The Core Curriculum was originally developed as the main curriculum used by
Columbia College of
Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
in 1919. Created in the wake of
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, it became the framework for many similar educational models throughout the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
, and has played an influential role in the incorporation of the concept of
Western civilization
Leonardo da Vinci's ''Vitruvian Man''. Based on the correlations of ideal Body proportions">human proportions with geometry described by the ancient Roman architect Vitruvius in Book III of his treatise ''De architectura''.
image:Plato Pio-Cle ...
into the American college curriculum.
Today, customized versions of the Core Curriculum are also completed by students in the
School of Engineering and Applied Science and the
School of General Studies
The School of General Studies, Columbia University (GS) is a liberal arts college and one of the undergraduate colleges of Columbia University, situated on the university's main campus in Morningside Heights, New York City. GS is known primarily ...
, the other two undergraduate colleges of Columbia University.
Later in its history, especially in the 1990s, it became a heavily contested form of learning, seen by some as an appropriate foundation of a
liberal arts
Liberal arts education (from Latin "free" and "art or principled practice") is the traditional academic course in Western higher education. ''Liberal arts'' takes the term ''art'' in the sense of a learned skill rather than specifically the ...
education, and by others as a tool of promoting a
Eurocentric
Eurocentrism (also Eurocentricity or Western-centrism)
is a worldview that is centered on Western civilization or a biased view that favors it over non-Western civilizations. The exact scope of Eurocentrism varies from the entire Western worl ...
or
Anglocentric society by solely focusing on the works of "
dead white men
The Western canon is the body of high culture literature, music, philosophy, and works of art that are highly valued in the West; works that have achieved the status of classics. However, not all these works originate in the Western world, and ...
". Largely driven by student protests, the Core in recent decades has been revised to add focus on non-Western cultures, as well as
postcolonial works to the literature and philosophy sequences. The most recent major addition to the Core was made in the 2000s, with the addition of "Frontiers of Science", a scientific literacy course, to the curriculum.
History
Early curricula
![Frederick A](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1c/Frederick_A.P._Barnard_cph.3a00878.jpg)
Early instruction at Columbia College, from its founding in 1754 as King's College, almost entirely revolved around the study of the
classics
Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classics ...
, and entering students were expected to already be fluent in
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic peri ...
and
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
.
Through most of the 19th century, all students were prescribed a single course of studies, save for a period of time beginning in 1830, when the college introduced the "Literary and Scientific course" in addition to the standard curriculum, which was dubbed the "Full course". The former was open to the public with no expectations of attendance, and was discontinued in 1843.
In the "Full course", as set out in the 1843 revision of the college's statutes, in addition to four years of the classics and
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
** Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ge ...
, freshmen were to study algebra, geometry, and English grammar and composition; sophomores, trigonometry and
solid geometry
In mathematics, solid geometry or stereometry is the traditional name for the geometry of Three-dimensional space, three-dimensional, Euclidean spaces (i.e., 3D geometry).
Stereometry deals with the measurements of volumes of various solid fig ...
,
levelling
Levelling or leveling (American English; American and British English spelling differences#Doubled in British English, see spelling differences) is a branch of surveying, the object of which is to establish or verify or measure the height of sp ...
, navigation, chemistry, physics, and rhetoric; juniors, "practical astronomy", chemistry, geology, the "principles of taste and criticism", logic, and English and modern European literature; seniors,
differential and
integral calculus
In mathematics, an integral assigns numbers to Function (mathematics), functions in a way that describes Displacement (geometry), displacement, area, volume, and other concepts that arise by combining infinitesimal data. The process of finding ...
, mechanics, philosophy and religion, and English composition.
The adoption of mandatory German was made that year, following a $20,000 bequest from Frederick Gebhard which established the university's German department,
though it was soon made optional in 1847.
By the late-19th century, many American universities, including Harvard, had seen a trend towards more elective programs.
