A Gut Feeling
"Guts"--courses reputed to have either generous grading or slim workloads (or in the ideal case, both)--have been a hallmark of general requirements at Harvard since the very earliest years of Gen Ed.
Gen Ed's most famous gut was an introductory geology course in the natural sciences requirement, known informally as "Rocks for Jocks," or, as one alumnus put it, "Stones for Scholar-Athletes."
"I think the nickname came because it was a big course, and it attracted a wide audience because of the perception that there were field trips which were fun and good places to meet Radcliffe girls," Edgerly said.
Fox said that, in the formation of the Core, there was not "a desire to stamp out guts," and current students are just as quick as their predecessors to look for easier courses in the Core, leading to courses with nicknames like "Heroes for Zeroes" and "Jesus and the Easy Life."
"There are some difficult classes, and there are some which are known as guts, which you can take if you just want to get through and still learn a little something," says Lisa M. Coar '99.
Tien added that "People need those guts. If you turn those into seminar courses, that's a lot of pressure to put on people."
Scoring the Core
The most obvious thing wrong with the current system is a lack of selection in some Core areas. This spring, seniors needing to fulfill their Moral Reasoning requirement in their last semester had to take the only course offered in the area.
Knowles welcomed the Faculty's call for an increase in Core courses (the goal is six per field per term), saying "I am very happy to be so urged."
"We're planning for welcoming and more inclusive guidelines, and spending the summer strengthening the Core review committees," Knowles adds. "I hope that in a year's time I shall be able to report some progress."
William K. Martin '72 says that after reading about the current Core, he feels today's system serves the goals of a liberal education better than Gen Ed did during his time as a student.
"[The Core] sounded better, it sounded more demanding," Martin says. "It sounded as if it would create a more well-rounded intellectual life than what we had under Gen Ed."
Current students echoed Martin's praise of the Core.
"What I want out of a Core curriculum is to be able to explore new fields of knowledge, to appreciate different aspects of the world in a way that would not have been apparent from my previous experiences," says Clay O. Lacefield '97. "Harvard has done that."
Mendelsohn, who taught a Gen Ed course, and continues teaching in the Core today, offers his conclusions on the evolution of a liberal education at Harvard over the last half-century.
"Basically, the Core program does indeed put out a very good education," Mendelsohn says. "A student who goes through the process is better educated than one who went through a generation ago."