Thoughts on Columbia's (and others) Core Curriculum..

<p>I've been thinking about this for a while. The CC community seems to either bash/love Columbia's core curriculum. I'm thinking about applying to Columbia, but the Core is scaring me a little. However, I looked at a few other top colleges, and they also contain somewhat of a core.</p>

<p>So I'm interested to see what everyone else thinks. Is the Columbia Core that much larger than the Cores of other top colleges (HYPS)? Do you guys consider the Core useful, or is it mostly a waste of time? What are the arguments for and against an unstructured environment like Brown?</p>

<p>Those schools have distribution requirements, not Cores. Cores are very specific classes you must take, whereas distribution requirements say you must take N number of classes in subjects X, Y, Z, so English majors are forced to do SOME math and math majors have to learn SOME writing skills.</p>

<p>I did not have a core at my school but I wish I did, because I think it’s very useful and necessary. The lessons of Plato, Aristotle, etc are timeless, and better than satisfying a history requirement through “history of music”–and MUCH better than simply letting students pick whatever they want with no restrictions. I’m going to go out on a limb and say that Jacques Barzun (that intellectual beacon of the 20th century who protected Columbia’s Core from the intellectual barbarians of 1960s radicalism) has a better idea of what someone must learn to truly be called “educated” than an 18 year old from New Jersey with a Brown University course book.</p>

<p>But it matters more what YOU will get from your education. While there’s something to be said for everyone knowing the same thing and sharing “culture”, if that’s extended too far you lose out on niches. Is Aristotle important? Yes. Is it important that everyone understand the difference between empiricism and rationalism? While it’s interesting, and good to know, not everyone needs to know it. And even those who sit in on a class explaining it won’t necessarily acquire the knowledge necessary to work with the information.</p>

<p>Cores are great if you’re interested in the information anyways. If you’re not, you’ll end up not even bothering with the reading, forcing yourself to quickly write papers you don’t care about. But, cores at the same time tell you that you’re not mature enough to be able to craft your own education. For some people, this is probably true: you might not have confidence in your own ability to pick challenging, rigorous courses that will encourage deep, provoking thought. But, for the student who has unique interests, and who has confidence in their ability to craft their own education, a core (and even a distribution requirement) isn’t necessary: such a student will choose courses that challenge them, while at the same time being interesting and pushing that student in new directions of thought.</p>

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<p>If you are about 18 years old, this is the normal state-of-affairs. </p>

<p>A Core curriculum sets up a common framework to examine important ideas. The examining is not very much about information. It is more about a process you share with a mentor and 10 or 15 other students to consider those ideas from multiple perspectives. Together you try to understand those perspectives and form judgments about them. </p>

<p>This is a very practical kind of education for thoughtful people who value informed, principled, and democratic decision-making. You have to decide whether it is important to you to be that kind of person living in that kind of community. </p>

<p>Personal learning style comes into play. Film-maker Ken Burns went to Hampshire College. I assume he made the most of that experience (and did not somehow succeed in spite of it.)</p>

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<p>Mortimer Adler played a leading role in developing the Core and “Great Books” programs at Columbia, Chicago, and Encyclopedia Britannica. He wrote a little book entitled Aristotle for Everybody: Difficult Thought Made Easy. It is an easy read and addresses this question pretty well. You can download it from Amazon as an eBook.</p>