Harvard's Academic Core Gets Once-Over

Harvard's General Education program (Gen. Ed.), charged with turning concentrators into liberally-educated men and women since 1946, went the way of segregated classes and ties in the Union in 1974.

Gen. Ed. was replaced in that year by the Core curriculum, whose eight course requirements undergraduates still face, and whose future spent most of last semester in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences' (FAS) intellectual spotlight.

By the end of the examination of the Core, the Faculty unanimously endorsed the original philosophy, adding only a Quantitative Reasoning course requirement and mandating an increase in course offerings.

Hence, the "approaches to knowledge" that became the Gen. Ed.'s heir as the lynchpin of a Harvard education in a post-vocational age continues. The aim remains teaching students not a skill so much as ways of "civilized" living and thinking.

While any system of general requirements has its critics, many in the Faculty, the undergraduate body and the network of alumni say the Core comes much closer to the goal of producing a company of educated men and women than any of its predecessors.

Core History 101

Replacing a system of distribution requirements, the General Education program was approved by the Faculty in late October, 1945, just three months after the Japanese surrender and the victory of the Western powers in World War II. Victory in the war was widely credited not to a surplus of men, machinery or economic muscle, but rather to the superiority of Western culture.

"There was a view that the values that had prevailed in World War II were the values of the West, and there was an obligation to makes sure all undergraduates were informed about these values," says Secretary of FAS John B. Fox '59, an undergraduate in Gen. Ed.'s early years.

The lower-level requirements mapped out for first-years and sophomores in Gen. Ed.'s first year to offer courses, '46-'47, reflect Fox's impression. These include Humanities 1a: "Homer, The Old Testament, Plato," and Social Sciences 1a and 1b: "Introduction to the Social Inheritance of Western Civilization."

Upper-level Gen Ed courses could be more specific within the three areas of Humanities, Social Sciences and Natural Sciences--in some ways mirroring current, more specific Core courses. However, by the early '70s, Faculty felt the quality of courses offered in the program was in decline.

"The courses weren't general enough. They confused 'general' with 'odd.' It looked as if they were things that the professor would be ashamed to give in his own department," says Harvey C. Mansfield '53, Kenan professor of government.

Gen Ed was faltering, both in the classroom and on the ideological battlefield, as the Western capitalism and civilizations which seemed invincible in 1945 were exposed as vulnerable in the jungles of Vietnam.

"Vietnam was largely conducted on the same precepts that informed Gen Ed, that West is best," Fox says. "In the wake of that period, people weren't so sure that Western culture, WASP culture was particularly useful, valid or respectable."

The newly-introduced Core divided a liberal education into ten areas, with a strong tinge of cultural relativism. Areas like Social Analysis, Literature and Arts, Moral Reasoning, Historical Studies and Foreign Cultures grounded a liberal education in a global culture.

"The Core identified a broad range of slices of the fundamental areas a liberal education ought to include," says Everett I. Mendelsohn, professor of the history of science. "It was not a broad cluster of subjects, but dealt with knowledge within well-defined and interesting areas."

New Ideas: Great Books and QRR

The newest piece of Core philosophy is Quantitative Reasoning, endorsed by the Faculty unanimously at their May 20 meeting with the intent of requiring greater math skills from the children of the computer age.

"The value of mastering mathematics and logical patterns of thought has been recognized since Plato," reported the Core Review Committee led by Pforzheimer University Professor Sidney Verba '53 in April. However, student reaction has been mostly to give thanks that it will first apply to the class of 2003.

"Uggh. That might be a good idea, but it wouldn't have been something I would have enjoyed," says Susannah J. Voigt '97, an English concentrator.

Alumni note that their children have grown up with computers, and speculate that technological advancements may soon make quantitative reasoning skills partially irrelevant.

"The future of computer interface is that a poet who doesn't know a bit from a hole in the ground will still be able to use computers because he'll be able to talk to them," says Leonard S. Edgerly '72, a poet from Casper, Wyo.

Learning in the Core

Gen Ed courses, especially the lower-level surveys, were taught in the "great man" format, featuring one or several widely-known lecturers facing a full theater of students, all of whom were required to attend weekly sections.

Any current student who has taken Social Analysis 10 (972 students registered), Moral Reasoning 22 (732), Historical Studies B-61 (561) or Science B-29 (488) during the '96-'97 school year will testify that in some ways the system hasn't changed.

Marquand Professor of English Lawrence Buell rose at the last Faculty Meeting to "play Don Quixote," proposing a seemingly impossible plan to have Core courses taught in small, more writing-intensive classes.

Buell expressed fear that the large classes currently prevalent in the Core might result in "sizable numbers of them from being socialized irretrievably into a culture of avoidance and (at worst) passive consumerism."

However, the students Buell proposes to save have mixed feelings about his plan, although they agree with alumni in saying that smaller classes ensure better attendance.

