You must have had a better Philosophy 101 class than I did. Mine should have been subtitled “Things Overly Intellectual People Used to Think before we Knew any Better” or better yet, “Fuzzy Math with Common Words”. I didn’t have a good professor but the textbook wasn’t inspiring either. I did not get a single thing out of Philosophy 101 except for annoyance at the discipline and that is the only class can say that about.
Absolutely agree 100% with the statistics mentioned by everyone above.
I took a “Statistics and Finite Math” class in high school that got deep into probabilities and permutations, etc. that has been incredibly helpful in many things in life over the years. I was just doing college admission interviews recently and recommended all of the high schoolers take a community college class in statistics over the summer as it is applicable in so many fields and would keep them ready for college in the fall. And that they would thank me in the future.
Creationism.
“Just kidding!” I scream, while running for cover…
Absolutely logic, if it also included a discussion of the basic scientific methodology and critical thinking skills. If not, then perhaps a second course in critical thinking skills.
I also agree with the statistics recommendation. Students are frightened of it, until I do my 10-minute spiel about what statistics (at least in the social sciences) does, and show them how it’s all theory, with some funny symbols. I had a student in my Developmental Psychology class whose also taking statistics come to me recently and say “It’s not math! It’s…the theory of what numbers mean in certain situations!” He was so excited.
I think regardless of any content in any discipline, these two (or three) basic courses help students across the board.
Tar and feathering 101: Practical applications, when it should and should not be done. 