Such meetings not only reaffirm the purpose of the Nat Scis: "to provide science courses at the introductory level which have general rather than specialists education as their primary aim . . ." but also provide cross-pollination of ideas to mutual benefit.
There are occasional General Education dinners, at which mutual problems are discussed, but Taylor feels that in addition the idea of the Natural Science meetings could be usefully adopted by the Social Sciences. For he emphasizes the importance of the experimental spirit: "the problem is to strike a balance between healthy experimentation and the necessary requirements of a regular routine."
Persistent Prerequisite
This diversity and experimental nature are perhaps even more apparent in the advanced courses. For here, they afford the opportunity for courses which might otherwise not be possible. There is no particular focus or rationale on the upper level, except to encourage courses which cross departmental lines, or which could not fit conveniently into any single field of concentration.
The program thus allows Louis Hartz, for example, to teach "Democratic Theory and Its Critics"--which includes at least the departments of History and Government, or Harlow Shapley to teach "Cosmography" for which the only prerequisite is "persistent curiosity." Indeed, according to Hartz, the courses should not fit into any pattern, nor focus on any goal. Instead, "they should survive on their individual merits."
The difficulty, however, is that General Education is no longer a newborn child, who by his simple existence provokes the grins and gentle pats of his relatives. Rather, the new child has grown into a gangling adolescent, whose existence is no longer marveled at, and whose presence is taken almost for granted. Herein lies the broad problem facing the newly-appointed Murdock, and his staff. The experimental novelty of the General Education program is gone; the need for spirited teaching and imaginatively-conceived courses is not.
The first part of the problem is that aptly summarized by Taylor: "an inherent danger in any system is that it institutionalizes . . . there is an inevitable tendency toward security." For General Education, must allow a certain degree of stability and continuity from year to year in existing courses, if only to make them manageable for professors and teaching fellows.
The second and more significant problem is to continue attracting faculty members into the program. "The people who are in the program are still captivated," notes Stephen R. Graubard, executive secretary of the General Education committee. "The problem is to maintain this enthusiasm among the non-General Education faculty."
The Elder Statesman
President Pusey asserts that "my interest is that the entire faculty continues its awareness and sense of responsibility for General Education. It should not have to become the property of the small group of faculty members who love it." His selection of Murdock to succeed Philip J. Rhinelander '29 is then both a logical and reassuring one.
For Murdock is a former Dean of the Faculty and English professor--an "elder statesman" of the College as holds the respect necessary to induce men to teach General Education courses, and both the academic and administrative back-ground to make the program work smoothly. Further, selection of a man of his stature reflects deep interest on the part of the administration.
He himself is "not greatly concerned with any single theory of General Education," but rather with the individual teacher. Murdock's feeling is that General Education, in an era of ever-increasing specialization, needs greater not less emphasis.
Programs similar to general education have degenerated into mere surveys whose apparent purpose is to make their students "better readers of the New York Times." Murdock feels that a primary criterion at Harvard should continue to be that "every course fits people better than they would other wise be fitted to live in our free society." But not from a Five-Foot Shelf. "I hope what we offer," he smiles, "can't all be put on a shelf.