The Scarlet at Black, March 2, ism—page 5

Curriculum debate nears final stage

As the Curriculum Council’s draft proposal on distributional

Too much,
too soon

by Jack Woriey

The Curriculum Committee
proposes that we return to
requirements. Reinventing the
wheel is one thing; reinventing the
“Firestone 500” is quite a different
thing.

This new requirement, that each
Student take at least 12 credits in
each division, is to little to
guarantee a signiiicant
educational benefit. If its purpose
is to assure that each student will
have contact with the basic
methods of analysis and basic
information sources of the
Humanities. Social Studies and
Sciences, then there is no reason to
believe it will succeed.

THIS LACK OF success Will
stem from two sources: the
division structures and the specral
courses. The present three
divisions were formed so as to have
approximately equal numbers of
faculty members in each division.
Through this means there would be
equal representation on the
Executive Council. Though many
departments in each division have
methodologies In common, there
are also wide differences (biology
Vs. mathematics, English VS.

too little,

requirement is too little to assur
an acquaintance ’
methodologies and basic
formation sources, it may well b
too much of an alteration for th
health of the college at this time
Advising at all levels is improving.
The Dean of the College writes to
all incoming freshmen each year.
They also receive a copy oi Vade
Mecum. New Student Days have
improved and have bee
lengthened for next year. Th
Freshman Tutorial teachers ar
chosen on the basis of their succes
in working with students. An ersat
12 credit requirement coul.
undermine advising. Once a
student has 12 credits in eac
division, he or sh
can claim to be liberally educated.
and the advisior may be less able
to persuade the student to take
further “outside” courses.

More importantly, ap
proximately so per cent of (Erin
nell’s students (by one poll) say
thatthe lack of requirements was a
factor In choosing Grinnell. It is
reasonable to think that some of
these students would not have
come to Grinnell had there been
requirements. As we go into the

studio art, economics vs. religious . decliningsimient900105616'le-a

stu es). A divisional requirement
is so broad, and can be fulfilled
With courses of such different
methodologies and information
sources, that neither advisors nor
students would know what is ex-
pected of them.

requirement may create an even
larger decline ot our applicant pool
than is now predicted,
FURTHER, THERE ARE two
good reasons for not proposing
these requirements at this time.
More students are now taking work
In all three divisions than were
doing so in the previous graduating
classes. For example, two fullrtime
positions have been added to the
Science Division in the last year to
meet the add onal demand This
demand is the result of interestm

nurtured by all advisiors,
The statistics Should be carefully
watched. but it may be that the
problem which ﬁle requirements
are designed to solve is in the
process of solution.

Lastly, and most importantly at

» this u'me: The By-laws of\the

Statistics for the classes of ’77
and '73 show mat the major
problem regarding course
distribution was that students in
the umanities and Social Studies
Divi ons were not taking 12
Credits in the Science Division, A
partial solution to this has been
Science Division offerings of
special courses for non-science
majors. Though thae courses may
be very good general education
courses, they are not methodology
courses. The Science Division does
not want to water down first-rate,
first-run science courses to ac-
comodate reluctant Humanities
and Social Studies students The
proposed requirement would force
an estimated 100 more students to
sign up for courses in the Science
Division, but courses which are not
neccessarily methodological
science courses which the
proposed requirement seems to,
demand.
.112.

THE: 1 _ PROPOSED

Board of Trustees states that the
faculty “shall cooperate wiui the
President in making the
educational policies of the College,
including. .the conditions {or
graduation. . A new president

- will be appointed for next year, and

it is the new administration that
will have to deal with the possible
loss of student applicants and
possible shifts in staff. The new
President should be allowed to take
part in the decision-making
regarding an'educational policy
which will be important to the i
future of the College.

requirements comes up for campus discussion, history professor-

Al Jones speaks out in favor of the requirements, while

philosophy professor Jack Worley decries the proposal.

A 'modest response to imbalances

by AI Jones

For the first time in some years,
issues of general education and
liberal education are being
discussed at Grinnell, and this is a
healthy development.

The discussion has been
provoked by the draft proposals of
the Curriculum Committee
recommendinga modest divisional
distribution requirement and new
attention to advising and to the
idea of a college where learning
consists of something more than
the routine of listening to lectures.
going to class, writing papers and
majoring in a particular depart

ent.

