> higher education has traditionally been about - exposure to a lot of concepts
I completely agree. However, we have not had that (lots of concepts) for decades. Universities are largely ideologically monocultural now. This isn't education, it's indoctrination.
And, when you include the fact that students are paying tens of thousands of dollars for all of their non-major courses, this quickly turns into a tragedy. Most people take decades to pay off their student loans.
General education needs to happen in K-12. There are plenty of cultures around the world where high school students graduate with impressive (compared to average US) cultural background and exposure.
Sometimes flipping things around can be useful. Nobody in their right mind would suggest an English or History major should be forced to take a solid year worth of CS coursework as a condition for obtaining the degree. Why is the reverse OK? It is not. We've just come to accept it.
Here's another thought experiment: Imagine I was allowed by the Department of Education to grant Bachelor degrees in CS while focusing 100% on CS coursework. My four-year graduates would absolutely destroy anyone from a university who wasted their time with non-STEM courses. They would be brutally better candidates for every job. It would be a truly unfair advantage. That's how our current system is damaging our young professionals. They are forcing them to waste a year of their lives on stuff nobody cares about when hiring.