"The non-Western societies have latched on torationality, which is Western in origin," Bissonsays. "But the great Eastern societies areterribly important for knowledge of religion andphilosophy."

Professors in the History Department who teachnon-European history agree that the content of theintroductory survey should be European.

"We are living in a Western world. Much of ourlife is influenced by Western history, just ascitizens and members of a culture," says HigginsonProfessor of History and of East Asian Languagesand Civilization Philip A. Kuhn '54.

"Beside, the world is all of a piece now," hesays. "It's impossible to study Chinese Historywithout knowing European history."

Hrushevs'kyi Professor of Ukrainian HistoryRoman Szporluk agrees.

European history, Szporluk says, is animportant prerequisite to understanding lessfrequently studied areas such as his ownspecialty, areas he calls "exotica."

"Even if you know there are many things thathave been neglected, you still have to knowmainline history to understand those things youthink have been neglected," Szporluk says. "Howelse do you know if they're important?"

Even traditionalist faculty say they areenthusiastic about Higonnet's cross between thenew and the customary.

"The students are missing out," Bisson says. Heattributes the low enrollments in Higonnet's classto "a collective misjudgment, a herd instinct."

But Higonnet says he has taken the student"misjudgment" to heart enough to considerreworking the class again.

His History 10b is "pitched at too high alevel" for students with little background, hesays.

"It's not an intellectual mistake, but it's notwhat the public wanted," says Higonnet. "I have torework it, to make it more canonical."

The department is considering a differentmethod for boosting History 10b's enrollment,however: making it a Core class.

Next year the department will experiment withthe course, reshaping it to fit within the Coreguidelines, Professor of History James Hankinssays.

Since the Core guidelines do not permittraditional surveys, this move would require allprofessors teaching History 10--which would beboth a department class and a Core--to make theirapproach thematic, like Higonnet's.