Over the past year, the Brown administration has presented a new agenda in the Plan for Academic Enrichment that will revolutionize the campus. And while these progressive policies will greatly improve student life, the time has come for a more radical change: the phasing out and eventual elimination of the "New" Curriculum.
I came to Brown with faith in the administration and the student body. Surely, I thought, with an academic program that affords its students so much freedom, the admissions office would accept only those students who would be sure to pursue a diverse education. But faith in its students is the first mistake that the New Curriculum makes.
Brown, at least from my perspective, has proved to be an incubator of idiots savant. Science students spend more time with Homer from Fox than Homer from Greece; humanities students would favor Underwater Basket Weaving 101 before having to think about myelinated axons.
Is this an education? Isn't it the University's responsibility to ensure that its students receive the complete background we need to navigate the adult intellectual world?
The examination of history and philosophical values are crucial in becoming informed citizens of the world. A scholar should not have the option of skipping out on so fundamental a field of study.
Likewise, a student who disregards studying science is at so great a disadvantage that he or she may as well be living in the 19th century. Modern times demand a thorough investigation of those very things which make us modern.
Brown needs one standard for a basic education. Some argue that this is a throwback to closed-minded learning and has no place in our modern, progressive campus. I don't agree: a core provides the jumping off point a student needs to make informed decisions. It also would furnish solidarity with a common, college-wide experience, as opposed to the lack of academic cohesion we suffer from now.
There's a much simpler reason why other schools have distribution requirements: the professors know many things, and the students don't know as many things. Educated people know the things it takes for not-as-smart people to become smarter!
The autonomy provided by the New Curriculum is meaningless because it isn't achieved through consideration and informed decision making. One potential benefit that exposure to different disciplines provides is that it may excite passions and interests the student never considered.
President Francis Wayland lay down the foundations for the New Curriculum in 1850, preaching the individual's choice in crafting his or her own education. In 1969, when the curriculum as we know it now was ratified, its founders cited "opportunity for individuality, experimentation, and intellectual integration and synthesis" as their driving force.
Brown must realize that these noble ideals and a core curriculum are not mutually exclusive. And considering the fact that individuals in late adolescence are not yet competent enough to make intelligent educational decisions, Brown must accept that autonomy is overrated.
Benjamin Bright-Fishbein '07 is in no way autonomous.
