English Composition to Shakespeare to Intro to Film to Theater Production. He also helped establish LMC’s Film Studies program, recalled his retired colleague, Professor Emeritus Jay Telotte.

The two spent many hours together, lugging heavy projection equipment to other buildings with enough space for film screenings, Telotte said.

“And when, as often happened, we encountered technical problems — a sound system not working, a screen that wouldn’t go down, a projector bulb suddenly blown, or even an auditorium or projection booth that was locked when it wasn’t supposed to be — Bob would typically entertain the student audience with his wealth of jokes while I went looking for help,” Telotte said. “My sense, and probably that of many students as well, is that his other calling was neither drama nor poetry, but stand-up comedy, at which he was very good.”

For years, Wood and other LMC faculty members met regularly as a writing group they called the “Not Dead Yet Poets Society.” Some members collaborated on a book of poetry, On Occasion: Four Poets, One Year.

“He was a generous and thoughtful reader of poetry and often found just the right word needed to turn a poem on its head,” said JC Reilly, director of creative writing curricula in LMC. “He was kind and funny in a quiet, snarky way, and he made me — all of us — a better writer. “

Travis Denton, associate director of Poetry@Tech, called Wood “a staple in the Atlanta poetry community.”

“There’s no doubt Bob made a huge impact on his many students over the years, sharing his love of poetry, and he served as a force and advocate for the craft in the School,” Denton said.

Wood was one of the first faculty members Professor Carol Senf met when she joined the faculty in what was then Georgia Tech’s English Department.

“Bob never failed to charm and delight though his wit was sometimes so subtle that it snuck up on me,” Senf said. “Appropriately for a Shakespearean, he was a true Renaissance man. A teacher who genuinely loved his students, he was also a very fine poet, and a connoisseur of art, music, and film.”

Senf said Wood adored his family, evident in a series of poems inspired by his granddaughter:

No footprint mars
her lunar wondering,
the first philosophy.

“There are terrible beauties as Yeats has shown us, but the beauty of a child’s first exploration of the world renews us all,” Wood wrote in a “Writer’s Statement on Beauty” published with the poems. “My Thora poems began when I heard a speaker quote Aristotle as saying, ‘Philosophy begins in wonder.’”

Reilly said she’s grateful Wood left behind such a trove of poetry and other writing.

“I am heartbroken that he’s gone, and I’m really going to miss him,” she said. “He left us way too soon, but he lives on in his poems, and I keep them close.”

Georgia Tech’s writing program has a fresh look this Fall. 

Nethra Rammohan LMC 2021 will serve as an English Teaching Assistant at a preparatory high school in Zurich, Switzerland. With a background in conversational design and a passion for cross-cultural exchange, she looks forward to immersing herself in Swiss culture while refining her public speaking and language learning skills.

Read the full article from the Office of International Education. 

Proponents of emotion AI — a type of artificial intelligence that analyzes facial expressions, text, voice, and other cues to infer emotions — say it can do just that.

Georgia Tech researcher Noura Howell, who received an NSF CAREER award to study emotion AI in 2024, said the technology has a number of shortfalls that can lead to inaccurate results. Like generative AI, emotion AI is also subject to bias, and its use raises ethical and privacy concerns.

Despite these shortcomings, Howell said emotion AI has quietly shaped decisions in areas like hiring, education, mental health, and public safety in recent years. 

Yet most people don’t know it exists.

Howell and Digital Media Ph.D. students Xingyu Li and Alexandra “Allie” Teixeira Riggs in the School of Literature, Media, and Communication are working to change that. They held workshops across Atlanta over the last two months, giving participants a rare opportunity to try emotion AI for themselves — and then share their impressions, ideas, and concerns.

Read the full article.

The new offerings include the Minor in Collaborative Social Innovation, the Minor in Science Communication and Policy, and the Minor in Creative Writing.

Minor in Collaborative Social Innovation

This program, offered by the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School of Public Policy, is designed to help prepare students to be “agents of change.” The project-based curriculum combines policy, design thinking, and team dynamics, and it complements any major.

“The Collaborative Social Innovation minor helps students move from idea to impact — preparing them to lead teams, create change, and design solutions that matter. It’s about turning your education into action,” said Ilya Gokhman, an academic professional in the School of Public Policy.

Students must take two or more courses with a micro focus, such as PUBP 1142 – Teams and Collaboration or PUBP 4140 – Foundations of Leadership. They also must select at least two courses with a macro focus, just as COE 1201 – Design Thinking and Innovation for Grand Challenges, PUBP 4200 U.S. Health Policy, or PUBP 4416 – Critical Issues in Science and Technology.

Minor in Science Communication and Policy

The Carter School is also partnering with the School of Literature, Media, and Communication (LMC) to offer the Science Communication and Policy minor. This program offers an in-depth look at how science is communicated to the public, how policy shapes research, and how science communication affects society. It’s open to students in all majors.

The interdisciplinary program is designed for humanities students interested in careers in health and science, media, technical communication, or public relations, as well as STEM majors seeking to develop their human-centered communication skills.

Students must take LMC 3310 – The Rhetoric of Scientific Inquiry and PUBP 4410 – Science, Technology, and Public Policy and also choose three electives from a list of courses that includes LMC 3412 – Communicating Science and Technology to the Public, LMC 3318 – Biomedicine and Culture, and LMC 4406 – Contemporary Issues in Professional Communication.

