Introducing, or Just Assuming Knowledge?To the editors:
In light of recent constructive criticism on the Core program in The Crimson's editorial pages, I wanted to raise an issue that has gone unmentioned thus far. When bemoaning restrictions on non-Core courses which meet Core requirements, I have heard that many departmental courses would be too difficult for students in other concentrations to succeed--not for difficulty of material but for commonly used terms and definitions or approaches to the material accepted in one department but confusing to another.
While this rings true for many science courses--as an English concentrator I couldn't handle a course like Experimental Embryology--I know that in my own department this presents less of a problem than may be assumed. In English, and I would imagine in many other humanities, few courses have prerequisites. I have enrolled in English courses where the professor assumed a familiarity with critical works and vocabulary I didn't have.
If this concern is standing largely in the way, it could be defused by asking professors to decide whether the prerequisites for their courses should keep the course from meeting Core requirements or not. A careful assessment of how big a hurdle assumed knowledge is in a particular course should go a long way towards evaluating its ability to be a Core; such assessment, I feel certain, would result in a large number of additions to acceptable departmental courses.
Mary C. Campbell '01-'02
Feb. 1, 2001
Take Stats at Face Value
I was disturbed by a point made in "Nearly Half of Harvard Students Binge Drink" (News, Feb. 5). In a paragraph explaining how much better Harvard students are at dealing with the effects of binge drinking, the article said that "only seven students out of 353 surveyed said they had sex while too drunk to consent."
While seven certainly sounds like a small number, applying that percentage to the larger community would result in approximately 127 undergraduate students having been in a situation that Harvard policy defines as rape. Furthermore, since 58 percent of survey respondents were men, it would not be unreasonable to suspect that the survey underestimated the actual percentage.
Thus, while Harvard might have a rate of rape due to binge drinking lower than the national average--the reporter does not provide national statistics--we have more than enough to worry about.
Elizabeth A. Thornberry '03
Feb. 5, 2001
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