Where Credit is Due

SOMETIMES, changes for the better come easily. Even at Harvard. The Standing Committee of the Core Curriculum decided last week to grant Literature and Arts B credit to students who took the earlier incarnation of the Core version of Music 30, "Jazz History for Non-Majors." Taught by Professor of Music Graeme M. Boone, the course was designed to serve as an introduction to jazz for non-concentrators.

Students had been denied the retroactive credit at first, even though the new Core version uses two of the same principal texts of the Music Department's offering. The courses were so similar, in fact, that students who had taken Jazz I were not allowed to take the new Core version.

But after students brought their grievances, and only a little bit of hemming and hawing, the Core committee and the dean acknowledged their error and corrected it. It was really that simple.

Of course, the more complicated issue is what the "Jazz" flap reveals about Harvard's Core curriculum. Supposedly, the Core curriculum depends upon specially crafted classes, designed to introduce non-concentrators not simply to a given body of knowledge, but rather to the methodolgy of a particular field.

Departmental offerings that meet the Core's goals, like "Jazz," are probably not uncommon, and the Core committee should be more willing to grant Core status to many interesting departmental offerings that otherwise would not attract non-concentrators.

To resolve the jazz flap, an administration--that so often is indifferent and seemingly impervious to change--acted quickly. Of course, the excitement resulting from the resolution of the problem is testimony to the low expectations most Harvard students have come to have toward the administration. Hopefully, the University will use this action as an example for quickly resolving future mix-ups and responding to students concerns.