It might not be long before Columbia students are reading Rousseau in France, Don Quixote in Spain, or maybe even both in Japan.
An initiative to bring Core Curriculum classes taught by Columbia professors to study abroad locations is underway in the Office of Academic Affairs.
“The idea has floated around for a while,” Dean of Academic Affairs Kathryn Yatrakis said. “It’s taking more of a shape.”
This initiative could potentially create sections of Lit Hum, CC, Art Hum, and Music Hum abroad, making it easier for Columbia College students to study abroad before their junior years.
Brenda Salinas, CC ’12, spent last fall in Paris and said she feels that offering Lit Hum or CC abroad might relieve a lot of pressure for Columbia students who struggle to finish core requirements prior to study abroad.
“It would be great to do it early on. Being in a different context made me think about what I really wanted to do and a semester away from Columbia made me more engaged when I came back,” Salinas said.
She added that for this initiative to make sense, faculty must keep certain factors in mind.
“I think they should take each different place into account and say, ‘How can we use the core in this place to get the most out of it?’” Salinas said.
But other students said they weren’t sure about taking the Core on the road.
“It’s a stress to get all the core requirements done and also go abroad,” Katherine Marshall, CC ’12 said. “But if it lets more people go abroad, it’s a good thing. In terms of how it would enhance the experience, it’s a logical disconnect for me.”
Marshall said she feels that the curriculum would need to somehow “align with the cultural context” to make sense.
Yatrakis, however, said that putting the core in a different cultural context might make all the sense in the world.
“I think it could mean an even richer experience of combining what has been the intellectual signature of Columbia College, which is the Core, with a new and very different educational and pedagogical experience that students would have in a different culture, even possibly in a different language,” Yatrakis said.
Gillian Rhodes, CC ’12, is a dance major and spent last year at Columbia’s study abroad center in Paris, Reid Hall. She said that she only took the classes at Reid Hall that were required and spent the majority of her time immersing herself in the vibrant dance culture of Paris.
“I really wanted to experience life and culture and not get too involved in academics,” Rhodes said. “I’m not convinced that I would have taken core classes had they been offered.”
According to Yatrakis, the potential for cultural enrichment works both ways.
“You could even imagine, and I think this is very exciting for the faculty, that you teach a core class, but in addition, you would co-teach a class with a colleague in the local university—a course that you designed collaboratively,” Yatrakis said. “You trade ways of teaching and intellectual viewpoints, and you share this with students of both countries.”
Yatrakis said she doesn’t dismiss the idea of bringing classes like CC to locations where the texts are not as culturally relevant. She said that it would be interesting to critically analyze Western texts from another perspective, just as it would be academically stimulating to be immersed in a culture while taking Global Core classes.
“It would be so interesting to have a Global Core class taught by someone familiar with East and West perspectives,” Yatrakis said.
As for now, the initiative is beginning to solidify.
“It’s just the beginning of this conversation,” Yatrakis said. “But a number of professors have said that this is an idea worth pursuing.”
COMMENTS
Comments will be moderated in accordance with our comment policy