Recent Student Complaints Highlight Increased Core Difficulty, Workload

Hundreds flocked into Science Center C during shopping period for the first lecture of Science A-39: "Time," a Core course offered for the first time this year. Attracted by a seemingly light workload, many non-science concentrators registered for the course, only to find now, halfway through the semester, that Science A-39 is taking up much more time than they imagined.

"They need to reexamine the difficulty or the speed, perhaps, that they go through the material. Since it is the first time that it is being offered, they should really listen to what the students have to say about it," Katherine O'Neil '01, a student in Time, said.

Teaching fellows for the course, however, are divided.

"If you have not had physics, there is definitely a fair amount of catching up to do at the beginning of the course," Geoffrey Dixon, a TF for the course, said.

But Alexia E. Schulz, head TF for the course, defended its structure and said Time is "absolutely targeted toward the general student population."

"It's a self-contained course; there are no prerequisites," she added.

It has been a common phenomenon in the history of the Core: students register for core courses expecting guts, only to be confounded by hundreds of pages of reading, multiple problem sets and unexpectedly complicated theories each week. But this year, the problem seems endemic. Once passable courses like Literature & Arts B-51: "First Nights" are toughening their standards.

Francis Chen '00, who took First Nights last fall, said that the teaching staff has assigned more work over the past two years.

"It just seems like there are more written assignments," Chen said. "My friends who are taking it now have more restrictions on the papers they have to write. When the class becomes too much of a burden on people, it's not as enjoyable."

Chen said the increased stringency of First Nights may reflect and effort to strengthen all courses on the part of the Core Committee.

But teaching fellows for the courses said the Core has always aimed to challenge students within the program, and that this year is no exception.

"Some people think [the Core] should be [easier], but I don't know that that is a goal of the Core necessarily," said Jane K. Cramer, a teaching assistant for Historical Studies A-51: "Modern World Economy."

"It's pretty challenging," Cramer said of the course, admitting that already, "Some of the students complained."

"The thing that's challenging about this course is the reading load," she said. "We stress to them to prioritize reading...if they had those skills they could handle it."

But students' reading skills may not be at fault. The difficulty level of the course, in student's eyes, seems to be its demands in relation to its presentation during shopping period. Cramer said students have questioned the course's difficulty not in comparison to other History courses, but to those within the Core itself.

"I've had questions from [students] asking if this is an ordinary Core course, or harder than an ordinary course," she said.

Marc G. Metakis '99, who is taking Time as an elective, said he wishes the course would focus more on general concepts rather than detailed problem sets.

"Five years from now, I'm not going to care if I can solve these problems. I'm going to care if I can talk about the theories and the general ideas that we're supposed to learn about in this course."

An ordinary Core course, student said, should live up to the program's promise and target the general student population. Problems arise when the workload or difficulty of the course isn't in line with this goal, and the result may be student's self-selecting within Core offerings based on previous experience.

David M. Nicoll '02, a student in Moral Reasoning 28: "Ethics and International Relations," said although those in the class have a wide range of experience, many had already been exposed to the subject matter.

"I do think there is a big discrepancy in

exposure to the topic beforehand," Nicoll said."This course sort of selects for the people whohave experience."

But one of the course's instructors said hedoes not make a distinction between materialtaught in Core courses and inter-departmentalcourses. Revisions in the syllabus do not seemlikely.

"In terms of scope and of range or readings, Idon't feel I have sacrificed anything," saidStanley Hoffman, C. Douglas Dillon professor ofthe civilization of France.

Even those in Time may not see much change incourse demands. Although the teaching staff saidthey plan to revise the class based on students'concerns this semester, changes will probably notbe seen until next year.

"I think it's always going to be challenging tounderstand the concepts involved," Dixon said."But there can be a lot of fine tuning in that.

"That can make the job of taking the coursesignificantly easier than it is now, or at leastmake [students] more comfortable about this beingat the Core course level," he added

exposure to the topic beforehand," Nicoll said."This course sort of selects for the people whohave experience."

But one of the course's instructors said hedoes not make a distinction between materialtaught in Core courses and inter-departmentalcourses. Revisions in the syllabus do not seemlikely.

"In terms of scope and of range or readings, Idon't feel I have sacrificed anything," saidStanley Hoffman, C. Douglas Dillon professor ofthe civilization of France.

Even those in Time may not see much change incourse demands. Although the teaching staff saidthey plan to revise the class based on students'concerns this semester, changes will probably notbe seen until next year.

"I think it's always going to be challenging tounderstand the concepts involved," Dixon said."But there can be a lot of fine tuning in that.

"That can make the job of taking the coursesignificantly easier than it is now, or at leastmake [students] more comfortable about this beingat the Core course level," he added