Why the Foundational Abilities Requirement Is Undermining Humanities at Hopkins

When I arrived on campus as part of the first class that had to log a certain number of Foundational Ability (FA) credits, I thought the new rule would be another harmless box to check. I was wrong. The requirement, intended to push students toward interdisciplinary learning, is actually throwing a wrench into the very fabric of our humanities courses.

It’s easy to hear the usual complaints: STEM majors grumbling about being forced into a literature class, the classic “why do I have to take poetry?” lament. Those arguments have been well‑documented in previous News‑Letter pieces. What’s missing, though, is the flip side—how the same policy is hurting those of us who study the humanities.

Take my freshman year. Two of my roommates, both pre‑med students, enrolled in Introduction to Fiction and Poetry (IFP) solely to satisfy the FA‑1 Writing and Communication mandate. I watched, half‑amused and half‑concerned, as they leaned heavily on ChatGPT to churn out verses. It wasn’t just a personal development issue; it altered the whole class dynamic. Discussions were peppered with generic, AI‑generated snippets rather than thoughtful, lived‑experience reflections. When I later chatted with fellow editors who are humanities majors, they confirmed that the class felt “uninformed” and “uninspired.”

And it’s not just the introductory seminars. Upper‑level history and cultural studies courses—those 200‑ and 300‑level classes where you expect deep, nuanced debate—are now filled with students who admit they’re there purely to check a box. Professors, perhaps trying to be inclusive, start each semester with the reassurance, “No prior background needed,” which feels like a polite way of saying, “We’re not expecting you to know anything.” It makes me wonder whether the quality of our education is being diluted, simply because the FA system funnels a steady stream of non‑humanities majors into our classrooms.

There’s a structural irony at play. Humanities majors can usually meet their FA requirements within their own discipline—my International Studies major already includes courses that count toward the FA credits, so I don’t have to wander into an unrelated department. STEM students, on the other hand, have to seek out humanities classes, often resorting to shortcuts like AI‑generated essays or poems to get the credit with minimal effort. The result? A double‑edged sword: STEM students treat the requirement as a chore, while humanities students face larger, less‑engaged classes that make meaningful discussion harder.

Why does this happen? One reason is the lack of prerequisites in many humanities courses. In the sciences, you can’t just walk into a quantum mechanics class without the basics; the curriculum is built to filter students. Humanities departments, however, rarely enforce such gatekeeping, which leaves the door wide open for anyone—regardless of preparation—to enroll. It’s a policy inconsistency that feels almost intentional: the system protects the rigor of STEM courses while allowing humanities classes to become a dumping ground for requirement‑chasing students.

So, what can be done? The university has three fairly straightforward options. First, broaden the list of cross‑listed STEM courses that count for humanities FAs—imagine a data‑analysis class that also satisfies the Culture and Aesthetics requirement. Second, introduce explicit prerequisites for upper‑level humanities courses, ensuring that students have at least a baseline familiarity before they enroll. Third, re‑evaluate the FA structure altogether, perhaps allowing more flexibility for students to meet their credits within their own discipline without sacrificing the interdisciplinary spirit.

In short, the Foundational Abilities requirement was meant to enrich, not erode, our educational experience. If we want truly interdisciplinary learning, we need a system that respects the integrity of both STEM and humanities classrooms, rather than turning one into a convenience store for the other.