College mulls General Requirement overhaul

School officials are considering making major changes to the core course requirements in the College of Arts and Sciences. University officials are currently engaged in a "top-to-bottom review" of the College curriculum and are considering revising the General Requirement, according to College of Arts and Sciences Dean Richard Beeman. The most dramatic possible revision -- currently being discussed by Beeman, the Committee for Undergraduate Education and other faculty members -- is the tentatively-titled "experimental college," an initiative that could start in the fall of 2000 for the incoming Class of 2004. The suggestion is to offer around 200 incoming freshmen the opportunity to enroll in the program, which would exempt the students from all aspects of the current General Requirement -- as well as the writing, language and quantitative skills requirements -- and would obligate them instead to fulfill a separate set of requirements. No one would be assigned to or be required to enroll in the experimental college. Officials are brainstorming possible revisions of the existing General Requirement, Beeman said, because there is a general sentiment that "the knowledge base is changing dramatically" at the turn of the century. Under the current General Requirement, students are required to take a total of 10 courses in seven different sectors, including history, the humanities and the sciences. Assistant Dean for Academic Affairs Kent Peterman said invitations to participate in the experimental college program would not be based on academic merit but would include a "broad cross section of students" and a "good representative sample." The program's requirements would differ depending on the individual student's specific interest. If a student were interested in international affairs, for example, the experimental college might require him to fulfill a language requirement and spend a semester studying abroad, Beeman said. Administrators and faculty members emphasized that the planning has just begun and that no details have been finalized. It is not yet known which requirements would be included in the experimental college, nor which students will be able to participate or even when -- if at all -- it takes effect. "[The plans] are very, very preliminary," Peterman stressed. "We don't know if we're going to come up with a set of recommendations that amount to a mild revision of the General Requirement or a dramatic one," Beeman said. It is possible, though, that if the initiative proves successful during its first year the General Requirement could be eliminated for all students, administrators said. Beeman said the idea for this "fairly bold educational alternative" stems from the University's "obligation to think very boldly" and envision what a Penn education is going to be like in "10, 20 years." According to Beeman, the wide range of choices that characterizes the existing General Requirement will -- to some extent -- remain in the experimental college. "Whatever substitute we emerge with will allow students significant choice because? there's too much stuff out there to be able to say 'these six courses are the essential courses'," Beeman said. Another possible aspect of the experimental college, administrators said, could be a more detailed core curriculum. Beeman noted the increasing desire among administrators for more stringent requirements with "more focus and coherence." "We would work to engage our faculty to design some special courses that synthesize and integrate knowledge across a wide range of fields," Beeman said. And other administrators also envision more structured requirements in the experimental college. "I think movement would be towards consolidated core courses," School of Arts and Sciences Dean Samuel Preston said. Preston too said there is no "single criticism" of the existing General Requirement, but noted that the current requirements are a "decade old" and merit another consideration. Once details for the General Requirement have been worked out more fully, the entire College faculty will review the proposition. But while the experimental college is certainly an experiment, Math Professor and CUE Chairperson Frank Warner explained that "students shouldn't get the idea that they'll be guinea pigs," since the alternative curriculum will be entirely optional. Beeman's proposal surfaced this summer, according to Warner, when Beeman raised the issue of a "fresh, new consideration" of the general education requirements.

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