The GER as it exists today was created to provide students at
least some exposure to all forms of knowledge and the various ways in which
knowledge is gained. It also was intended to provide a general literacy of the
various fields of study and to encourage the selection of a major based on
actual experience with a wide variety of courses.
In general the present GER does a
good job. While it may be possible to reduce the GER and have it remain
effective, some very good things come out of the existing curriculum. For
example, the social science requirement introduces many students to psychology
and surely some psychology majors are recruited through the social science GER.
Likewise some philosophy majors are recruited from students who sign up for Phl
20 to meet the upper level humanities requirements.
The present GER might be criticized as being a collection of
disjointed pieces. Courses like the humanities sequence fight this weakness by
engaging ideas across disciplinary lines.
The present GER could be strengthened by developing more
interdisciplinary ways to meet the GER. Consider a two-semester course sequence
that would take the place of Hst11 and one science GER. Such a course could
place scientific discovery in a historical context. A careful treatment of
major figures such as Descartes, Newton, Franklin, Einstein and Oppenheimer
would easily lend itself to the seminar format favored by many for our
freshmen. And the interplay between science and society will be even more
important in the future.
Many other interesting pairs of courses immediately come to
mind. A course that combines the sorts of things that Phl 20 and Rel 11 bring
to the GER could be very challenging for our students.
Likewise a course in sacred art could study the beliefs and
practices of the various religions and pay particular attention to the role of
art in religious places. Comparison to contemporary secular art could help
define the religious character of sacred art. Such a course sequence could meet
the religion and the fine arts GERs. This pair would make an especially
exciting format for foreign study.
The statistical nature of many studies in psychology make a
math/ psychology pair an interesting possibility. Actual studies could be done
by the students and analyzed using the appropriate statistical methods. Such a
two-course sequence could meet one social science requirement and the math
requirement.
The language requirement plays an important role in a liberal
arts education. While language skills fade quickly when unused, there is a
lasting benefit to a certain level of foreign language proficiency. The nature
and structure of language (tenses and cases and such) in general is revealed by
this level of proficiency. I feel that my experience with a foreign language
taught me much about English through this improved understanding of language in
general.
Furman has an unusual calendar. While there are some conspicuous
problems, the calendar has many real advantages. First, it allows students in
highly sequential majors like chemistry and physics to go on foreign study.
Being away for one of three terms is easier to manage than half a year.
Likewise the three-term schedule gives students the benefits of
more advising sessions and registrations. This translates into students being
able to complete majors like physics and chemistry after declaring relatively
late in their careers.
It would be a shame for this unique calendar to be changed just
to make Furman more like other schools.
Posted by love at
November 1, 2004 10:48 AM
Discuss
this proposal in the forum, or leave a comment below!