<p>Parents (particularly those of you born in the 50s or early 60s), did you ever walk through the house with your kids and point out all the things that didnt exist when you were a kid or that didnt exist when you were in college? I do this once in a while with my daughter. Shes always amazed. (You mean they didnt have microwaves when you were a kid??) It gets to be a pretty long list. </p>
<p>Well, my youngest is starting college in a couple of years. As I peruse the college catalogs and brochures shes received, its amazing how much has changed in the curriculum since I was in college from 1970 to 1975 (and grad school in the early 80s).</p>
<p>I made two informal lists: one dealing with curriculum and the other dealing with lifestyle and material items that changed since I was in college. Theyre just my impressions. Particularly for the curriculum changes, they do not necessarily apply to all colleges and universities. Feel free to add to these lists.</p>
<p>Curriculum List:</p>
<p>Agriculture: The proliferation of departments that existed in Ag colleges has been consolidated into a smaller number of departments. There is more integration of some ag science departments with other bioscience departments, e.g. Division of Biological Sciences that cuts across the College of Agriculture and College of Arts & Sciences. Agricultural Engineering (mostly farm mechanization) morphed Biological Engineering.
American Studies: American studies programs have proliferated. New course topic: Suburbs
Anthropology: New course topics: medical anthropology, global health, markets & commodities/globalization, cross-cultural gender roles/sexuality, anthropology of food.
Art: Art dept. course offerings expanded to include film/video and other digital media. Some art departments focus expanded to visual & environmental studies.
Asian American Studies: Few, if any, courses offered and had not yet become a program/department when I was in college;.
Asian Languages: When I was in college, the trend At larger universities was to have separate departments for each region of Asia. Now many universities have consolidated course offerings into a single Asian Languages Dept. Asian languages are offered at a much larger number of schools (apart from the original federally-funded language & area studies centers) than when I was in college.
Biology: At many universities, Biology Departments split into two departments: Ecology & Evolution and Molecular Biology. Due to proliferation of knowledge, more schools offer sub-majors at the undergrad level. New interdisciplinary programs: computational biology, neuroscience. Many more courses on ecology are offered. Courses on pathology and pharmacology are showing up in the undergrad course offerings; previously such courses primarily were graduate-level offerings. Field biology courses are no limited to nearby habitats but also include courses in Central America or other tropical habitats.. Courses in marine biology are more widely available outside the few specialized marine labs that existed when I was in college. New course topics: reproductive biology, biotechnology, stem cells.
Black Studies: Emerged as a legitimate discipline; later combined with African Studies to form Africana Studies. Teaching of African languages at many more universities than when I was in college.
Business: Some universities got rid of undergraduate business programs as theyre apparently not as prestigious as graduate schools of management. New specialties: international business, entrepreneurship.
Capstone Courses: More universities offer these in their majors.
Celtic Studies: More universities offer courses in Irish/Irish Studies
Chemistry: Biochemistry re-integrated into Chemistry Departments as Chemical Biology. New course topics: Nanoscience; environmental chemistry. Often, sections of organic chemistry specifically geared to life science students are offered instead of just a general course in organic chemistry.
Civil Engineering morphed Civil & Environmental Engineering, although it always had sanitary engineering.
Classics: New Tracks in Classical Civilization (classics in translation); More programs offer Byzantine Greek; more programs offer Medieval Latin; courses in Modern Greek/Hellenic Studies added.
Computer Science: No personal computers when I was in college. New course topics: cryptography, networks, human-computer interfaces, security, robotics, bioinformatics, virtual reality.
Criminal Justice: Developed as a field in its own right, departments of CJ proliferated.
Distribution Requirements: Course requirements loosened or dropped altogether. A shift occurred from specific required courses to broad categories such as moral reasoning, social analysis, etc. Requirements added for multicultural and cross-cultural courses. Western Civ: the canon was broadened.
East Asian Languages: More universities and colleges offer these languages; addition of Korean to course offerings; addition of Chinese for heritage speakers; more courses on Chinese medicine, science, technology; new course topics: Asian film/popular culture; courses on women writers; Central Asia; Chinese and Japanese linguistics courses (previously primarily a graduate topic); Chinese for heritage speakers. More opportunities to major in Southeast Asian languages; more universities offer a wider range of Southeast Asian Languages.