"If [small classes] can be done that's great, but my favorite class was one which had 449 other people in it," says Elizabeth J. Moriarty-Ambrozaitis '00, referring to Literature and Arts A-40: "Shakespeare: The Early Plays." "They should focus on the quality of the teaching instead of the size of the classes."

Alumni who were taught in large lecture formats by "great men" like Warburg Professor of Economics Emeritus John Kenneth Galbraith and Agassiz Professor of Zoology Stephen Jay Gould said their educational experience did not suffer.

"I did have plenty of small classes, but the large ones were really among the best. I don't feel really deprived in any way," Joyce M. Greening '72 says. "It was a pleasure and a privilege to get to sit and listen to some of those guys."

Buell's motion, which in the face of its enormous demands for new Faculty was unanimously voted down in Faculty Council, eventually failed after garnering 45 votes in the general Faculty meeting.

A Gut Feeling

"Guts"--courses reputed to have either generous grading or slim workloads (or in the ideal case, both)--have been a hallmark of general requirements at Harvard since the very earliest years of Gen Ed.

Gen Ed's most famous gut was an introductory geology course in the natural sciences requirement, known informally as "Rocks for Jocks," or, as one alumnus put it, "Stones for Scholar-Athletes."

"I think the nickname came because it was a big course, and it attracted a wide audience because of the perception that there were field trips which were fun and good places to meet Radcliffe girls," Edgerly said.

Fox said that, in the formation of the Core, there was not "a desire to stamp out guts," and current students are just as quick as their predecessors to look for easier courses in the Core, leading to courses with nicknames like "Heroes for Zeroes" and "Jesus and the Easy Life."

"There are some difficult classes, and there are some which are known as guts, which you can take if you just want to get through and still learn a little something," says Lisa M. Coar '99.

Tien added that "People need those guts. If you turn those into seminar courses, that's a lot of pressure to put on people."

Scoring the Core

The most obvious thing wrong with the current system is a lack of selection in some Core areas. This spring, seniors needing to fulfill their Moral Reasoning requirement in their last semester had to take the only course offered in the area.

Knowles welcomed the Faculty's call for an increase in Core courses (the goal is six per field per term), saying "I am very happy to be so urged."

"We're planning for welcoming and more inclusive guidelines, and spending the summer strengthening the Core review committees," Knowles adds. "I hope that in a year's time I shall be able to report some progress."

William K. Martin '72 says that after reading about the current Core, he feels today's system serves the goals of a liberal education better than Gen Ed did during his time as a student.

"[The Core] sounded better, it sounded more demanding," Martin says. "It sounded as if it would create a more well-rounded intellectual life than what we had under Gen Ed."

Current students echoed Martin's praise of the Core.

"What I want out of a Core curriculum is to be able to explore new fields of knowledge, to appreciate different aspects of the world in a way that would not have been apparent from my previous experiences," says Clay O. Lacefield '97. "Harvard has done that."

Mendelsohn, who taught a Gen Ed course, and continues teaching in the Core today, offers his conclusions on the evolution of a liberal education at Harvard over the last half-century.

"Basically, the Core program does indeed put out a very good education," Mendelsohn says. "A student who goes through the process is better educated than one who went through a generation ago."CrimsonHector U. Velazquez

Upper-level Gen Ed courses could be more specific within the three areas of Humanities, Social Sciences and Natural Sciences--in some ways mirroring current, more specific Core courses. However, by the early '70s, Faculty felt the quality of courses offered in the program was in decline.

"The courses weren't general enough. They confused 'general' with 'odd.' It looked as if they were things that the professor would be ashamed to give in his own department," says Harvey C. Mansfield '53, Kenan professor of government.

Gen Ed was faltering, both in the classroom and on the ideological battlefield, as the Western capitalism and civilizations which seemed invincible in 1945 were exposed as vulnerable in the jungles of Vietnam.

"Vietnam was largely conducted on the same precepts that informed Gen Ed, that West is best," Fox says. "In the wake of that period, people weren't so sure that Western culture, WASP culture was particularly useful, valid or respectable."

The newly-introduced Core divided a liberal education into ten areas, with a strong tinge of cultural relativism. Areas like Social Analysis, Literature and Arts, Moral Reasoning, Historical Studies and Foreign Cultures grounded a liberal education in a global culture.

"The Core identified a broad range of slices of the fundamental areas a liberal education ought to include," says Everett I. Mendelsohn, professor of the history of science. "It was not a broad cluster of subjects, but dealt with knowledge within well-defined and interesting areas."

New Ideas: Great Books and QRR

The newest piece of Core philosophy is Quantitative Reasoning, endorsed by the Faculty unanimously at their May 20 meeting with the intent of requiring greater math skills from the children of the computer age.

