Culture can be considered almost anything one finds unfamiliar about another. In the "Towel Season," Edison is studying a mathematical problem, and is so focused on it that everything else seems foreign to him, and because of this he becomes more in touch with everything that was once foreign to him. The robot guy in "Fast Cheap and Out of Control" is also more in touch with his own self and culture due to the fact that he is studying something foreign. These two characters show that through the study of something foreign, one is able to better understand oneself and his culture.
Edison learned to appreciate everyday life because of his studying of a mathematical problem. When the story first begins, Edison is totally immersed in his project. He is so isolated that he has no clue what is going on in his own neighborhood. Edison finds the neighborhood social gatherings very foreign, and they make him uneasy. After a while, Edison began to realize that he was not living, and that work is not everything in life. So Edison began to become more sociable, he became involved in his family and his neighborhood. He then became so immersed in his social life that he almost totally forgot about his mathematical problem he was working on. Finally after Edison had been the center of attention long enough, he learned how to balance his work and his social life. After he attained this balance, Edison was finally able to solve his mathematical problem and be a good father and member of the community.
The robot guy mentioned on numerous occasions throughout the movie "Fast Cheap and Out of Control" that his work is closely linked to his understanding of himself and culture. He said that he noticed how insect like robots are, and he then said that through this he was able to realize that people as well are insect like. Another realization he had was that thought processes have to be in touch with reality, or else thought can't exist. The robot guy also is able to see how meaningless life is if it is over analyzed. For example he said the robots are just a big interaction of various components, and human being can be said to be the same thing, but there is more to a human than this definition. In the end, the robot guy has gained a greater understanding of people by studying the foreign realm of robots.
So these two characters have been able to better understand themselves and their culture by studying something foreign. What does this mean? Perhaps this is the basis behind taking Great Ideas: study something foreign to learn something about oneself and ones culture. It almost makes sense if it is thought about that way. For the most part what do engineers find the most foreign out of all high school subjects: literature. Engineers don't have a problem writing for the most part, but understanding and interpreting literature baffles many engineers. So if Clarkson wishes us to learn about ourselves and about our culture there is no better way than to make us take a literature class, Great Ideas.