Broad Gen Ed Courses Will Promote Innovative Teaching

To the editors:



Re: “‘Difficult Marriage’ Marriage Ends,” news, May 17.

Your reporting of my remarks at the Faculty of Arts and Sciences meeting on Tuesday suggested that I was dissatisfied with our committee’s proposed general education reforms because they would allow any and all departmental courses to count for general education distribution. Although I now feel that we should in fact encourage departments to develop and identify courses particularly suitable for general education and for non-concentrators, I do not want to leave the impression that I repent of the report on general education.

In fact, what I wanted to emphasize was my strong support for the general education recommendations and my hope that the Faculty could soon reach consensus on its basic features—a major feature of which would be the broad, encompassing courses designed particularly for this program. I believe they will engender a significant renewal of innovative teaching, valuable for faculty and students together.



CHARLES S. MAIER ’60

Cambridge, Mass.

May 17, 2006



The writer is Saltonstall Professor of History.