ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, September 2, 1996 TAG: 9609030095
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: PHILIP WALZER\LANDMARK NEWS SERVICE
Freshmen at the College of William and Mary faced tougher requirements when they started classes last week.
They will have to take courses in science and math during their first two years. And they'll have to take one in philosophy or religion.
At Old Dominion University, administrators hope to add a writing course and another science class to the demands placed on freshmen entering in 1997.
And James Madison University is debating a new program of ``cluster'' requirements, mandating study in areas such as ``the natural world,'' ``social and cultural processes'' and ``individuals in the human community.''
The developments reflect a growing concern in academia and beyond with what is known as general education: the core courses, such as English, science and history, usually required during a student's first two years in college.
General-education classes usually make up roughly one-third of a college student's total course schedule. The balance comes from courses in the major field of study and electives.
The concern about general ed has been fueled by criticism that colleges are graduating too many students who haven't mastered the fundamentals - such as writing and math skills - needed in the work world.
That criticism was intensified by a report, ``The Dissolution of General Education,'' issued in the spring by the National Association of Scholars, a conservative group based in Princeton, N.J.
The association surveyed the top 50 schools, as ranked by U.S. News & World Report in 1989, and found that general-education requirements had been substantially watered down from 1914 to 1993. For example:
In 1914, general-education requirements made up 55 percent of all credits required for graduation at the schools. In 1993, the figure was 33 percent.
The proportion of schools with foreign-language requirements dropped from 98 percent in 1914 to 64 percent in 1993.
``In the areas of structure, content and rigor, general-education requirements have diminished greatly,'' said Rita C. Zurcher, the association's research director and co-author of the report.
``They're easier, and they're easier to get out of. They no longer form the fundamentals of what used to be called a good liberal arts education.''
But Zurcher acknowledged that Virginia was ``one of the better states'' in the study. Three Virginia schools were included - W&M, the University of Virginia and Washington and Lee University.
In fact, a Landmark News Service comparison of general-education requirements at four Virginia universities in 1976-77 and 1996-97 shows that three - W&M, ODU and the University of Virginia - increased the required number of credit hours in the past two decades.
At UVa, the number has risen from a range of 18 to 35 in 1976 to between 33 and 50 this fall. Old Dominion's went from 29 in 1976 to between 36 and 48, and William and Mary's from 46 to 51, to between 48 and 64. The ranges reflect the possibility of exemptions based on the results of advanced placement or college proficiency exams. Classes generally count for three to four credits each.
Radford University, meantime, has come up with an altogether new way to administer the core curriculum. Hammered out over the past three years, the plan calls for an assessment of existing core courses that measures exactly what students are learning therein.
"It may be we will end up introducing some additional courses," plan administrator Warren Self said. "We may consolidate some courses. We may develop cross-discipline seminars."
The point is, the school wants first to see if the existing courses -as they're taught -meet eight competency areas that range from the arts to physical and natural sciences.
"Let's say English 101 is not meeting the requirement for writing at Radford University," said Mick Stewart, a professor who's helped craft the new system. "We may need to retool English 101 to assist the faculty teaching that course, rather than just adding another English course."
Virginia officials don't dispute the national association's assertion that colleges generally eased up on requirements with the experimental, anything-goes spirit of the 1960s. But they say state schools have already begun working to get tougher once again.
``The National Association of Scholars is right to be worried about the coherence of general education,'' said Margaret A. Miller, associate director of the State Council of Higher Education. ``But in Virginia, we've made great progress on that. ... I think the faculty are taking very seriously the need to think in fundamental ways about what they're trying to accomplish with this part of the curriculum.''
All three of the major Virginia universities that are either implementing or debating changes in general curriculum this year are moving to restrict students' options. That's in sync with the national group's thinking that universities have given students too much latitude, allowing them to opt out of courses that they need for a solid liberal arts education.
``I believe in students being able to make choices,'' said Gillian T. Cell, the provost at William and Mary, ``but we as faculty members have some responsibility to be involved in determining what makes an educated person. I think faculty [across the nation] stepped away from that responsibility in the late '60s. What's happening here is that faculty are stepping back.''
Yet at some schools, particularly James Madison, both students and professors have questioned whether the new requirements would be too restrictive. For instance, J.J. Leary, a chemistry professor, said the school shouldn't seriously limit the range of science courses required of students.
``We have such diversity here at JMU,'' Leary said. ``We've admitted students who have concentrated on different things. It would be a mistake to throw away their past experience and try to make everybody the same.''
`Like high
school again'
At William and Mary, the curriculum revision doesn't increase the number of courses required, but it reduces a student's options. It takes effect with this year's freshmen.
