Word: conant
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Science education for non-scientists is complex and controversial. In the past, Harvard has demonstrated leadership on this issue—particularly during the curricular review under University President James B. Conant ’14. At that time, in the aftermath of the atomic bomb, science education seemed essential, and consequently the field of history of science was established in order to appraise the trajectory and concerns of modern science. Nevertheless, in recent decades, the role and relevance of science in daily life has changed substantially, and Harvard has failed to respond adequately. Too often, the Harvard curriculum shirks...
From the start, administrators have repeatedly likened this review to the curricular overhauls conducted in the 1940s under then-University President James Bryant Conant ’14 and in 1978 under former Dean of the Faculty Henry A. Rosovsky. But these comparisons are disingenuous at best. Conant’s revolutionary review essentially invented the idea of general education, the basis for core curricula nationwide; its 1945 report, the Redbook, sold 40,000 copies in a few years. Rosovsky’s review reinvigorated the faculty—still reeling from the culture shocks of the 1960s?...
...needs of a globalized society, another perennial (if somewhat meaningless) refrain in this curricular review. What’s all too obvious, unfortunately, is that this pro-sciences argument follows economic and political lines rather than the intellectual, moral and idealistic principles of liberal arts espoused in the Conant review, which sought to make Harvard students into educated members of a free society...
Summers insisted that Harvard must stay out of politics. He cited A. Lawrence Lowell, class of 1887, and James Bryant Conant ’14 as examples of former University presidents whose past involvement in politics had negative consequences...
Lowell famously galvanized the Faculty to oppose the appointment of Louis D. Brandeis to the Supreme Court and Conant tried to rid Harvard of suspected Communists during the 1950s...