'Need No Education'? New Classes Counter

For years, the Harvard College Course Catalogue had maintained a Pink Floyd philosophy: “We don’t need no education.” But this fall, two professors have unrolled undergraduate courses on American education—and their classrooms are filling up.

The Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) debuted Government 1368, “The Politics of American Education,” and History 1637, “The History of American Education, 1636-2000.”

Shattuck Professor of Government Paul E. Peterson, who teaches Gov 1368, said he developed the course because of the demand he perceived among the student body for a class on educational policy—despite what he described as a lack of enthusiasm among some of his colleagues for the idea.

Though his class eventually attracted about 100 students, Peterson said that there is “a lot of animosity” in FAS towards the field of education because many do not consider it a legitimate field of study.

Peterson, who also directs the Kennedy School of Goverment’s Program on Education Policy and Governance, said that “a senior person on the faculty” advised him not to offer the course.

The former dean of the Graduate School of Education, Ellen C. Lagemann, whose History 1637 is geared toward undergraduates, also found that her lecture class on education attracted more students than anticipated.

Lagemann said she was told by “other people in her department” to expect anywhere from zero to 18 students, but the course wound up drawing just under 60 undergraduates.

She added though that her department was generally supportive of her proposal for the course, which examines education since the colonial era from all angles, including within families and religious institutions.

Other universities are starting to expand offerings on education in their curricula, according to Peterson.

“We are just on the cusp of treating education as a significant topic at colleges and universities because something that includes 50 million students, Hundreds of thousands of employees, and billions and billions of dollars, is too important to be left off the academic agenda much longer,” Peterson said.

Peterson previously taught a Gov junior seminar on education, but he said the demand for the course was always greater than the number of available spots.

“The more Harvard kids that we can get involved in education, the better this country will be,” said Lagemann.