Faculty Discuss Gen Ed Report

At yesterday’s meeting of the full Faculty, professors broadly supported replacing the Core Curriculum with a system of distributional requirements, though they did not a reach a consensus on what those requirements should look like.

The General Education Committee formally presented its report to professors at the meeting, with Bass Professor of Government Michael J. Sandel introducing the committee’s recommendation that students should be required to take three courses in each of three distribution areas—the Arts and Humanities, Science and Technology, and the Study of Societies.

In the report, the committee also proposed the creation of a number of extra-departmental and year-long courses “that would be synoptic and integrative in approach, and topically both wide-ranging and of considerable depth.”

While several professors expressed approval of the committee’s recommendations, others argued that the three areas are too broad, omitting important disciplines like moral reasoning and placing too much responsibility on students to select the appropriate variety of courses.

Some professors also noted that the report places heavy burdens on departments to create general education courses.

Introducing the report, Sandel said that it attempts to satisfy two goals—to give students more freedom of choice, but also to provide a sufficient number of courses that are “geared towards the specific needs of general education.”

He said that the report satisfies those goals through the increased role it gives departments in creating courses that meet the needs of general education, and through the category of extra-departmental courses.

Some professors expressed reservations about the expansive freedom the proposed curriculum gives students. Baird Professor of Science Gary J. Feldman said that though he supported a distribution requirement, the new system would not force less adventurous students to explore other disciplines.

“We want to gently prod these students to explore more widely,” he said. “Three courses in three areas will not encourage exploration.”

Feldman proposed as an alternative to the report that students be required to take one course in each of nine areas that would closely resemble the areas of the current Core.

Other professors, including Buttenwieser University Professor Stanley Hoffmann and History Department Chair Andrew Gordon, also said that the three areas would allow students to graduate without taking courses in certain important disciplines like moral reasoning, history, and foreign cultures.

“I think it is a serious mistake in the blanket condemnations of the Core to not provide a shelter for those types of courses,” Hoffmann said.

Saltonstall Professor of History Charles S. Maier ’60, a member of the General Education committee, dismissed concerns that the proposed curriculum gives students too much freedom, arguing that most students will seek classes outside their discipline.

“I think these fears are overdrawn,” said Maier, a former Crimson editorial chair. “These concerns rest up on a notion of our students which really is not worthy of them.”

And Harvard College Professor and Kemper Professor of American History James T. Kloppenberg said that from conversations with officials at Brown University and Amherst College, which have few academic requirements for undergraduates, he learned that between 85 and 90 percent of students reproduce distribution requirements of their own volition.

He added that he thinks most students will responsibly take courses across disciplines.

English and American Literature and Language Department Chair James Engell spoke in favor of the report, noting that its simplicity will allow for more effective advising because every professor will know what the requirements are and will be able to discuss them more easily with students.

Albertson Professor of Middle Eastern Studies William A. Graham Jr. and Hoffmann argued that, given the report’s recommendations, the Faculty must remain vigilant to ensure that departments produce the right kinds of courses.

“I am not totally confident that the departments will take very seriously the task of creating general education courses of their own,” Hoffman said.

Seven members of the General Education committee sat in front of professors to respond to complaints. After the first two professors spoke, Maier and Johnstone Family Professor of Psychology Steven Pinker fielded and addressed faculty members’ questions.

Six more professors then spoke, though none of the committee members took the opportunity to respond to their comments, despite urging from Dean of the Faculty William C. Kirby.

At yesterday’s meeting professors also formally approved the course catalog for the 2006 Summer School.

—Staff writer William C. Marra can be reached at wmarra@fas.harvard.edu.

—Staff writer Sara E. Polsky can be reached at polsky@fas.harvard.edu.