A unique feature of this minor is the optional study-abroad experience in Dublin, Ireland, on storytelling and AI in journalism, offered in partnership with CNN.

“This is an exciting opportunity for Georgia Tech students to learn how policy shapes and is shaped by how we talk about science and to learn how scientific advances are communicated by professionals to different public audiences,” said 
LMC Chair Kelly Ritter.

Minor in Creative Writing

Finally, LMC is offering another new minor, in Creative Writing, for students who are particularly interested in improving their communication skills for careers and life.

The minor is open to all Georgia Tech students except for those already majoring in LMC. The primary focus of the program is on poetry, but it also includes other genres.

Students must take LMC 3234 – Creative Writing; two writing electives, which include courses on poetry and stage and screen writing; and one literature elective, with options ranging from LMC 2060 – Introduction to Literary Studies to LMC 3214 – Science Fiction.

“This minor gives students the opportunity to showcase their skills in the literary arts and fosters a community of writers who will support and inspire them,” said JC Reilly, director of Creative Writing Curricula. “It’s a perfect outlet for students to embrace all aspects of their expressive selves.”

Other Notable Minors

IAC students also will have the opportunity to take the new Minor in Business of Sports and Entertainment offered by The Scheller College of Business and including classes taught by IAC faculty.

The minor is meant for those interested in careers in sports management, live events, media, or entertainment law, among others.

IAC courses available for credit as part of the program include HTS 2015 – History of Sports in America, HTS 3073 – Sociology of Sports, and HTS 3089 – Science, Technology, and Sports.

Also, the Carter School and the School of Economics also offer the fairly new Minor in Economics and Policy of Environmental Sustainability.

The minor is available to any student who wants to better understand how economics and policy shape our environment, climate, and energy resources.

Courses include the required PUBP 3600 - Sustainability, Technology, and Policy and ECON 4440 - Economics of Natural Resources and the Environment, as well as electives such as ECON 3300 – Economics of International Energy Markets, PUBP 3350 – Energy Policy, and INTA 3042 – Energy and International Security.

The new minors join 35 others offered by the Ivan Allen College, including the Minor in Applications of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning launched last year in partnership with the College of Engineering. Other minors include Economics; Energy Systems; Film and Media Studies; History; International Business, Language, and Culture; and International Affairs.

Murdie, the new dean of the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts and an expert in international relations, also has extensively studied game theory and finds it incredibly relevant to her work in human rights and human security. Typically defined as the study of mathematical models of strategic interactions, game theory relies on understanding distinctively non-mathematical factors like psychology and cultural norms.

“To make a good game theory model, you have to understand the motivations of individuals, and you can't understand those motivations from only the sciences. You really need the humanistic side,” Murdie says. “If you're going to do anything as a game theorist, you must understand how humans function, and that's more than just the natural sciences or the social sciences. It’s inherently interdisciplinary.”

The liberal arts provide that understanding not just in game theory but in any discipline, says Murdie. “Liberal arts are the lifeline through which all other knowledge flows,” she says.

Interdisciplinary Lens

Murdie’s background in human rights gave her an early appreciation of how many research areas outside of international relations play a key role in improving lives worldwide.

“Coming from a human rights tradition, you always start with an interdisciplinary lens,” she says.

Murdie’s training and research have included a wide range of students, professors, and collaborators — from economics, law, history, sociology, business, statistics, and more. She says human rights and international affairs are not at all unique in demanding an interdisciplinary approach. Solving any complex problem requires knowledge of many direct and indirect factors.

To connect the dots, you need collaborators from a range of disciplines. And to trust and work with collaborators from each discipline, you need at least a basic, working level of knowledge about it, says Murdie.

“How do you respect someone else's method of inquiry and someone else's method of creation? That's something universities don't train students well for unless there’s a truly interdisciplinary focus,” she says.

Ivan Allen Advantage

Whether someone is launching a business, creating a new technology, or negotiating a treaty, connecting the dots is crucial to innovation, as well as staying more than a few steps ahead of AI and automation. The Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts is perfectly positioned to make more of those connections as a liberal arts hub embedded within an institute making the latest breakthroughs in engineering, computing, and sciences, says Murdie, who joined Georgia Tech from the University of Georgia. She calls it the “Ivan Allen Advantage.”

“I think the Ivan Allen Advantage goes in two directions. I think in one direction, our advantage for all Tech students is that they need that liberal arts training in order to be better communicators and actually think about humanity and how technology can be used,” Murdie says. “And I think the Ivan Allen Advantage also is for those of us who are passionate about the liberal arts, who want to focus on the human condition. Doing so in an environment that is tech-informed leads to better student outcomes.”

The College is also well positioned (as a connector of dots) to channel faculty and student research expertise toward solving problems and improving lives, Murdie says. The Center for Advanced Communications Policy (CACP) and Center for Urban Research represent excellent examples of how the liberal arts can act as a hub and facilitator for tackling complex challenges, she adds.

Training for the Future

As AI and other technologies accelerate changes in nearly every aspect of our lives, the ability to be creative, lead complex teams, solve problems, and connect with others has never been more important. What better way to master those skills than to enhance your education with the study of literature, languages, history, and culture? Murdie asks.

“We're going to build the liberal arts into what it should be — the best place for people to get training for the future. But that training needs to be informed by technology, and it needs to be informed by the deep understanding of AI and machine learning,” Murdie says.

“If you’re an engineer who can't write or express ideas clearly, it's easier for your job to be taken by AI. It's our ability to be human that keeps us in the game.”