The newest piece of Core philosophy is Quantitative Reasoning, endorsed by the Faculty unanimously at their May 20 meeting with the intent of requiring greater math skills from the children of the computer age.

"The value of mastering mathematics and logical patterns of thought has been recognized since Plato," reported the Core Review Committee led by Pforzheimer University Professor Sidney Verba '53 in April. However, student reaction has been mostly to give thanks that it will first apply to the class of 2003.

"Uggh. That might be a good idea, but it wouldn't have been something I would have enjoyed," says Susannah J. Voigt '97, an English concentrator.

Alumni note that their children have grown up with computers, and speculate that technological advancements may soon make quantitative reasoning skills partially irrelevant.

"The future of computer interface is that a poet who doesn't know a bit from a hole in the ground will still be able to use computers because he'll be able to talk to them," says Leonard S. Edgerly '72, a poet from Casper, Wyo.

Learning in the Core

Gen Ed courses, especially the lower-level surveys, were taught in the "great man" format, featuring one or several widely-known lecturers facing a full theater of students, all of whom were required to attend weekly sections.

Any current student who has taken Social Analysis 10 (972 students registered), Moral Reasoning 22 (732), Historical Studies B-61 (561) or Science B-29 (488) during the '96-'97 school year will testify that in some ways the system hasn't changed.

Marquand Professor of English Lawrence Buell rose at the last Faculty Meeting to "play Don Quixote," proposing a seemingly impossible plan to have Core courses taught in small, more writing-intensive classes.

Buell expressed fear that the large classes currently prevalent in the Core might result in "sizable numbers of them from being socialized irretrievably into a culture of avoidance and (at worst) passive consumerism."

However, the students Buell proposes to save have mixed feelings about his plan, although they agree with alumni in saying that smaller classes ensure better attendance.

"If [small classes] can be done that's great, but my favorite class was one which had 449 other people in it," says Elizabeth J. Moriarty-Ambrozaitis '00, referring to Literature and Arts A-40: "Shakespeare: The Early Plays." "They should focus on the quality of the teaching instead of the size of the classes."

Alumni who were taught in large lecture formats by "great men" like Warburg Professor of Economics Emeritus John Kenneth Galbraith and Agassiz Professor of Zoology Stephen Jay Gould said their educational experience did not suffer.

"I did have plenty of small classes, but the large ones were really among the best. I don't feel really deprived in any way," Joyce M. Greening '72 says. "It was a pleasure and a privilege to get to sit and listen to some of those guys."

Buell's motion, which in the face of its enormous demands for new Faculty was unanimously voted down in Faculty Council, eventually failed after garnering 45 votes in the general Faculty meeting.