Just MHO, but personally, I doubt it. I think you need to take the 400+ level courses to get into the depth of things, and from what you garner from a couple more miscellaneous courses probably isn't worth it. But, luckily its easier to become well-read than it is to become proficient at math, engineering, or physics. If you make a list of 40 books or so, say two dozen classics of literature, a handful of political treatise and several historical books, you can probably get what most 4 year liberal arts majors retain. That said, I'm only moderately well-read. It's still a work in process for me. On a related note, tonight I just finished a book of short stories by Hemingway called In Our Time. I've read A Farewell to Arms, For Whom the Bell Tolls, and The Old Man and the Sea, and this is my favorite Hemingway by quite a bit.Would expanding those credit requirements help?
Have you read Hemingway's Nick Adams Stories? I'm pretty sure some of them came to comprise In Our Time. They all take place in Northern Michigan and I'm sure you'd be familiar with the areas. They're a must read when up at a cabin in Northern Michigan. We keep a copy up there for new recruits.
There's a few of them in there. It actually made me sad that I hadn't discovered them before my dad passed. I would have loved to introduce them to him. Some of my fondest memories are trout fishing with him and my grandfather in the UP. Big Two-Hearted River starts in Seney. My father had a good friend there that we would usually visit on our way up or down.