Core Still Restricts Student Choice

As classes begin this week, we are elated by the cornucopia of new courses in some departments and depressed at the dearth of options in many Core subcommittees.

The English Department alone is offering 44 new courses, while the Anthropology Department is offering multitudes more. These are not stodgy courses, either: exciting new offerings include a seminar on the anthropology of knowledge and lecture courses on the literature of California and Asian-American literature. In addition, the English department is adding an introductory three-class sequence in American literature.

But while these departments are embracing all comers, offerings in the Core Curriculum seem smaller than they have ever been. As a result, Core classes may seem larger than they have ever been. While Foreign Cultures is offering seven courses, Moral Reasoning is putting forth a measly two--and only one more in the spring. Most of the Cores in between offer anywhere from four to six classes this semester.

As if that weren't enough, some of the Core areas offer courses so narrow in scope as to be ridiculous. For instance, the courses that count for Historical Study B cover the French Revolution, World War I and the Warren Court, 1953-1969. Period. While all of these periods and events are crucial to any person's understanding of specific historical occurrences, simply learning about one of them does not make an educated person. Which leads us to our old conclusion that the Core should allow survey courses like History 10, which teach not only methods but actual facts and dates.

We look forward to shopping both departmental and Core courses and sampling the rich variety Harvard has to offer. We wish, however, that we were less constrained by the Core's shackles.