Yale Committee Proposes Radical Course Revisions

Yale may soon abolish or radically change its present system of freshman and sophomore courses.

Now pending before the Eli faculty is a 60-page report entitled "Report of the President's Committee on General Education," drawn up by an eight-man committee headed by Yale President Whitney Griswold.

The result of a year's work, this report contains alternative plans, either of which would alter the curriculum for freshman and sophomore years.

"Plan B," the more revolutionary of the two, suggests replacing formal freshman and sophomore courses with three courses covering the two years. In effect, this plan would end the difference between freshman and sophomore years as separate educational units.

Special Faculty Group

The second plan calls for a modification of the present curriculum and suggests a five course program for both freshman and sophomore years.

Besides these changes, the report recommends the creation of a Faculty in General Education. It also proposes offering qualified students a chance to complete their high schol and college education in seven instead of eight years.

In "Plan A," two of the three courses would be general, survey-type courses. The third would be left open for ROTC training, or a specific course in one field.

Incoming freshmen would select their survey courses only after taking a battery of tests and examinations to determine aptitude and general ability.

Each survey course will consist of two lectures and a 75-minute discussion period per week. It will be so designed that each student will write a host of papers and conduct his own research.

The plan aims at escaping the vagueness of many general education courses and permitting "more concentration in an area of knowledge than is general at present."