By Noa Maltzman ’18, News Editor
Over spring break the Fall 2015 Skidmore master schedule came out. As students returned from spring break, they began to analyze the course offerings in hopes of finding the perfect classes, which will lead them to having what they call a perfect schedule. “For me, a perfect schedule is no classes before noon or after 3 p.m. and none on Monday or Friday. This way I can have a four day weekend every week,” Matt Franken ’17 said when asked what makes her perfect schedule.
While spending time looking at classes in your pre-declared major, many might have missed the newest addition to the master schedule: a new major that Skidmore will begin offering next semester. The new major is called “Choice Making.” The brief description for the major states, “In this discipline of study students will learn to make choices now and in the future. Students in this major will graduate with the better ability to make choices for them, their friends, family, and strangers.”
This major is ultimately the perfect one for students who don’t know what they want to major in because it will teach them how to make choices, a skill they are clearly lacking as they couldn’t choose an actual major. “I am thinking about declaring this as my major as I have the inability to make choices and therefore can’t decide what else to declare,” Jessica Lewis ’18 said.
Core courses for the new major include Choice Making 101, where students learn what choices are and the basic types of choices they can make; Choice Making For Yourself teaches learn about making choices for oneself; and lastly Choice Making For Others teaches how to make choices for others. “I will be teaching Choice Making For Others, and this course is important because what if you end up marrying someone that can’t make choices for themselves? Now you will know how to make choices for them,” said James Richardson professor of Choice Making For Others.
Once a student takes all the core courses for the major they will be able to take the specialty courses offered, which include:
Choice Making 204: Making Choices in Sad Situations
Choice Making 217: Making Life or Death Choices
Choice Making 234: Risky Choices
Choice Making 242: Making Choices on the Spot
Choice Making 312: Making Choices in Sports
Choice Making 321: Making Choices in Love
Choice Making 356: Making Choices that Have Never Been Made Before
The major will conclude with Choice Making 364: Senior Seminar—The Biggest Choice. In this class, students will spend the whole semester writing a thesis on the biggest choice they have ever had to make. “I am looking forward to learning a lot about my students from the choices they choose to write about for this final paper,” said Heather Branderson, the Choice Making department chair.