President
Frederick A. P. Barnard was an early supporter of this movement—in 1872, Yale President
Noah Porter
Noah Thomas Porter III (December 14, 1811 – March 4, 1892)''Obituary Record of Graduates of Yale University'', Yale University, 1891-2, New Haven, pp. 82-83. was an American Congregational minister, academic, philosopher, author, lexicographer a ...
criticized him as one of "the educational reformers who should know better" for his advocacy in favor of elective curricula and his support for
Charles William Eliot
Charles William Eliot (March 20, 1834 – August 22, 1926) was an American academic who was president of Harvard University from 1869 to 1909the longest term of any Harvard president. A member of the prominent Eliot family of Boston, he transfor ...
of Harvard. During his tenure he managed to establish a system wherein roughly half of a student's courses would be electives, and the other half required by the faculty, though his stance would lose ground at the college over the following decades.
However, this began to change starting in the 1880 with the introduction of the modern language requirement; Columbia dropped Ancient Greek as an entrance examination requirement in 1897, and Latin in 1916.
This gradual thaw, along with university's move to
Morningside Heights
Morningside Heights is a neighborhood on the West Side of Upper Manhattan in New York City. It is bounded by Morningside Drive to the east, 125th Street to the north, 110th Street to the south, and Riverside Drive to the west. Morningside ...
just prior to
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, set the stage for a major change in curricular focus in the early 20th century.
"Contemporary Civilization"
![Columbia University 1 by Rangilo](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b5/Columbia_University_1_by_Rangilo.JPG)
In 1917, the
United States Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...
commissioned the university to create a "war issues" course in order to educate the
Student Army Training Corps, and to explain the causes of WWI and the reasons for US involvement in the conflict.
Following the war, in 1919, this course was transformed into "Contemporary Civilization," the oldest course of the Core Curriculum, which faculty presented as a "peace issues" course intended to confront the realities of the post-war era.
Writing about "Contemporary Civilization", Dean
Herbert Hawkes
Herbert Edwin Hawkes (1872 – 1943) was an American mathematician and an experienced educator and had first-hand knowledge of the various problems, boys face during their college life. His 25-year tenure as Dean of Columbia College, the longest ...
stated that "its significance rested on the fundamental principle that in the long run man's accomplishment can rise no higher than his ideals, and that an understanding of the worth of the cause for which one is fighting is a powerful weapon in the hands of an intelligent man."
In 1928, "Contemporary Civilization" was enlarged and split into two courses: "Introduction to Contemporary Civilization in the West" or "CC-A", focusing on Western history from 1200 to the present, and "Contemporary Problems in the United States" or "CC-B", which emphasized questions of modern politics and economics. In 1932, "CC-B" was revised in the face of the
Great Depression
The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
to center the questions of economic security, institutions, and policies.
The course was dropped altogether in 1968, while the "CC-A" syllabus was overhauled to focus on politics and revolution in response to the
1968 student protests, and evolved into the course it is today.
The humanities sequence
![Homer British Museum](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1c/Homer_British_Museum.jpg)
The "General Honors" course was instituted in 1920, formed around a list of "
Great Books
A classic is a book accepted as being exemplary or particularly noteworthy. What makes a book "classic" is a concern that has occurred to various authors ranging from Italo Calvino to Mark Twain and the related questions of "Why Read the Cl ...
" created by professor
John Erskine, who would go on to create the core curriculum at the
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...
.
The course was discontinued in 1929, but was resurrected three years later as the "Colloquium in Important Books". The Great Books curriculum was officially incorporated into the Core in 1937 with the inauguration of the humanities sequence, which consisted of "Humanities A", a first-year survey of Western literature and philosophy from classical antiquity to the end of the 18th century, and "Humanities B", a sophomore elective that covered the visual arts and music.
Structured after "Contemporary Civilization", "Humanities A" expected students to read one book per week, a workload that placed unique burdens on freshmen.
"Humanities A" would eventually morph into the modern "Masterpieces of Western Literature" course, while "Humanities B" split into "Music Humanities" and "Art Humanities" in 1941. The list of books read in "Literature Humanities" would constantly shift over time; the first female author to be included in the curriculum was
Jane Austen
Jane Austen (; 16 December 1775 – 18 July 1817) was an English novelist known primarily for her six major novels, which interpret, critique, and comment upon the British landed gentry at the end of the 18th century. Austen's plots of ...
