Word: westernness
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...Core makes up a quarter of our curricular requirements, and it should not be changed without extensive student representation. Letters from students about changes are one thing, but listening to them in person is quite another. Last year's rejection of a proposal to make History 10a and 10b: "Western Societies, Politics, and Cultures" part of the Core does not hearten us on that front; neither does the fact that a Core reform petition signed by more than 4,000 undergraduates has received little attention...
...Capello felt that LSU's program was too heavily centered around Western art music, to the exclusion of his main interest in jazz. In the second semester of his sophomore year, he enrolled part-time at Southern University, where he played double-bass and studied jazz in a predominantly African-American environment. His experiences there-- playing in all-black ensembles, feeling sometimes that problems of race inhibited the formation of elementary social relationships, and developing technically as a musician--posed more intellectual questions for him than they answered. He had long harbored a more general interest in social theory...
...best of Western Civilization with the bathwater...
...society and current events, to realize connections among different fields and disciplines and--most importantly--to write well. I admit that Harvard is not fulfilling all of those ideals. Its Core curriculum, currently under scrutiny by a faculty-student committee, does not even include a survey class on Western civilization because of a bureaucratic runaround last year. Its Expository Writing program does not necessarily teach students how to write. And because of the heavy requirements for graduating with honors (History and Literature demands 16 courses, half the 32 needed for graduation), it is difficult to both navigate the burdensome Core...
Lastly, colleges must take it upon themselves to reinstitute curricular requirements that provide every undergraduate with a basis in Western civilization. Only then can we both understand other cultures' influence on our contemporary world and gain a common knowledge to tie together history, biology, mathematics and English majors once they leave school. Only then will colleges set an example to employers about the value of a truly liberal curriculum. And college presidents must take the lead...