LIKE MANY colleges, Grinnell
in 1971 moved away from a
rigorous system of general
requirements to’what can be fairly
characterized as a “no

equirements" curriculum.
lthough the Freshman Tutorial

as required along with the
i equirement of a major field and a
aximum of 92 credits in a single
division, students were free to
work out their own programs of
study With minimum restraints

In this situation, general
education, whether defined as
breadth of study, as the acquisition
of basic sills, as familiarity with
different modes and methods of
inquiry, or asva common and
shared learning experience
became highly dependent on the
advising system and the creation
of individualized programs of
tudy.

THE RESULTS OF the 1971
curricular change are now evident.
Many students have worked out
urograms of study which fulfill
general education objectives as
defined above.

But the majority of students fail
to fulfill these objectives A study
of the distribution of credits for the
graduating classes of 1977 and 1978
shows that severe imbalances exist
in the pattern of credit distribution,
-articularly for majors in the
Humaniti Division and the Social
tudies Division (see table below).
In the class of 1978, 62 per cent of

e majors in the Humanities

on and 47 per cent of the

'rs in the Social Studies
itivrsion earned eight dits or
less in the Science Division. In
ddition, 22 per cent of the majors
'ii the Science Division and 15 per
cent of the majors in the Social

Table I Distributional credits outside our divlslon by mayors in Humanitla and Social strains
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Studies Division earned eight
credits or less in the Humanities
Division.

THE MAJOR imblance is in the
minimal amount of work taken in
the Science Division by students
majoring in other divisions. The
distributional pattern especially
raises the question whether liberal
and general education at Grinnell
includes work in the Science
Division, This is a Serious
challenge to the concept of liberal
and general education at the
college

The Curriculum Committee's
proposal represents a modest

response to the imbalances that '
now exist, By recommending that '

students take at least 12 credits in

the three major divisions, the .

committee hopes to create a
framework ior an improved
system of general education ad»
vising. it is important to note that
this recommendation does little to
change the basic “no»
requirements” style of the present
.curriculum or to modify the
princrple that general education at
Grinnell is dependent on the ad-
vising system and the working out
of individualized programs of
study. .

AN ANALYSIS of comparable
colleges shows that even with a 12
credit distribution requirement,
Grinnell would remain unique in
the absence of general
requirements for graduation. But
the committee‘s recommendation
is opposed to the idea held by some
students and faculty that liberal
education is simply taking
whatever one waan to take.

The other recommendations of
the Curriculum Committee emr
phasize the continued dependence
of general education upon adr
vising. The emphasis on a faculty
recommended (but not required)
program in general education may
help raise the consciousnﬁs and
expectations of students and ad-

open space

visors

THE SETTING aside of a period
during April or each year when
serious attention is given to ad
vising, to reﬂection upon the goals
and direction of on ‘5 course of
study, and to participation in a
common all campus learning
experience is a deliberate effort to
break the rhythm and routine of
the departmentalized course
oriented classroom style of
learning that now dominates the

institution and that is com»
placently, if not cynically, ac-
cepted by many students and
faculty.

My own view of residential
undergraduate liberal education at
Grinnell is that it should be more
general, more liberal, more
relective, more leisurely, more
conversational. more goal-
directed, more enjoyable, and
more of a personal encounter of
students and faculty than it
presently is at the college. I think
the curriculum Committee's
several recommendations move in
that direction.

Who decides history?

by Gregg “Pubius” Edwards
and David “Cato“ Blatt

One would think that only
historians have the right to judge
history. The most recent debate
appearing in various periodicals
regarding the alleged affair bet»
ween Thomas Jefferson and his
slave, Sally Hemings certainly
givs this impression. CBS is now

, contemplating whether or not it

will'produce a mini—series on

' Jefferson which would depict this

alleged relationship.

Two prominent scholars on
Jefferson, Dumas Malone and
Virginius Dabney, have taken a
strong stand denying the existence
of the relationship, and have begun
a campaign to convince CBS not to
produce the series. Fawn Brodie,
who has written a “psycho
history” on Jefferson, contends
that the affair between Jefferson
and Hemings probably did occur

Just because historians disagree
on the fagtuality of the relationship
is no reason not to produce the
series. If complete agreement
among historians is the sole
criteria by which to assess whether
a Tv series on American history
should be produced, then no such
series would ever be undertaken.

Let each individual decide what
to believe. If Malone and Dabney
are so 'confident in their findings,
then they have nothing to fear.
(Besides, it is hard to believe that
this series will damage the
reputation of the man that Malone,
Dabney, and many others have

come to hold in such high esteem-)9» - s

 

