Word: present
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...section procedure, alternate courses along the line of "seminars," as suggested by Dean Monro, would be a healthy improvement in the lower level General Education program. Such a seminar could consist of a class group of about a dozen, much like an honors Gen Ed A section at present. Offered under the ae*gis of the General Education Committee, such seminars would offer the qualified freshman or sophomore alternatives to the lower level Gen Ed requirement...
...humanities illustrate what might be offered--area syntheses as have been suggested for possible non-honors group tutorial. Such seminars--which could be taught by teaching fellows with occasional discussions led by professors--should not serve as introductions to the departments (as for example Hum. 6 does at present) or be overly specialized. Although presumably requiring a higher level of work, they should preserve the Big Question goal of General Education...
...might also be argued that the content material of present courses is too valuable to permit students to leave them. Certainly, however, almost every Gen Ed course is easily divisible; moreover, the course material is often repeated in upper level classes. General Education's purpose is to introduce students to the basic questions posed in each area, and the seminar system would probably be more effective at this...
Freshman year can undoubtedly be made a more rewarding academic introduction for new students. Lecture courses offer too often only a cold commentary on the great works and ideas which the General Education program is supposed to present. Lectures, in literature and social sciences especially, if not downright boring, do not permit interchange of ideas between students or between student and teacher. Sections, which are provided to remedy this deficiency, are too often a waste of time; the general pattern is that the few students who are prepared conduct a dialogue with the section man while other students doodle quietly...
Passionella is fantastic, allegorical, even, in one story, apocalyptic; less concerned with subtly-observed scenes from daily life among the in-group than with smashing examinations of institutions (Hollywood, the Army) and issues (the H-bomb). Both elements are present in each book, but they were better balanced in the earlier one. And the general absence of people whom Mr. Feiffer can regard with understanding affection is complemented by the lack of individuality of those there are. The small boys in Sick, Sick, Sick, and in some of Mr. Feiffer's subsequent Voice pieces have problems, and sometimes genuine pathos...