Brown's open curriculum is the single most defining characteristic of undergraduate education on this campus, and even perceived threats to the New Curriculum - be they the proposed introduction of pluses and minuses in grading or the enforcement of prerequisites under the Banner registration system - have been met with protest and anger from many students.
But in all that healthy debate, the issue of concentrations has not struck a nerve, except in the occasional case of funding cuts or deficiencies in advising. That may soon change. The Task Force for Undergraduate Education is now focusing on the role of concentrations in the educational experience and expects to release a preliminary report with recommendations next spring. A designated subcommittee, charged with evaluating the current state of concentrations at Brown, will make recommendations for their "appropriate breadth, depth, perspective and rigor," according to the task force's Web site.
This is an important subject for the task force to take up. Every year, students in their fourth semesters pick up concentration forms from University Hall, schedule meetings with their new concentration advisers and chart out their educational plans for the next two years. That's the idea, at least. At its best, the system helps sophomores carefully consider how their focused study will contribute to broader academic goals at Brown and beyond. At its worst - and it happens all too often this way - the system forces students to haphazardly scribble down a few sentences and hurriedly schedule last-minute meetings to get their forms signed and done with. As the deadline passes, many are still unsure of the commitments they've made. Plans change, but we wonder if this is the best way to do things.
The task force, we think, should consider the option of a "mini-concentration," what our peer institutions would call a minor (after all, we don't have majors, remember?). That choice would give students the opportunity to show evidence of familiarity in additional fields without having to make the often-onerous time commitment for a second concentration, squeeze in courses to complete multiple degrees or spend a fifth year at Brown for the A.B./Sc.B. program.
We realize that it may not be practical for all programs and departments at Brown to offer minors. Interdisciplinary concentrations, especially, would be troublesome: the nature of a program like international relations, for example, is to draw extensively on different academic fields, and such a field could not in good faith be condensed to merely five or six courses. But for other concentrations, some recognition that students have explored other areas in depth - outside of their concentrations - could be useful, both as goals for undergraduates and as credentials for jobs or professional or graduate schools. We may craft an education for ourselves that is unique, but many employers or schools will only cursorily glance at our transcripts. A minor in economics, biology or Hispanic studies, for example, would go far in demonstrating a distinct area of expertise outside of a concentration.
There is a thorough debate to be had on this subject and about Brown's undergraduate curriculum as a whole. We've noted in this space before that we're eager for the opportunity to take stock of what a Brown education means, and the task force raises a great opportunity to do just that.
