I suspect even many math majors probably believe "general ed" required classes to be a waste of time. Point well taken, though: there are some subjects that do not lend themselves to editorializing or opinion. I majored in history & comparative religion as an undergrad and most of my lower level courses I'd consider to be "fact retention" efforts. Lots of reading, but not a lot of analysis or synthesis. I took mostly graduate level courses because of this for most of my last two years (and this was at a top 5 public university).

> I suspect even many math majors probably believe "general ed" required classes to be a waste of time.

In the German university system, there are in general no required "general ed" classes. :-)

(it is typically only required that you do some often prescribed classes in a minor subject that you can commonly choose from a typically pre-defined list by the faculty (but if you hate all of the suggestions from this pre-defined list, it is sometimes possible to choose other minor subject or classes, but this will typically involve more bureacracy). For example, when stuying mathematics, it is common to choose physics, computer science, economics or some engineering science as minor).

Any further general education classes (in particular foreign language courses) are completely optional - and it is not an uncommon complaint of students who have very broad interests that during a typical degree course, you have barely any time to attend classes outside of the prescribed syllabus.