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From The Faculty Chair

CUP to Review Curriculum
Arts and Sciences Degree Considered

Lotte Bailyn

Education in the new millennium – what should it look like? In many respects, MIT is uniquely positioned to provide students with this education, since it combines a comprehensive grounding in science with a wide selection of subjects in the arts, humanities, and social sciences. This combination could be said to be the best liberal arts education for the technological age. But is it? The Task Force on Student Life and Learning has been debating this question, and the Committee on the Undergraduate Program is planning this spring to review our curriculum in light of the Task Force’s recommendations.

We already know that some things are missing. In the area of writing and communication in general, we know that our graduates are not up to par. And we often wonder whether they are having the impact in the world that their abilities should permit them to have. We further know that there is an increasing variety in our students’ career paths – many more than ever before head for careers that do not directly use their technical knowledge – and it is not clear that our current curriculum is fully meeting their needs.

In response to some of these concerns, there has been talk of a new option in the undergraduate program, which might be called a Bachelor of Arts and Sciences. This option would combine a sub-major in Science, Engineering, or Math, with a supra-minor in the Arts, Humanities, or Social Sciences – nine subjects in each of two parallel streams. This is not a new idea. More than a decade ago, there were a number of reports that dealt with "an integrated curriculum in the liberal arts" or a "dual major" combining a major in engineering or science with one in humanities and social science. And John Burchard (the first dean of the School of Humanities and Social Science) is reported to have said that a tree (of science) with branches (of humanities) is not a good enough education. Instead, he proposed a "two-tree" solution. None of these previous attempts were instituted. But given the changes that we are seeing in the plans of our students, and in the needs of this more complicated world, perhaps it is time once again to consider this plan seriously.

The thought behind this new degree is to provide students with a fairly deep mastery of a technical field and combine it with an equally deep mastery of a field that is based on a different way of understanding the world and acquiring knowledge about it. It is not meant to substitute for the current curriculum. There will still be need for dedicated scientists and accredited engineers. Probably no more than 10-20% of the student body would opt to take this degree. And yet, it may have an impact on the Institute and its alumni that transcends the people actually involved. It might increase the level of engagement in humanities courses, which would benefit all students taking them. And it might send graduates out into the world that have the technical analytic abilities associated with a traditional MIT education combined with some of the human and social competencies now felt to be lacking.

The Faculty Policy Committee has established a sub-committee to pursue this idea. It is chaired by Sam Allen, of the Materials Science and Engineering Department, and includes faculty members Jeanne Bamberger (Music and Theater Arts), Isabelle De Courtivron (Foreign Languages and Literature), Paul Schechter (Physics), and Jeff Shapiro (Electrical Engineering and Computer Science). Dedric Carter (senior in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science) and a representative of the Dean’s Office are also members. Faculty are encouraged to send reactions to the Committee.

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