Written by Nicholas Vetrisek
Beginning in 2023, students at all California State Univerities (CSUs) will be required to take an ethnic studies or social justice course.
It has been said many times what the problems are with ethnic studies courses: they are racially divisive, teach nothing valuable, and are invariably administered by Marxists. These are all well known by now, but since CSUs are going to now force students to take a course in order to fulfill course requirements, there is another important point that is being completely missed.
Using San Diego State University as an example, the cost per credit hour is $394. Assuming that ethnic studies courses are the same as most other university courses, they are worth three credit hours, which means that students are now required to pay nearly $1,200. All this for courses that have no demonstrable value whatsoever and only exist to appeal to leftists in academia.
It’s no secret that students are generally not wealthy and struggle for money. This course requirement is yet another way to rob them of their money. For ethnic studies, there are no CLEP tests or $75 alternatives to taking the course; it’s nothing short of robbery disguised as social justice.
This is going to be required for all students. That includes those studying completely unrelated fields like astrophysics and organic chemistry. It’s perfectly fine for academics because since most don’t really contribute much to society, but for those who are actually going places in life, this is a $1,200 annoyance and three course credits that could have been used for a class that benefited them—or something they could have tested out of to save $1,000.
These classes are yet another way to take students’ money without delivering any value in return. This has long been the case already, but requiring these courses for all students with no alternative only makes it that much more obvious.
