Newspapers / The Guilfordian (Greensboro, N.C.) / Dec. 13, 1996, edition 1 / Page 4
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4 Guilford enters new academic age American students as a group traditionally complain about being at odds with the administration and poor communication with faculty. Guilford, on the other hand, has a proud tradition of cooperation with students. Now this priceless resource is needed, because Guilford is changing its curriculaum and wants the help of the student body. BEN THORNE features edltoi Many of us, myself included, came to Guilford for the college's unique and de manding curriculum. Nothing ever stays the same, however, and this year's freshman class holds the dubious honor of being the first class to enter Guilford in the midst of serious curricular reform in many years. The greatest changes being considered concern the general education requirements. Obviously, there are several aspects of the core and dis tribution re quirements which call for reconsidera tion. Accord ing to a state ment issued to the faculty by the Subcommittee on Curriculum Revi sion the general education curriculum lacks cohesiveness, distinctiveness, and faculty in teraction. Also interdisciplinary cooperation across majors and divisions is limited. In plain terms, departments are not inter acting adequately, and their exact relation ship to one another is altogether too ambigu ous. Also, there is not enough flexibility within the core at present to allow more than a handful of courses to be double-counted: that is, satisfy more than one requirement. The advantages to increasing such free dom could not be underestimated: a broader education, shorter tenure for those desiring to graduate early, and more room to take electives, and so acquire the kind of person alized education a student wants, instead of taking classes merely to fulfill requirements. The latter can feel like fitting a square peg into a round hole: our educational experi ence is not supposed to be like that. Realizing this need for change, the col- Concerned about curriculum changes? ACT NOW! Contact Ben Thorne through the Senate Office at x 2310 to ask any questions you may have concerning curriculum reform. The Guilfordian Next semester we will host an other forum with an all-student panel to convey last minute ideas to the Subcommittee, features lege formed the Subcommittee on Curricu lum Revision to draft a new general educa tion model. A model has now been drafted, and after much delibera- tion among faculty, admin istration, and students it will soon be made acces sible to the student body for commentary. The proposed model differs from the current one largely in its emphasis on interdisciplinary programs. These pro grams would include a re quired interdisciplinary con centration in place of a mi nor) revised first year and senior year interdisciplinary requirements, and a reduced set of distribution require ments. These would provide a greater opportunity for stu dents to add breadth and depth to their learn ing experience at Guilford, while simulta neously offering a chance to satisfy several requirements at once. "taking classes merely to fulfill require ment... can feel like fitting a square peg into a round hole: our educational experience is not supposed to be like that." December 13,1996 The Subcommittee must sub mit a final draft to the Board of Trustees in February, so it is im perative they get as much stu dent input as possible. The Subcommit tee must submit a final draft to the Board of Trustees in February, so it is imperative they get as much student in put as possible, and that's where I come in. I serve as the Academic Affairs Chair in the Com munity Senate and sit as the tradi tional-age student representative on Curriculum Com mittee. Myjobisto protect the aca demic interests and voice the opinions of the student body. Aca demic Affairs has been involved in this pro cess in several ways this year, one of the most important being a Forum we hosted earlier this semester. The pur pose of this forum was to introduce students to the faculty and administra tion responsible for these student body about the proposal. Next semester we will host an other forum with an all-student panel to con vey last minute ideas to the Subcommittee, but before and after then, feel free to talk with me or Cory Birdwhistell about any con cerns you may have. Remember, this is your school and your education, and nothing will change unless we as a student body will it so. Guilco's Current , Distribution and Core requirements First year composition (2 courses) Foreign Language (= one year) Creative Arts History Lab Science Non-lab science Humanities (2 courses) Social Sciences (2 courses) Intercultural FYS IDS 401 reforms, and educate the
The Guilfordian (Greensboro, N.C.)
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Dec. 13, 1996, edition 1
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