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Phase III: Initial Curricular Proposals from the CEP

PROPOSAL: SKILLS AND CONTENTS REQUIREMENT

The CEP proposes that we replace the College's current distribution requirement with a Skills and Contents requirement. In effect, we propose supplementing a modified version of the current distribution requirement with the requirement that students be exposed to a number of specific core skills.

1. OUR CURRENT NON-MAJOR REQUIREMENTS
   
   In addition to completing a major, we currently require our students to complete a two-part distribution requirement and a two-part physical education requirement in order to receive a degree from Williams.
   
   
   1. The Distribution Requirement:
      All students must complete a divisional requirement composed of three courses from each of the college's three divisions, two of which must be completed by the end of the sophomore year. No more than two of the courses used to satisfy this requirement may have the same course prefix.
      
      In addition, students must complete one graded semester course designated as "Peoples and Cultures."

      [For more information on the distribution requirement, see the Williams College Bulletin for 2000-2001, 8-9.]

   2. The Physical Education Requirement:
      All first-year students must take a swimming test. Those who fail this test must pass a basic swimming course during their first quarter of college. All students must also complete eight quarters (six weeks each) of physical education by the end of the sophomore year. During these eight quarters, students must enroll in at least three different activities and at least two quarters must be devoted to one carry-over sport.

      [For more information on the physical education requirement, see the Williams College Bulletin for 2000-2001, 12.]

2. A SKILLS AND CONTENTS REQUIREMENT
   
   
   1. Introduction
      Many of those who responded to the CEP's initial call for ideas and proposals last fall have suggested that our current requirements do not necessarily insure that our students acquire the skills integral to a liberal arts education. The CEP has come to agree with this position and proposes that we modify our current requirements so that they include core skills, such as writing, quantitative reasoning, oral argumentation, and foreign language proficiency. The CEP proposes replacing the requirements described above with a set of required Skills and Contents that students must complete before graduation.
      
      The CEP recommends reducing the divisional requirement from nine to six courses. All students would be required to complete two courses in each of the college's three divisions by the end of the sophomore year. In addition to this requirement in Contents, students would be required to gain four core intellectual Skills: Writing Across the Curriculum, Speaking Across the Curriculum, Quantitative Reasoning, and Foreign Language Proficiency. Individual courses within the curriculum may fulfill both a Content requirement and one or more of the core Skills.
      
      The CEP has focused primarily on the intellectual justification for requiring our students either to acquire a given Skill or to have exposure to a given Content. We realize that the current structure of our curriculum and present staffing at the college may not support all of the changes that this modified set of requirements entails, but we believe that all proposals brought forth for consideration by the faculty must first be evaluated on their intellectual merit and only then discussed in terms of their implementation details and practical implications. For this reason, the descriptions of the Skills and Contents below focus on the rationale for instituting the requirement.
      
      
   2. The Skills Requirement
      
      
      1. Writing Across the Curriculum
         Students graduating from Williams should be able to formulate and support an argument in writing. Many of the proposals submitted to the CEP express the concern that some of our students lack this critical intellectual skill. According to recent senior surveys, almost 50% of students feel that their undergraduate experiences did not greatly enhance their ability to write effectively. In alumni surveys, Williams rates slightly lower than its peer colleges in making a very important contribution to our students' ability to write. [Summary of Data Presented at Board Retreat, January 2001, 11, 16.]
         
         The CEP proposes requiring that all students take two writing-intensive courses: one by the end of the sophomore year and one by the end of the junior year. The committee strongly believes that instruction in writing should take place across the curriculum. We also believe that students will benefit most from writing-intensive courses by taking them early in their college careers and that therefore students should be strongly encouraged to complete the requirement by the end of the sophomore year. Students for whom English 150 is recommended could use this course toward the requirement, but this particular course would not be required of those students. The committee anticipates that courses satisfying this requirement would be offered by most departments at Williams and be appropriately marked in the college catalog.
         
         The CEP realizes that instituting a writing requirement will necessitate an increase in the number of writing-intensive courses in the curriculum, as well as a reexamination our definition of "writing intensive."
         
         The committee believes that all writing-intensive courses:
         • Should provide students with criticism of and feedback on their writing which they will be able to build on in subsequent writing assignments in the course;
         • Should have enrollments of no more than 19 students in order to make that criticism and feedback possible;
         • Should require 20-25 pages of writing from students over the course of the semester.
         
