Word: core
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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CONSIDER the perennial fall Core favorite, "Justice." Professor of Government Michael J. Sandel takes a hoard of students on a dizzying flight through categorical and consequentialist reasoning, from politics based on independent standards of right to home-grown community justice. It is a worthwhile trip, but not a unique one. Upper level political philosophy courses also serve as a window into the conflict between the right and the good. Achieving harmony between our roles as citizens and as people is not a question that begins and ends in Moral Reasoning...
Another big draw in the Core is Historical Studies A-12, "International Conflicts in the Modern World." Here the emphasis is on using the lessons of history, thinking in time and concocting cogent recipes of theory and historical fact. Very noble aims. That's why the same techniques are similarly emphasized in upper level courses in comparative politics. Learning the lessons of history is as useful a tool when studying the French Revolution as it is in the international conflicts...
...Core course experience is simply not that different from taking departmental courses--just a little easier in most cases. Don't take my word for it, ask the English, Economics, Government, and East Asian Studies Departments. They all accept Core courses for concentration credit. If Core offerings did in fact focus exclusively on how you learn rather than what you learn, then the departments--which are more concerned with mastering bodies of knowledge--would not accept Cores for degree credit. But they do, and it should be a two-way street...
...administration's weak position in maintaining distinctions between upper-level and Core courses in particuliar areas withers under the rational objectivity of science. In physics, chemistry and biology, departmental offerings do count for Core credit--even though the differences between Core and department offerings are more striking than in any other discipline...
...consider that "Justice" and Government 1061, a modern political theory course, 1) share reading selections and 2) both profess to investigate modern liberalism. Yet the departmental offering will not satisfy you Core requirement. Ridiculous? Absolutely...