Economics: New Topics: Behavioral Economics, Microfinance, Environmental Economics, Globalization, Health Economics. More Finance courses in Economics Depts. Fewer courses on Marxism or comparative economic systems.
Engineering: New course topics and specializations: Energy, Semiconductors, Solar Energy, Green Engineering/Sustainable Design. Electrical Engineering morphed into Electrical & Computer Engineering.
English: Courses added in womens studies, gender studies, African American literature, sub-altern literature, global English, Jewish-American literature, nature writing, postmodern literary theory; more creative writing courses and programs offered including courses on creative nonfiction and screen writing; courses on global English. Often, Freshman Composition replaced by topical freshman writing seminars and writing through the curriculum. Film courses added; critical theory. Courses on journalism added to some liberal arts English depts..
Environmental Studies: Courses on environment added to many disciplines. New course topics: Climate Change, Energy,
Film Studies: Emerged as a field in its own right. Film courses widely available. Courses on national cinemas became common in language depts.
Foreign Languages: Some universities now add language citations/certification to diplomas. More availability of language houses/dorms, language tables.
Foreign Study/Study Abroad: Much more common now, and in many more non-European locations.
French: New course topics: Francophone literature, business French
Freshman Seminars: More universities/colleges began to offer these.
Geography: Departments discontinued by some universities (e.g., Chicago, Michigan, Northwestern). New course topics: GIS, environmental studies.
Geology: Now termed Earth & Planetary Science at many universities---expanded to include courses on Atmospheric Science/Meteorology; some former Meteorology programs are now in this dept.; New course topics: environmental aspects, climate change.
German: Shift to German studies with courses on German cultural/intellectual history; German film courses; business German,
History: New course topics: African American History, Womens History, World History; Environmental History, Native American History; Immigration; Vietnam; increased offerings in Middle Eastern History; Christian-Muslim Relations, Jewish History, European Colonialism, Eastern European history; greater focus on social history
History of Science: More special topic courses (as opposed to chronological surveys) including history of psychiatry, public health, drugs; ancient medicine; history of technology; asian science and medicine
Home Economics morphed into Human Ecology.
Industrial Engineering/Operations Research: Began to include Financial Engineering at some university
Library Science morphed into Information Science.
Linguistics: Linguistics courses and majors are now more widely available. New course topics: sociolinguistics; computational linguistics
Literature: New course topics: postmodernist literary criticism. Courses in folklore more widely available.
Music: New course topics: Electronic Music, Ethnomusicology, Popular Music (funk, hip-hop, jazz, musical theatre)
Near Eastern Studies: More colleges offer Arabic, Jewish Studies; proliferation of courses on Islam, Jewish history.
Nuclear Engineering: Due to changed public perceptions, etc., many program closed, but now growing again
Philosophy: New course topics: bioethics, human rights, social justice, environmental ethics, cognition
Physical Education morphed into Kinesiology.
Physics: Some depts. Incorporated astronomy from previously separate astronomy depts.
Politics: New course topics: gender & politics, environmental policy/politics; political rhetoric/communication, minority politics, human rights, practical aspects of elections, immigration, political & international ethics, foreign aid, interbational environmental policy, representation/inequality/democracy, comparative democracy; peace studies; Islamic politics; religion & politics, Asian foreign relations, international political economy; genocide; terrorism; Arab-Israeli conflict. More methodology courses offered at undergrad level. Courses on Soviet politics shifted to Russian Politics.
Psychology: New course topics: cognitive science, behavioral neurology. positive psychology, evolutionary psychology, psychology of law, gender, animal cogntion, decision-making, autism, health psychology, experimental psychopathology, sleep. More undergrad methods courses offered. More options offered for intro psy. Interdisciplinary majors in Neuroscience, cognition/language/neuroscience/philosophy.
Religion: New course topics: Native American religions, bioethics, Judaic studies, Islamic studies (greatly expanded), Catholic studies.