         
         
      2. Speaking Across the Curriculum
         Students graduating from Williams should be able to present ideas and make arguments orally. According to recent senior surveys, approximately a third of our students feel that their capacity to communicate well orally had been enhanced by their undergraduate experiences either not at all or only a little. In alumni surveys, Williams ranks slightly below its peer colleges in making a very important contribution to students' oral communication skills. [Summary of Data Presented at Board Retreat, January 2001, 11, 16.]
         
         The CEP proposes requiring that all students take one speaking-intensive course before graduation. Such courses would be marked in the course catalog and would include tutorials and seminars that require students to makes presentations or lead class discussion. In addition, such programs as the Math Department's senior colloquia could be used to fulfill this requirement. We anticipate that instituting this requirement would facilitate the identification of courses which already include oral communication skills, as well as encourage communication skills to be newly included in a wider range of courses.
         
         The committee believes that all speaking-intensive courses:
         • Should provide students with criticism of and feedback on their oral argumentation which they will be able to build on;
         • Should have enrollments that make criticism and feedback possible.
         
         
         
      3. Quantitative Reasoning
         Students graduating from Williams should have an ability to understand and analyze numerical data. Recent senior surveys show that approximately 40% of our students felt that their undergraduate experiences had enhanced their ability to use quantitative tools either not at all or only a little. [Summary of Data Presented at Board Retreat, January 2001, 11.]
         
         The CEP proposes that all students be required to take one course that emphasizes quantitative reasoning in a context interesting to the student by the end of the junior year. A variety of courses in mathematics, statistics, laboratory science, economics, psychology, and methodology in the social sciences would fulfill the requirement. Those students who receive a quantitative studies bar as incoming first-year students (between 11% and 15% of the incoming class over the past three years, or 55-75 students) would be required to complete Math 100 or 101 before taking a course that fulfills the Quantitative Reasoning requirement. Courses that satisfy this requirement would be marked in the college catalog.
         
         
      4. Foreign Language Proficiency
         All students graduating from Williams should have intermediate proficiency in at least one language other than English. Because language is the definitive human activity and human consciousness is linguistically structured, we cannot understand our own consciousness fully or that of other peoples without studying a foreign language or the structure of language more generally. Given the increasingly global dimension of our students' activity after graduation, we should actively encourage fluency in more than one language, which promotes mental flexibility and superior intellectual development. [Suzanne Romaine, Bilingualism, Second Edition (Oxford: Blackwell, 1995). 112, 114.] Recent senior surveys show that approximately three quarters of our students feel that their undergraduate experiences have enhanced their knowledge of a foreign language either not at all or only a little. In addition, alumni surveys show that Williams is significantly behind its peer schools in making a contribution to our graduates' ability to read and speak in a foreign language. [Summary of Data Presented at Board Retreat, January 2001, 11, 17.]
         
         The CEP proposes requiring all students to demonstrate intermediate proficiency -- the equivalent of three semesters of language study at the college level -- in at least one language other than English by the end of the junior year. Students may demonstrate such proficiency in a number of ways: by passing an SAT-II subject exam in a language other than English, by passing a language proficiency exam administered by Williams, by taking three semesters of a single foreign language at Williams, or by taking three semesters of linguistics at Williams. This requirement may also be fulfilled by participating in a Williams approved study abroad program for a semester or a year. Accordingly, the CEP anticipates that the college will develop a systematic process of approval for such study abroad programs. The College administration is currently considering how such a process might be instituted.
      
      
      
   3. The Contents Requirement
      
      
      1. Divisional Requirements
         To guarantee breadth of exposure to academic contents, all students must complete a divisional requirement composed of two courses from each of the college's three divisions, both of which must be completed by the end of the sophomore year. None of the courses used to satisfy this requirement may have the same course prefix.
         
         The CEP also believes that in satisfying the Division I requirement, students should gain literacy in the verbal, visual, and aural arts. In satisfying the Division II requirement, students should have opportunities to focus on the relation between the individual, society, and culture and on the multiple approaches to creating knowledge in this area. In satisfying the Division III requirement, students should not only study about science, they should also learn to do science. Therefore, one of the two courses taken in Division III should actively engage the student in the practice of natural science. Those Division III courses, for majors and non-majors, that incorporate some laboratory components are ideally suited to satisfy this aspect of the requirement.
         
