Core Curriculum (Columbia College)

thumb|One section of the Contemporary Civilization Source Book in the early 1940s. There were two parts containing ten sections each. This copy shows it in use at [[Yale University in addition to Columbia.|287x287px]]The Core Curriculum was originally developed as the main curriculum used by Columbia College of Columbia University in 1919. Created in the wake of World War I, it became the framework for many similar educational models throughout the United States, and has played an influential role in the incorporation of the concept of Western civilization into the American college curriculum. Today, customized versions of the Core Curriculum are also completed by students in the Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science and the School of General Studies, the other two undergraduate colleges of Columbia University.

Later in its history, especially in the 1990s, it became a heavily contested form of learning, seen by some as an appropriate foundation of a liberal arts education, and by others as a tool of promoting a Eurocentric or Anglocentric society by solely focusing on the works of "dead white men". Largely driven by student protests, the Core in recent decades has been revised to add focus on non-Western cultures, as well as postcolonial works to the literature and philosophy sequences. The most recent major addition to the Core was made in the 2000s with the addition of "Frontiers of Science", a scientific literacy course, to the curriculum.

History

Early curricula

thumb|President [[Frederick A. P. Barnard was one of the earliest proponents of the elective system in the 19th century.]]

Early instruction at Columbia College, from its founding in 1754 as King's College, almost entirely revolved around the study of the classics, and entering students were expected to already be fluent in Ancient Greek and Latin. Through most of the 19th century, all students were prescribed a single course of studies, save for a period of time beginning in 1830, when the college introduced the "Literary and Scientific course" in addition to the standard curriculum, which was dubbed the "Full course". The former was open to the public with no expectations of attendance, and was discontinued in 1843. In the "Full course", as set out in the 1843 revision of the college's statutes, in addition to four years of the classics and German, freshmen were to study algebra, geometry, and English grammar and composition; sophomores, trigonometry and solid geometry, levelling, navigation, chemistry, physics, and rhetoric; juniors, "practical astronomy", chemistry, geology, the "principles of taste and criticism", logic, and English and modern European literature; seniors, differential and integral calculus, mechanics, philosophy and religion, and English composition.

By the late-19th century, many American universities, including Harvard, had seen a trend towards more elective programs. President Frederick A. P. Barnard was an early supporter of this movement—in 1872, Yale president Noah Porter criticized him as one of "the educational reformers who should know better" for his advocacy in favor of elective curricula and his support for Charles William Eliot of Harvard. During his tenure he managed to establish a system wherein roughly half of a student's courses would be electives, and the other half required by the faculty, though his stance would lose ground at the college over the following decades. This gradual thaw, along with university's move to Morningside Heights just prior to World War I, set the stage for a major change in curricular focus in the early 20th century.]]

In 1917, the United States Army commissioned the university to create a "war issues" course in order to educate the Student Army Training Corps, and to explain the causes of WWI and the reasons for US involvement in the conflict. Following the war, in 1919, this course was transformed into "Contemporary Civilization," the oldest course of the Core Curriculum, which faculty presented as a "peace issues" course intended to confront the realities of the post-war era. The Great Books curriculum was officially incorporated into the Core in 1937 with the inauguration of the humanities sequence, which consisted of "Humanities A", a first-year survey of Western literature and philosophy from classical antiquity to the end of the 18th century, and "Humanities B", a sophomore elective that covered the visual arts and music.

Changes to the Core

In the later half of the 20th century, many US universities moved towards a more elective system. Some historians see the change as a response to social activism—the civil rights, feminist, and various other social movements saw the Core Curriculum as an inflexible way to promote the canon of "dead white males" and as a failure to acknowledge the essential contributions of other global cultures. Others interpret it as a concession to increasing calls for earlier specialization to prepare students for post-graduate scientific and professional studies. The oldest course in the Global Core is the "Colloquium on Major Texts", more commonly known as "Asian Humanities", a course on Asian classics which was established in 1947 by de Bary as "Oriental Humanities".

The most recent addition to the Core is "Frontiers of Science", which includes a set of analytical approaches that apply to all disciplines of science. "Frontiers of Science" is taught as four three-week units: two from the physical sciences and two from the life sciences.

Structure

Requirements

All first-year students in Columbia College must take the year-long "Masterpieces of Western Literature" course (also known as "Literature Humanities" or "Lit Hum"), the semester-long "University Writing" ("UW"), and the semester-long "Frontiers of Science" ("FroSci"). All sophomores are required to take a year of "Contemporary Civilization" ("CC"). The other requirements, which can be completed any year, include a semester of "Masterpieces of Western Music" ("Music Humanities" or "Music Hum"); a semester of "Masterpieces of Western Art" ("Art Humanities" or "Art Hum"); two semesters of science; four semesters of a foreign language; two semesters of the Global Core; and two semesters of physical education. Students are also required to pass a swimming test before receiving their diplomas, a common feature among Ivy League colleges.

Undergraduates in the School of Engineering and Applied Science take approximately half of Columbia College's Core requirements. They are required to take either "Literature Humanities", "Contemporary Civilization", or the Global Core; either "Art Humanities" or "Music Humanities"; and "University Writing"; in addition to two semesters of physical education. The "Technical Core" consists of the semester-long "The Art of Engineering", as well as requirements in calculus, chemistry, computer science, and physics.

Core Curriculum (Columbia College)

History

Early curricula

Changes to the Core

Structure

Requirements

References

Further reading

External links