Friday, 2/28/97
General ed faces changes
Workgroup seeks greater connection between G.E. courses
By Brooke Olson
Daily Bruin Staff
Nearly two and a half years after a committee undertook the
process of changing the way UCLA students are educated, the
Workgroup on General Education has finally submitted a proposal to
restructure the university’s general education curriculum.
The proposal, if approved by the Academic Senate next quarter,
could dramatically affect all Fall 1998 entering freshman.
"This is a major reform," said Judy Smith, vice provost for
undergraduate education. "It will change the way students are
taught and the way students learn within the general education
requirements."
Currently, UCLA students are required to take 12 general
education (G.E.) courses ranging from the social sciences to the
physical sciences. Most G.E. courses are worth four units and are
comprised of separate subjects.
"There is nothing really that connects any of the G.E. courses,"
said Brian Copenhaver, provost of the College of Letters and
Science. "They are all sporadically placed and taken."
If the G.E. proposal is approved by the Academic Senate,
students will be required to take nine courses, consisting of three
classes in a "first-year cluster" and six single-quarter
interdisciplinary courses.
The first-year cluster, which consists of two quarters of
lecture and a spring seminar, will allow students to pursue a topic
over three consecutive quarters.
The topics will be broadly-based – such as "Evolution" or
"Democracy" – and will explore both the social and scientific
aspects of each issue. Each year, there will be 10 or more clusters
to choose from.
"This cluster will really allow students to fully understand and
explore a broad, interdisciplinary topic," Smith said. "Faculty and
students will work closely together over these three quarters to
ensure that the students obtain the best and most thorough
education possible."
A larger emphasis will be placed on writing, with at least three
papers assigned in each class, each quarter. As a result, both the
Fall and Winter cluster courses will be worth six units, while the
spring seminar will be worth five units.
"It’s going to fully integrate writing into the subject matter
that the student is taking," said Edward Berenson, history
professor and chair of the General Education Committee.
English 3 will be replaced by these more writing intensive
courses, and students’ writing will be evaluated at the end of
Winter Quarter of their first year. If the writing is deemed
proficient by a select faculty committee, students will be exempt
from further writing courses.
"Never before have the faculty made such a strong commitment to
writing," Smith said. "Instead of a one-quarter, random writing
course, the student will have a longer, consistent period of
writing instruction."
Students who do not pass the University of California Subject A
exam will be required to take a remedial writing course and
complete the first-year cluster during their sophomore year.
In addition to the cluster, undergraduate students will need to
take six additional courses, each worth five units.
The courses will be chosen from three categories which allude to
the current academic division on campus – the "North", "South" and
"Bridge" categories.
Of the nine courses required, four must be from the "North" –
arts, humanities and social science, three from the "South" –
mathematics, natural and health sciences and two "Bridge" – courses
encompassing both North and South Campus classes.
"The student, for example, could take a course on the human mind
under the bridge category and would learn about the scientific
aspects of the brain as well as discuss the social theories about
the brain," Smith said.
The overall proposal was met with the approval of students who
served on the G.E. committee, although they vowed to continue to
fight for an ethnic/gender studies requirement.
"The proposal is a definite plus for students – the changes will
allow for a more interdisciplinary perspective," said Max Espinoza,
undergraduate academic affairs representative.
"But I think that in light of attacks on women and people of
color it would be beneficial to students to understand diversity by
taking courses that directly deal with multiculturalism," Espinoza
added.
Staff members, though, noted that G.E. courses will include
reviews and discussions of various ethnic/gender issues.
"The courses that will be offered within the G.E. context will
be interspersed with diversity issues," Berenson said.
"There will be a committee of faculty, students and staff who’ll
look very carefully at every proposal given to include a particular
course in the G.E.’s and make sure that it meets specific
requirements," he added.
But some students argue that the proposal only mimics a 1993
Academic Senate initiative encouraging professors to integrate
multicultural perspectives into the classroom.
"That resolution passed four years ago and nothing has been done
on this," said Vy Nguyen, the Academic Affairs Commission
curricular reform coordinator.
"Unfortunately, it becomes nothing but a lot of lip service with
words spoken and no action taken," she added.
Members of the reform committee, though, believe that diversity
will be explored within the new G.E. courses, so separate
ethnic/gender-related requirements would be unnecessary.
"The new G.E.’s attempt to integrate multiculturalism in an
innovative – and supervised – way," Smith said.
Despite disappointment from the lack of a diversity requirement,
some students believe the revamped general education curriculum
would strengthen the student body.
"It’ll definitely create a more cohesive freshman class – one
that will take classes together for an entire year and work
together," Espinoza said.
The general education proposal emphasizes close faculty-student
relationships that last an entire academic year. In addition, only
top undergraduate faculty members would be allowed to teach the
courses.
"(If the proposal passes) faculty will be chosen based on
student evaluations and must have demonstrated teaching excellence
within that particular field," Smith said.
UCLA would also train counselors, counseling assistants and
tutors to work directly with the first-year clusters.
"By creating a community of scholars, we will link the personal,
social and academic sides of students’ lives, while enabling
faculty, counselors and tutors to work with students in teams,
making our large university more akin to a small college
environment," Smith said.
The general education overhaul will be funded by private
benefactors and the state legislature, Copenhaver said.
Two years ago, UCLA developed the Hewlett Forum, a foundation
dedicated to general education. According to Copenhaver, all
interest and donations from that foundation will finance about half
of the overhaul.
The remaining funds will come from the state legislature based
on full-time equivalent (FTE) student numbers.
All UC campuses are funded by the state legislature on the basis
of the number of FTE students they serve. An undergraduate who
averages 15 units per quarter earns the campus $6,800 a year, while
a student who only averages 12 units a quarter earns the campus
$5,440.
Currently, the majority of UCLA students average 13.75 units a
quarter, Copenhaver said. Under the proposal – with G.E.s weighted
more than four units – student FTEs will be increased to 15.
"The extra money generated from this increase will provide the
remaining funds necessary for the overhaul," Copenhaver said.
Although Academic Senate members did not return phone calls, the
Undergraduate Work Group expressed confidence that the proposal
will be approved by faculty members.
"We think we have a pretty good handle on what kind of things
will work to improve undergraduate studies," Berenson said. "I
think we’ve really integrated a lot of what students had to say
about the issue and we’ve come up with a fairly solid,
interdisciplinary proposal."