         
      2. Issues of Contemporary Social Justice
         The CEP proposes a major revision of the "Peoples and Cultures" requirement we currently make of our students. The CEP shares the concern of the Committee on Diversity and Community, and other interested parties on campus, who have expressed dissatisfaction with the large number and diffuse array of courses that currently satisfy the "Peoples and Cultures" requirement. Rather than eliminate this requirement, however, the CEP believes that the college should reassess the requirement's aims and position within our curriculum. As statistical data, including profiles of first-year students and senior surveys, show, we are doing little to enhance our students' awareness of social problems, current events, racial understanding, and social and environmental issues. [ Summary of Data Presented at Board Retreat, January 2001, 11, 16-17.] The current process of curricular review provides us with the ideal opportunity to reassess the requirement so that it will better address this problem.
         
         The CEP proposes renaming the "Peoples and Cultures" requirement as "Issues of Contemporary Social Justice" and broadening the requirement's scope to include questions of social class and gender, as well as race, ethnicity, and multiculturalism. The CEP anticipates that many but not all courses that currently satisfy the "Peoples and Cultures" requirement would be included among those courses designated as "Issues of Contemporary Social Justice." In addition, certain courses currently in our curriculum that do not satisfy the "Peoples and Cultures" requirement would fulfill the new "Issues of Contemporary Social Justice" requirement. We hope that the reassessment of this requirement will emphasize that courses fulfilling the new requirement are only one dimension of a multi-dimensional commitment to education for and about a diverse world at Williams.
         
         Students will be required to complete one graded semester course designated as "Issues of Contemporary Social Justice" to satisfy this requirement, either at Williams or on an approved study away program. As is presently the case with the "Peoples and Cultures" requirement, courses fulfilling the "Issues of Contemporary Social Justice" requirement may also satisfy a divisional requirement. The committee anticipates that courses fulfilling this requirement would be offered by a wide variety of departments at Williams and would be appropriately marked in the college catalog. [The CEP would like to thank the Committee on Diversity and Community for its discussion of the "Peoples and Cultures" requirement, parts of which we have incorporated into this section of our proposal.]
         
         
      3. Physical Education
         The CEP proposes eliminating the swimming test as a requirement for graduation.
         
         The CEP proposes changing the current requirement that students take eight quarters of physical education by the end of the sophomore year either:

         By cutting the requirement in half to require students to take only four quarters of Physical Education by the end of the sophomore year. Physical Education is an important element of a liberal arts education and is not the same thing as intercollegiate competitive sports. Physical Education is an academic discipline that makes no assumptions about the level of students' athletic ability. A requirement in Physical Education insures that every Williams College student is exposed to a certain set of skills and has a platform for life-long learning in this area. The current requirement of eight quarters of Physical Education, which has been in place for a number of years without review, is too high. Four quarters will be sufficient to achieve the goal of the requirement. In addition, eliminating this requirement, as proposed below, will in effect abolish Physical Education at Williams, leaving the field entirely to competitive intercollegiate athletics. Retaining a reduced Physical Education requirement will preserve Physical Education as a part of the general liberal arts curriculum and maintain a balance between Physical Education and intercollegiate competitive sports at the College. The CEP would like to note that the Athletics Department has conducted a serious, on-going discussion of this possibility and supports a reduction, which would bring Williams into conformance with the practice of many of our peer institutions.
         
         or
         
         By eliminating the Physical Education requirement entirely. Education in the liberal arts focuses on a variety of intellectual pursuits that aim to produce alumni capable of thinking critically, reading and writing analytically, speaking thoughtfully, understanding cultural differences, and analyzing information. Our requirements should focus on the intellectual pursuits that provide competency in these areas. Many worthwhile extracurricular activities contribute to the broad education of our students, such as participation in artistic performances, service projects, student governance, literary publications, and athletic endeavors. However, these activities are not at the core of an academic degree in the liberal arts and therefore should not be required for that degree.

         Finally, while discussing the Physical Education requirement as a curricular issue, the CEP has come to think that perhaps courses in Physical Education should be subjected to the same process of curricular review by the CEP and the faculty as a whole as other courses at the college.
      
      
      
   4. Addendum
      Several of the fundamental intellectual skills considered important by the CEP and faculty do not appear in this proposal, including critical reading and library/research skills. The CEP believes that those skills are best instilled not in the curriculum of the non-major, but of the major. Indeed, we would urge a future CEP to assess the state of the major at the College. Specifically, we would hope that each set of major requirements would articulate and address the core intellectual skills, as well as content areas, in the major. Those skills will vary across majors (e.g. critical reading, library research and analysis, laboratory skills, technological skills, artistic skills), but in essence each major would insure that students are exposed to "doing," as well as "learning about," the discipline.

current CEP website

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