"The value of mastering mathematics and logical patterns of thought has been recognized since Plato," reported the Core Review Committee led by Pforzheimer University Professor Sidney Verba '53 in April. However, student reaction has been mostly to give thanks that it will first apply to the class of 2003.

"Uggh. That might be a good idea, but it wouldn't have been something I would have enjoyed," says Susannah J. Voigt '97, an English concentrator.

Alumni note that their children have grown up with computers, and speculate that technological advancements may soon make quantitative reasoning skills partially irrelevant.

"The future of computer interface is that a poet who doesn't know a bit from a hole in the ground will still be able to use computers because he'll be able to talk to them," says Leonard S. Edgerly '72, a poet from Casper, Wyo.

Learning in the Core

Gen Ed courses, especially the lower-level surveys, were taught in the "great man" format, featuring one or several widely-known lecturers facing a full theater of students, all of whom were required to attend weekly sections.

Any current student who has taken Social Analysis 10 (972 students registered), Moral Reasoning 22 (732), Historical Studies B-61 (561) or Science B-29 (488) during the '96-'97 school year will testify that in some ways the system hasn't changed.

Marquand Professor of English Lawrence Buell rose at the last Faculty Meeting to "play Don Quixote," proposing a seemingly impossible plan to have Core courses taught in small, more writing-intensive classes.

Buell expressed fear that the large classes currently prevalent in the Core might result in "sizable numbers of them from being socialized irretrievably into a culture of avoidance and (at worst) passive consumerism."

However, the students Buell proposes to save have mixed feelings about his plan, although they agree with alumni in saying that smaller classes ensure better attendance.

"If [small classes] can be done that's great, but my favorite class was one which had 449 other people in it," says Elizabeth J. Moriarty-Ambrozaitis '00, referring to Literature and Arts A-40: "Shakespeare: The Early Plays." "They should focus on the quality of the teaching instead of the size of the classes."

Alumni who were taught in large lecture formats by "great men" like Warburg Professor of Economics Emeritus John Kenneth Galbraith and Agassiz Professor of Zoology Stephen Jay Gould said their educational experience did not suffer.

"I did have plenty of small classes, but the large ones were really among the best. I don't feel really deprived in any way," Joyce M. Greening '72 says. "It was a pleasure and a privilege to get to sit and listen to some of those guys."

Buell's motion, which in the face of its enormous demands for new Faculty was unanimously voted down in Faculty Council, eventually failed after garnering 45 votes in the general Faculty meeting.

A Gut Feeling

"Guts"--courses reputed to have either generous grading or slim workloads (or in the ideal case, both)--have been a hallmark of general requirements at Harvard since the very earliest years of Gen Ed.

Gen Ed's most famous gut was an introductory geology course in the natural sciences requirement, known informally as "Rocks for Jocks," or, as one alumnus put it, "Stones for Scholar-Athletes."

"I think the nickname came because it was a big course, and it attracted a wide audience because of the perception that there were field trips which were fun and good places to meet Radcliffe girls," Edgerly said.

Fox said that, in the formation of the Core, there was not "a desire to stamp out guts," and current students are just as quick as their predecessors to look for easier courses in the Core, leading to courses with nicknames like "Heroes for Zeroes" and "Jesus and the Easy Life."

"There are some difficult classes, and there are some which are known as guts, which you can take if you just want to get through and still learn a little something," says Lisa M. Coar '99.

Tien added that "People need those guts. If you turn those into seminar courses, that's a lot of pressure to put on people."

Scoring the Core

The most obvious thing wrong with the current system is a lack of selection in some Core areas. This spring, seniors needing to fulfill their Moral Reasoning requirement in their last semester had to take the only course offered in the area.

Knowles welcomed the Faculty's call for an increase in Core courses (the goal is six per field per term), saying "I am very happy to be so urged."

"We're planning for welcoming and more inclusive guidelines, and spending the summer strengthening the Core review committees," Knowles adds. "I hope that in a year's time I shall be able to report some progress."

William K. Martin '72 says that after reading about the current Core, he feels today's system serves the goals of a liberal education better than Gen Ed did during his time as a student.

"[The Core] sounded better, it sounded more demanding," Martin says. "It sounded as if it would create a more well-rounded intellectual life than what we had under Gen Ed."

Current students echoed Martin's praise of the Core.

"What I want out of a Core curriculum is to be able to explore new fields of knowledge, to appreciate different aspects of the world in a way that would not have been apparent from my previous experiences," says Clay O. Lacefield '97. "Harvard has done that."

Mendelsohn, who taught a Gen Ed course, and continues teaching in the Core today, offers his conclusions on the evolution of a liberal education at Harvard over the last half-century.

"Basically, the Core program does indeed put out a very good education," Mendelsohn says. "A student who goes through the process is better educated than one who went through a generation ago."CrimsonHector U. Velazquez