Longing for the Core Curriculum

Literature Humanities is at the heart of the Core Curriculum, at least for Columbia College. I often wonder if I should have taken Lit Hum upon arrival at Columbia. After all, Columbia College students have to take Lit Hum in their first year while General Studies students do not. Isn’t it natural to think I am missing out? Is the flexibility in the GS Core in the best interest of its students? If Columbia College sees Lit Hum not only as important enough to be in its Core, but fundamental enough to be placed in the first year, are GS students lacking an important piece of a Columbia undergraduate education?

GS students come from a variety of educational backgrounds. Some already come with degrees from accredited institutions of higher learning, and some are transferring with up to 60 credits. As such, our Core is tailored with a bit more flexibility for those individuals who may have taken an identical or highly similar course elsewhere. Moreover, I understand that many of our students have already been exposed to a variety of information including the “great works” of Lit Hum and don’t want to waste their time sitting through a patronizing reiteration of something they already know.

For these reasons, there is more flexibility in our Core, and that’s appreciated. It also seems to include an underlying assumption that we, being more seasoned, are best able to make our own academic decisions. And while I’m grateful for the vote of confidence, I do believe that the absence of Lit Hum (and Contemporary Civilizations) in the GS Core results in a failure to recognize the impact that these courses, and the discussions which surround them, have on the greater Columbia experience. According to the Columbia College Core Curriculum Web site: “though celebrated for their content, [the Core] courses are equally important for their small class format. Taught in seminars limited to approximately 22 students, these courses ensure that education at Columbia begins with an emphasis on active intellectual engagement. In the Core Curriculum the pursuit of better questions is every bit as important as the pursuit of better answers.” The depth to which works are discussed with peers develops each student’s analytical skills. Moreover, it familiarizes them with works that will later be taken for granted as common knowledge.

As the majority of students seeking a liberal arts degree from Columbia University have taken Lit Hum, any professor may take for granted that their class is intimately familiar with that set of works. This could place a GS student who has not been exposed to those works at a disadvantage. Indeed, many contemporary works reflect back on earlier ones, and it would be reasonable for a professor to expect students to realize when and how this is done. In this way, some GS students may not even realize that they lack some fundamental piece of the puzzle.

Considering the diversity of backgrounds in the GS community, it is also important to keep in mind that many have very few, if any, transfer credits upon arrival, and may not have had such close contact with Lit-Hum-like texts. These students, under the GS umbrella, are allowed the same flexibility. This can result in a lack of structure and academic stability.

So, the question follows—as a GS student, should I have been forced to take Lit Hum at the possible expense of another literature course I might be more interested in? I believe so. In fact, I feel that we should take Lit Hum and another literature course of our choosing.

The salient difference, to me, between Lit Hum and the other literature courses that fill our existing requirement lies in the course structures. The structure of Lit Hum—small, discussion-based classes in which entire works are covered—develops students’ abilities to analyze. Indeed, it offers them a lens for doing so. Which is why, I believe, it has been included in the Columbia College Core and should be included in the GS Core. Other literature courses at Columbia offer valuable material to be analyzed, often with the assumption that the student has already developed the skills necessary to do so. In other words, it is for two separate reasons that I see both courses as invaluable parts of my educational experience, and as such I do not see them as interchangeable.

So, I have come to the conclusion that I should have taken Lit Hum upon arrival at Columbia. I feel that it should be part of our Core so that we will enter other classrooms as well as the “real world” with the same academic foundation as our fellow Columbians. The Core Curriculum should lay the foundation for a solid academic experience— a common Core will come to define what it means to be Columbia-educated. And after all, isn’t that why we’re here?

The author is a student in the School of General Studies majoring in political science. She is the vice president of policy for GSSC.