Last year, all students at the Williamsburg school had to take 11 courses from among three wide areas. One area included science and math; the second took in such subjects as economics, government, history and psychology; and the third combined disciplines such as literature, music, philosophy, religion and theater.
Now, they will have to take 11 courses in more narrowly defined fields: one from math, two from science, two from social science, three from world culture and history and one each from literature, performing arts, and philosophy or religion.
``We think these are the areas of knowledge and ways of thinking that an educated person ought to be familiar with,'' Cell said.
The college will not change its requirements for foreign-language proficiency and a writing course.
Before, a W&M student could bypass math by taking a couple of geology courses to fulfill the science-or-math requirement. No longer. ``We believe an English major should have computational skills,'' said Clyde Haulman, an economics professor who worked on the revision.
The new philosophy-or-religion requirement also reflects the push to discuss ethics in public schools and colleges. ``We think this is an important part of our culture and our cultural heritage - both to understand the history of philosophy and philosophical ideas, and to know something about religions and ethics,'' Cell said.
Lori Gurley, a sophomore from Vienna, complained that the changes give ``you less freedom to choose what to take; it's like high school all over again.''
But student president Pepin Tuma, a junior from Great Falls, said, ``It makes you diversify your schedule, but it's not that big of a change.''
Reflecting
changes in society
ODU's proposal, which will be considered by the university's Faculty Senate this school year, would double the number of required writing classes from one to two. It would also beef up science requirements: Students now have to take two science courses; in the future, they'd have to take a third, preferably in technology.
``The faculty felt very strongly that writing is a critical skill... and the only way you become a better writer is by writing more,'' said Jo Ann Gora, the provost at the Norfolk university.
As for the science requirements, Gora said, ``Our society is increasingly reliant on technology, so our college graduates need to have a greater sense of comfort in science and technology.''
To make room for the new requirements, Old Dominion would drop its requirement to take one class in fine and performing arts. And it would drop the total number of history courses from two to one.
That doesn't sit well with some faculty members. Lucien X. Lombardo, a sociology professor, was a dissenter on the panel that drafted the curriculum proposal. Such disciplines as history and performing arts, he said, ``offer approaches to knowledge and meaning that are very different. Those are things that could be lifelong learning experiences for students.''
But Gora said something's got to give. The state has urged colleges to avoid increasing - and, in some instances, to slightly decrease - the total number of credit hours needed for graduation.
``We are doing some things at the expense of something else'' in the proposal, she said. ``But what we're trying to do is reflect a changing society and give students what they need to function competitively in a broad range of experiences.''
William A. Drewry, chairman of the Faculty Senate, said he expects the panel to vote on the plan by early 1997. If the senate approves an alternative, it would be up to ODU's president, James V. Koch, to decide which path to take.
Drewry, chairman of the civil engineering department, said one idea bubbling up is to institute different general-education requirements for different majors: maybe require two history courses for liberal arts majors but one for majors in professional programs such as engineering and business. ``I'm looking for something that will not tear the faculty apart,'' he said.
`Infinite paths
of selection'
James Madison's proposal is the most complex - and the most controversial.
It would regroup requirements into five clusters: Skills for the 21st Century (written and oral communication), Ideas and Expressive Forms in the Human Community (fine arts and literature), The Natural World (math and science), Social and Cultural Processes (politics and economics) and Individuals in the Human Community (philosophy and ethics). Each cluster would include two to three courses.
Parts of the proposal, which is still being fine-tuned, will take effect with next year's freshmen and the rest in 1998, Provost Bethany S. Oberst said.
What has raised the hackles of professors as well as students on the Harrisonburg campus is the sharp reduction in the choices students would have in meeting the new general-ed requirements.
Currently, a student can select from more than 20 courses to fulfill the literature requirement and more than 50 for U.S. culture. In some of the clusters, however, there would be only two to three ``paths'' of courses, Oberst said. And once students took the first course in a path, they would have to take the remaining courses in that path.
An editorial last semester in the student newspaper, The Breeze, criticized the proposal for limiting a student's ``ability to determine the path of his or her life...JMU students are fully capable of discovering the connections between disciplines on their own.''
The plan has also been denounced by several science professors, such as Leary, and student government leaders.
But Oberst countered: ``Right now, there are almost infinite paths of selection...Some students choose an excellent path, and some students can choose a path which is less related. We want to make sure that the students have a better view of the cohesiveness of the learning.''
Gordon K. Davies, director of the State Council of Higher Education, said the proposals at all three schools were a good beginning.
``What they're doing is very good. I think it is targeting and focusing the course-taking of students to a much greater degree than has been done in the last decade.''
Said Cell, the provost at William and Mary, ``I don't think you can accuse our curriculum in any way of dumbing down, but I don't think we're unique.''
Staff writer Allison Blake contributed to this story.
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