1. What is a central tension Boyer discusses in his chapter? Support your response with a quote from Boyer and at least 4 sentences of explanation.

The central point of tension in this chapter is “Therefore, in judging the merits of a major, the issue is not the newness, or status, or even the utility of the program. Rather, the basic test of a proposed major is this:Does the field of study have a legitimate intellectual content of its own and does it have the capacity to enlarge, rather than narrow, the vision of the student?”. I believe that this is the main idea because it highlights the struggles when trying to decide between majors. I feel like when people compare the liberal arts and more specialized majors they forget to look at the big picture and they don’t look past the surface level of what the degree means.This goes along with growth mindset and fixed mindset. A lot of people have a fixed mindset when it comes to college. But the reality is that there is no right or wrong way to do it. It’s different for everyone.  

2. What is Boyer’s “Enriched Major” idea, and how does he imagine it as a response to a key tension? Support your response with a quote and at least 3 sentences of explanation.

Boyers Enriched Major idea means “encouraging students not only to explore a field in depth, but also to help them put their field of special study in perspective.” What I think this means is that the enriched major idea is basically a path of understanding that helps you better understand your major and what that means for your life and how it affects the world around us. This path of understanding helps students take a greater appreciation of what they can do with their major and take that to its greatest potential socially, economically and environmentally. 

3. Read the learning outcomes for your major, and start to get familiar with the actual curriculum. Add ONE MORE response on your blog post regarding Boyer: Draw at least 1 text-to-text relationship between Boyer and some element of the Catalog material on your major. 

One text to text connection that I made between the communications catalog and Boyers specialization chapter was in the catalog for my major under the mission section it states “Prepare students ethically and socially for responsible roles in their chosen profession and society.” I think this idea is also shown in Boyers specialization chapter when it says “we need people today who can understand both technology and its social implications, who understand their machines and also have awareness of their place in the human spectrum.”