European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - September 15, 1978, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Doily Magazine my colleges get Tough by Daniel q. Haney associated press at Harvard yes even Harvard a Stu Dent can Glide through four years of the most prestigious Liberal arts training in americ and never read a novel or study a  with names such As Man the Peculiar primate and aesthetics of film comedy fulfil the Basic requirements for a degree. It s easy to elude biology and Shakespeare. This Freedom or anarchy depending on Point of View flowered in the Heady Days of the late 1960s, when old rules went out of style with haircuts. But freshmen arriving at College this fall Are find ing a new trend academic standards Are coming Back in  in this As in Many areas of Academia Harvard is taking the Lead. Some schools Are watching to see How it comes out others Are Rushing in with curriculum changes of their own. Beginning in the fall of 1979, Harvard students will have to take courses in five specific areas and they la have to prove they can write do math and read a foreign language. The purpose says Dean Henry Rosovsky the courtly architect of the new plan is to make sure students get what they pay for a Liberal education. Or As he puts it become educated  the movement at Harvard began four years ago when Rosovsky sent a letter to the faculty of arts and sciences that complained at the moment to be an educated Man or woman does t mean anything. It May mean that you be de signed your own curriculum. It May mean that you know All about Urban this or Rural that. But there is no common  there Are obvious similarities Between what is going on at Harvard and other colleges and the Back to basics movement in elementary and High schools. Though Rosovsky cringes when he hears that phrase applied to his plan to him it sounds As if Harvard is teach ing remedial Reading which it is not he acknowledges that the efforts Spring from the same concern. Both Are attempts to make sure that students master a Basic Core of skills whether these Are Reading writing and arithmetic in Grade school or science language and literature in College. It seems to me to be legitimate to ask of an educated person the ability to read and write our Lan Guage properly says Rosovsky. I Hope that it will move Forward to a modernized concept of Liberal education. We re not going tit ask All our students to do the same thing. They will have a consider Able  what Harvard will ask is that students Sample the Cen trial themes of human knowledge. They must take 10 semester Long courses in five areas literature and the arts. One literature course one in Fine arts or music and one that shows the links be tween literature and the arts. History. One course covering a contemporary problem and another interpreting an event from an earlier Era. Social and philosophical analysis. A social science course such As psychology or economics and a course focusing on ethics Law and politics. Science and math. One course in physical science or math and another in biological or behavioural science. Foreign culture. One course concerning a foreign Cul Ture or language. This Core curriculum As it is called will be made up of about 100 courses. In addition students will have to prove they can read a foreign language do algebra and write English. A Basic curriculum is nothing new. The last big shakeup was in the mid-1940s, when Harvard started Gen eral education or Gen de to people in Cambridge. Students have to pick 10 courses from a list of about 90. But the three major categories natural and social sciences and the humanities Are so softly defined that they Are almost meaningless. We went through a period in education when people were unwilling to state priorities with clarity says Rosovsky. And As a result almost anything was capable of becoming general education and therefore the original goals of supplying a Broad education were frequently  tie people at Harvard Are not the Only ones worrying about this. Ernest Boyer the . Commissioner of education has Dean Henry Rosovsky wants to make sure students get what they pay for. Friday september 15, 1978 a said today a social science requirement can be met by a course in latin american history but also by watch ing the Adams chronicles on television or by making tape recordings of grandma flipping through the family photo  administrators say Many students seem to Wel come the trend. Students seem to be satisfied to see the pendulum swing Back to academic authority said president Shel Don Hackney of Tulane. The pressures of the Job Market have impressed them with the advantages of both grades and rigor. I see very Little student resistance and quite a bit of support. They Are asking for More  several big universities such As the University of Chi Cago and Northwestern have set up new Core programs. A new one at the University of Missouri resembles Harvard s. Says assistant Provost Charles Manning Overall there is a feeling that the University has a responsibility to define what a Liberal education is and that it should not be totally a student s  Dean Daniel Bedsole of Austin College agrees there is a desire among students for More Structure and for More authority. Students today seem to be very concerned about their education and want to be told what makes  the faculty at Amherst which dropped All course requirements during the 1960s, is debating a return to a mandatory program. And a special task Force at Stanford has urged the faculty to prepare a statement that de scribes the skills and knowledge any Stanford graduate should have  not everyone is willing to go along with the move ment. Yale for instance recently rejected a propos Al for new course requirements. And at Brown which abolished Core courses in 1969, Dean Walter e. Massey says we feel our flexible curriculum is Best for our students. It offers the Best Chance to grow responsibly and  educators predict that some schools will avoid making requirements tougher because this could scare away potential students. College costs Are already astounding $8,000 a year some places and the clientele is diminishing. Between 1979 and 1992, the number of 18-year-Olds in the United states will fall 26 percent. Even when no one is quite satisfied with the current curriculum fashioning a new one is no easy Job in the political world of a College Campus. At Harvard for instance the Harvard Crimson editorialized that the proposal s rigid requirements simply do not allow students enough Freedom to gain what they set As a balanced  Harvard s faculty approved the new curriculum by a 182-65 vote but Only after much tugging Over what would go into it. Some observers compared the debate to grand opera basses booming science sopranos Trilling Litera Ture tenors crooning languages All in intricate trios from opposite Corners of the stage. Rosovsky says such argument is necessary. Colleges have to study themselves. We Are under great pressures. We have to make certain that the product that we have is really Worth the great amount of time and Money that we require from  the stars and stripes Page 13