On Monday, Oct. 17, the Editorial Board expressed general support of the “piece-by-piece approach to revamping the curriculum.” I would like to follow up by echoing that support but also by raising a broader point about our curriculum given the imminent advent of book-bagging season.
Some are quick criticize the fact that our curriculum has reached its 11-year-old birthday free of a comprehensive overhaul. These people may be forgetting that student interaction with any curriculum is far and beyond its most defining factor and that we may, in effect, be devaluing our very own Curriculum 2000. Here is how: We are all guilty of occasionally falling into the lull of interacting with the curriculum as a lifeless set of requirements, as a checklist of sorts. More often than not, when the new semester’s courses are released, the majority of our schedules are mysteriously (and prematurely) cemented: There is little excitement or exploration stemming from the prospect of the hundreds of courses taught by leading scholars from which we can choose.
At 12:01 on Oct. 24, let us all try to remember that the curriculum is lifeless, even nonexistent, without the students who interact with it. As those students, it is our responsibility to fight the urge to fall to the lowest energy state, to leverage this opportunity to encounter new disciplines and the fresh perspectives that they offer.
Respectfully,
Kaveh Danesh, Trinity ’12
DSG Vice President for Academic Affairs
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