November 15,1977
Address to the Faculty on Curriculum Change
Final Part of Series
BY JAMES GUTSELL
Asst. Professor of English
A proposal I would like to
make is that we consider the
possibilities of constructing
a program with a large compo
nent of history. I have spoken
previously about why I think
history is important but would
like to say a bit more. While
we must be primarily concern
ed that students learn to think
about large and serious ques
tions, we must also take
seriously what they study.
There are clearly some
matters which are more
important than other matters.
It seems obvious to me that
we can handle the matter of
process, of learning to think,
discuss, and write with a variety
of materials in each discipline.
If that is the case, we should
do so while reading the most
important available material.
My contention is that the
prospective of history is
essential to education and,
therefore, that we ought to
consider how to include that
element at every possible
occasion. The classical
literature in every field has
an importance which contemp
orary literature cannot have.
There are fields in which
most of the literature is
fairly contemporary
and there are fields in which
most of the attention in a
major program must be on
what is current, but we have
neglected the past and there
is a danger there. In my
field if I had to choose I
would rather a student read
The Iliad, Greek Drama and
Dostoyevski, even though
these works must all be
read in translation, than that
he read Thomas Wolf,
Hemmingway or Faulkner
(excuse me, Dick Morton).
Our larger culture has been
built on those works in which
mankind has struggled to
define itself philosophically,
religiously, socially, politically,
and otherwise. If those works
are truly great, they will
not only provide insights into
human history which we need,
but the issues raised there
should continue to hold their
currency.
I am suggesting, then, that
we ought to design our
distribution program to meet
definable intellectual needs,
that while we should be
concerned for developing
interests and skills, on the one
hand, we should, on the other,
also focus attention, where
possible, on the classics of
our fields. I am not at all
convinced that the introductory
course which is appropriate
for a beginning major is
naturally the course which
should fulfill the purposes of
general education. A science
course which may be involved
almost entirely with minute
particulars of dissection and
extensive memory work or a
literature course which is
devoted to contemporary
authors may well serve a major
who needs information and
specialized skills, but these
courses as the courses for a
non-major may have little
value when compared to what
might be done. We have
attempted to solve some of
the problems presented by
introductory courses with the
broader concerns of BHTC
101, but that was a solution
arrived at partly in despair
at solving the problems on a
more satisfactory basis, which
would involve more carefully
designed courses for the core
and distribution requirements.
I will make one other
suggestion: we ought to
concern ourselves with devel
oping programs to increase
the writing skills of our
students. Writing, like history,
is too complex and important
to leave to one department.
It is perfectly obvious to me
that only in writing (or some
equivalent symbolic system)
do we really discover what we
are capable of thinking in a
sustained fashion. Writing is
a process of discovery.
Through writing, and only
through it, do we refine
our perceptions and connect
them sequentially and logically.
The student who cannot write
cannot develop certain sorts
of thinking processes, and
those are the very processes
which are central to educational
progress and sophistication. I
am convinced that we need
college wide programs design
ed to keep writing a central
focus of concern. Every
teacher at some point ought
to be engaged in teaching
writing. One of our serious
problems now is the number
of students unwilling to
engage in writing, which is to
say engage in sustained
thinking. And among the
worst are seniors. I had a
senior from another field drop
my already impoverished
course in Renaissance Drama
because there are to be two
short papers and larger
research project which might
or might not involve exten
sive writing. I had reduced
my usual expectations just to
avoid such consequences. I
need students, but this person
has forcefully instructed me
Guilfordian
(Delivered at the Faculty Retreat)
that to pull in students wanting
electives that I had better give
up writing assignments
altogether. I have had yet
worse experiences. I have
seen a set of term papers by
upperclassmen all of which
I would have failed. Martha
Cooley has seniors dropping
European History because
she makes writing assignments.
If students, particularly upper
classmen, are afraid to take
desired courses in subjects
because they lack writing
skills, we must, for that
reason alone, and there are
better ones, take the problem
seriously. I suggest that every
department develop a program
involving increasing sophistica
tion in writing. I know Political
Science has done that.
We particularly need to build
such an element into the
distribution requirement.
Writing instruction should
not be left to the English and
BHTC courses.
I have been addressing
myself to educational ideals.
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I have not attempted to speak
to the practical problems of
implementing them. I do think
that there is a real value in
considering general proposi
tions. Constraints of all sorts
hedge us in, particularly
those of institutional need.
We will, of course, make some
decisions for purely practical
reasons, but our sense of what
is practical is never simply
economic. All practical
decisions ought to be strategic
in furthering our ideals, and
so the identification of ideals
must not be neglected.
My concerns here are not
really centered on what
requirement to drop or bolster
up. I am less interested in
which departments have how
much of the pie than in what
we do with the students
wherever we have them. From
my own private perspective I
would probably prefer that a
student take a course in philos
ophy than one in economics,
but I would rather he take the
right sort of economics course
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30324. CARE will send the
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Goffio cited some examples
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Page Five
than the wrong sort of
philosophy course. For myself,
I would rather take the
economics course since I
know a little of philosophy and
nothing of economics. But,
we should be sure that
the core and distribution
requirements have conscious
intentions. I think they require
conscious intentions to be at
all justified in educational
terms. I think it would be
fruitful for us to discuss such
possibilities. I think we
could build better major
programs if we did have clearer
intentions in our general
program.
Right now I am not convinc
ed that we know exactly
where we are, where we have
been, where we are going, or
how we should act. But I
do believe that the faculty is
the strongest and most open
faculty we have had in at
least fifteen years and,
consequently, that we have
never been in a better position
to consider these matters.
of how much good contribu
tions can do: $5 serves up to
30 children a daily bowl of
nourishing porridge for a
month; sls builds space for
two more children in a rural
school; $25 provides a group
of farmers training to grow
more food, or gives thousands
of children nutritious food,
helping them grow into
healthy, productive adults.
"For every dollar donated
by the public," Goffio stated,
"CARE last year delivered over
nine dollars worth of aid. This
was made possible by contri
butions of food by the U.S.
and other governments and
by sharing operating costs
overseas with host agencies.
This season share the joys of
the holiday by helping those
who need it most to help
themselves."