Romance Languages: more courses in Romance linguistics now offered at undergrad level---previously, primarily at graduate-level.
Spanish & Portuguese: New course topics: Spanish film, Community Spanish, Spanish for Heritage Speakers, business Spanish. Course offerings in Portuguese expanded as well as opportunities to major in Portuguese.
Science: Integrated Sequences in basic courses. Offerings of limited-topic introductory courses for non-science majors expanded.
Seminars: More widespread at the undergrad level than when I went to college.
Slavic: Due to small number of majors, often combined into a German & Slavic Dept.previously more independent Russian & Slavic depts. More courses and majors in other Slavic languages. New course topic: Russian for heritage speakers
Sociology: New course topics: gender
South Asian Studies: Courses offered at more universities and in a greater number of South Asian languages
Speech Pathology morphed into Communication Disorders or Speech & Hearing Sciences. Some programs previously were located in a speech department but split off into a separate department.
Theatre & Dance: new course topics: ethnic and foreign theatre & dance; many more liberal arts schools added offerings in performing arts.
Womens & Gender Studies: Emerged as a legitimate discipline; later combined with Gender/Sexuality Studies at many universities.
Writing Centers: Didnt exist when I went to college.</p>
<p>Lifestyle & Material Aspects:
When I went to college, we had no computers, iPods, Twitter, Facebook, cell phones or email. We had typewriters. When computers did appear in the early 80s, there were a lot of Apple IIs, not many Macs, but that has changed. Except for expensive Macs, PCs used MS-DOS. The first printers were dot-matrix and used pin-fed perforated sheets. I still received course handouts that were mimeographed.When laptops later came on the scene, they were heavy and expensive and for businessmen. Of course, we didnt have wired classrooms and dorms, and certainly no Wi-Fi on campus. Graphs were done with plastic press-on lettering on poster board or drawn using a lightbox. I sent real letters home to my parents; log distance calls were expensive. We didnt use backpacks for books---they were for backpacking in the woods and across Europe. We didnt wear baseball caps, have tattoos, or piercings. We sometimes wore gym shoes but running shoes were for the track team and they had spikes. There were no athletic store within the store bookstores. Some students still used slide rules; calculators were expensive and for engineers. Books were expensive but not as much as now. Books were lighter weight and had no CD-roms or online tie-ins. The print shop might do some course packs, but largely you were on your own. Copy machines were not everywhere and when they did proliferate they used heavy, glossy paper that faded over time. Of course, we didnt have copy cards. We didnt have Rec buildings with fitness centers and climbing walls. There wrent many co-ed dorms. We had student-run coffee-houses, but no Starbucks. We didnt have McDonalds in the student center. In fact, there werent a lot of fast food places at all. We didnt have many menu options in the dining hall---certainly not vegetarian. We had no theft detection devices in the library and checkout did not use barcodes. Our libraries were for books, not computerized learning centers. We had no coffee shops in the library. Since thee were no computers, we did not access course syllabi or course materials online, register online, read journals online, or search the library catalog online. Some professors let you smoke in the classroom. Not so many students brought cars to college. You could work a summer job and with a relatively modest loan or grant, cover your expenses. People did not apply to 10 or 15 schools, and everyone didnt think he should go to an elite school. There were no USNWR ratings. In some states, any high school graduate could go to the flagship state university, though, of course, they flunked out after the first semester. Thee were more single sex colleges. Thee were no mega-bookstores or online textbook stores. There were more independent bookstores. Students didnt have credit cards. There were no ATM machines. Thee were no microwaves in dorm rooms. We had stereos and record players with records. Yogurt wasnt a popular snack. You loaded the station wagon not the SUV or truck to go off to college. No many people jogged and no one drank bottled water. We had no designer labels, except Levis. There were no many teams for womens sports. Our football teams hoped to go to the Rose Bowl, Cotton Bowl, or Orange Bowl; the other bowl games didnt matter. (Of course, participants in the big 3 bowl games were limited to certain conferences.) I dont think we started classes until after Labor Day, and we probably didnt take first semester exams until after Christmas.</p>