<p>I know sections of Lit. Hum are taught by grad. students. How good are these classes? Anyone heard any horror stories, a la Harvard? I know there are some people who loved Lit Hum/CC (and I think I would) but I don't want to be stuck with a new grad student teaching it. Hopefully I'd get someone like the professor in David Denby's "Great Books"</p>
<p>Sadly, Professor Edward Tayler left Columbia in an act of protect (according to the Spec) after the University abandoned the core introductory writing course he worked to establish, Logic and Rhetoric, for a more traditional course entitled University Writing. I won't be taking LitHum until next semester, so in the mean time you might want to check <a href="http://www.culpa.info%5B/url%5D">www.culpa.info</a> -- a website where students rate their Columbia undergraduate professors. Just be careful -- most ratings are either in the very good or very bad column. There's little middle group and most depends on the individual situation.</p>
<p>Checking culpa is good advice. My son is taking LitHum this year and has found it "great." The experience obviously depends not just on the teacher but on the other students in the class, since it is meant to be discussion based. They do not let new grad students teach it. They are fifth or sixth year grad students at the least (often in their seventh or eighth year), have typically already taught University Writing, and they get training from the Core office as well as weekly lectures on the texts. Ironically, professors typically get no training in teaching at all. My son's teacher is in her first year teaching LitHum, but already has completed her Masters in Comp Lit and is working on her PhD thesis. She taught University Writing for several years and got rave student reviews. While a professor might have more knowledge of every text, she is much more generous with her time and attention than professors are likely to be. She requires each student to see her at least twice a semester, but encourages them to see her as often as they like, and especially likes it when they bounce their ideas off her before writing a paper. She writes long comments on each paper (I've seen them and recognize how time consuming it is to react to 88 papers a semester with that kind of depth) and yet turns them back promptly. He says she is also excellent at leading and encouraging discussion, and she is obviously extremely smart. So, LitHum for my son has lived up to its billing as a class in which 22 students together really engage the ideas in the texts.</p>
<p>This is not to say, of course, that there is any guarantee that your experience would be the same. Just to point out that you shouldn't be afraid of getting a grad student -- or teaching fellow as they're called -- because they quite often get better student evaluations than professors. It's been our observation that Columbia really does care a lot about LitHum and the other core classes.</p>
<p>My son did hate the new addition to the core this year, Frontiers of Science, as did all his friends. I think they've taken on an impossible challenge with that -- trying to fashion a course that fits both science and humanities types. They've put a huge amount of effort into the class and the lectures, but I predict it will not last.</p>
<p>Yeah, I heard stuff about a new science core when I visited last summer. So it's in place already? So that means all incoming freshmen will have it too, huh. Does anyone know what kind of material the science core covers?</p>
<p>Below is a link to the Core page on Columbia's website. If you scroll down there is a link to each part of the Core. Snoop around and you can find out a great deal.</p>
<p>Yeah, I've explored that culpa site and I'm extremely impressed with what I've read. [Loves Columbia]</p>
<p>wow...this is a really informative site</p>
<p>hence the ending of .info</p>