Study Supports Integrity Courses

Students who exit Harvard Yard via Dexter Gate are reminded to “Depart to serve better thy country and thy kind.” A recent study by the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AACU) hopes to reinforce this goal.

The study found that both students and professionals at the 23 universities surveyed think that they have an obligation to teach classes on personal and social responsibilities to better prepare students for the world after college.

The survey asked whether a number of topics—such as cultivating personal and academic integrity—should have a major focus in college, as well as whether the participants feel that these subjects are currently emphasized enough in today’s curricula.

Nancy O’Neill, the director of programs in the Office of Education and Institutional Renewal at the AACU, said that the survey found a disconnect between peoples’ ideal courses and the reality of implementation.

“Ideally, the survey respondents were saying that campuses would make issues of personal and social responsibility a real focus of their curriculum, activities, and other aspects of the campus,” she said.

According to Harvard Philosophy Professor Thomas M. Scanlon, Jr., the College’s moral reasoning Core requirement is in line with the idea that students should be taught personal and social responsibility.

“It’s good that, in the Moral Reasoning Core division, it is part of a student’s education to read some of the interesting things people have written on such topics and then reflect on them,” Scanlon said.

The new General Education curriculum will require Harvard students to learn even more about personal and social responsibilities.

“The difference between the Core and the General Education curriculum as planned is that the Core focuses on narrow disciplinary approaches to knowledge, whereas the General Education curriculum is focused on practical and relevant topics of interest, including ethics and social behavior,” said John M. Sheffield II ’09, a student on the General Education Standing Committee.

Two new categories in particular—Ethical Reasoning and The United States in the World—will encourage students to become more socially responsible.

Former Dean of the College Harry R. Lewis ’68 has been a proponent of incorporating such themes into the new Gen Ed curriculum.

“A college education is supposed to help you learn to be a responsible adult and a good citizen,” Lewis said. “Ultimately, what universities do is convey civilization from one generation to the next.”