, with the addition of ''
Pride and Prejudice
''Pride and Prejudice'' is an 1813 novel of manners by Jane Austen. The novel follows the character development of Elizabeth Bennet, the dynamic protagonist of the book who learns about the repercussions of hasty judgments and comes to appreci ...
'' to the syllabus in 1985, two years after Columbia College became coeducational,
while the first Black author to be incorporated into "Literature Humanities" was
Toni Morrison
Chloe Anthony Wofford Morrison (born Chloe Ardelia Wofford; February 18, 1931 – August 5, 2019), known as Toni Morrison, was an American novelist. Her first novel, ''The Bluest Eye'', was published in 1970. The critically acclaimed '' So ...
, whose
''Song of Solomon'' was added in 2015.
Changes to the Core
In the later half of the 20th century, many US universities moved towards a more elective system. Some historians see the change as a response to social activism—the civil rights, feminist, and various other social movements saw the Core Curriculum as an inflexible way to promote the canon of "dead white males" and as a failure to acknowledge the essential contributions of other global cultures. Others interpret it as a concession to increasing calls for earlier specialization to prepare students for post-graduate scientific and professional studies.
[
The Extended Core was created in 1990 following a report from professor Wm. Theodore de Bary in which he urged the university to expand the Core to include topics in non-Western cultures, in line with its original mission to facilitate discussion in contemporary issues. It consisted of a requirement that students take two courses in non-Western cultures from a list drawn up by the Committee on the Core Curriculum, and was soon renamed to "Major Cultures".] Following a 2007 hunger strike which called for increased funding ethnic studies, a reform of the Core, and revisions to the university's Manhattanville
Manhattanville (also known as West Harlem or West Central Harlem) is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan bordered on the north by 135th Street; on the south by 122nd and 125th Streets; on the west by Hudson River; and on t ...
expansion plan, Major Cultures was replaced in 2008 with the Global Core. The oldest course in the Global Core is the "Colloquium on Major Texts", more commonly known as "Asian Humanities", a course on Asian classics which was established in 1947 by de Bary as "Oriental Humanities".
The most recent addition to the Core is "Frontiers of Science", which includes a set of analytical approaches that apply to all disciplines of science. "Frontiers of Science" is taught as four three-week units: two from the physical sciences and two from the life sciences.
Structure
Requirements
All first-year students in Columbia College must take the year-long "Masterpieces of Western Literature" course (also known as "Literature Humanities" or "Lit Hum"), the semester-long "University Writing" ("UW"), and the semester-long "Frontiers of Science" ("FroSci"). All sophomores are required to take a year of "Contemporary Civilization" ("CC"). The other requirements, which can be completed any year, include a semester of "Masterpieces of Western Music" ("Music Humanities" or "Music Hum"); a semester of "Masterpieces of Western Art" ("Art Humanities" or "Art Hum"); two semesters of science; four semesters of a foreign language; two semesters of the Global Core; and two semesters of physical education. Students are also required to pass a swimming test before receiving their diplomas, a common feature among Ivy League
The Ivy League is an American collegiate athletic conference comprising eight private research universities in the Northeastern United States. The term ''Ivy League'' is typically used beyond the sports context to refer to the eight schools ...
colleges.
Undergraduates in the School of Engineering and Applied Science take approximately half of Columbia College's Core requirements. They are required to take either "Literature Humanities", "Contemporary Civilization", or the Global Core; either "Art Humanities" or "Music Humanities"; and "University Writing"; in addition to two semesters of physical education. The "Technical Core" consists of the semester-long "The Art of Engineering", as well as requirements in calculus, chemistry, computer science, and physics.
References
Further reading
* Timothy P Cross. ''An Oasis of Order: The Core Curriculum at Columbia College,'' Columbia College, 1995,
* Roosevelt Montás. ''Rescuing Socrates: How the Great Books Changed My Life and Why They Matter for a New Generation'', Princeton University Press, 2021,
External links
*
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Curricula
Specific University Curricula
Great Books
Undergraduate education in the United States