PSU Magazine Fall 1994

The Class of '98 will experience a learning environment vastly different from the classes that came before them. By John Kirkland Professor Charles White Currie um Revoution college education in post Wodd War II America has taken on the characteristics of a smorgasbord. Get a tray, go down the line, take little bits of what looks appetizing, and eventually you come away with a balanced meal. You might even learn to write. Maybe. But over the past decade, through– out the country, there has been a growing dissatisfaction among all sectors of higher education-from administrators to teachers to students– about this pick-and-choose style of learning. Growing numbers of students were finding the learning process disjointed, ineffective, and sometimes alienating. Those feelings have become so strong that PSU has decided to do something about it. This fall, Portland State will have a whole new general education program. Because of a revolutionary new curriculum, freshmen of what will be the Class of '98 will experience a learning environment vastly different than the classes that came before them. Gone is the requirement that a student take two writing courses to graduate; the whole topic of communi– cation is being approached from a different angle. Also gone is the requirement to take health and physical education. Diversity and multiculturalism will be themes taught across the new curriculum, eliminating the Univer– sity's separate "diversity" requirement which was hotly debated before going into effect two years ago. And gone are the days when students must graduate with a minimum of credit hours in the three broad areas that educators for decades have defined as constituting a broad-based education: science, social science and liberal arts. In their place will be a system that, if all goes according to what the faculty planners have set forth, will result in students who will think better, communicate better, have a closer bond with their instructors and other students, and will be more likely to stay at PSU. The reformed curriculum will be phased in over the next four years as new students enter the University. Incoming 1994 freshmen will experi– ence the first round with a program called Freshman Inquiry. This year-long, 15-credit course will immerse students in a tightly connected network of classes in art, science, literature and social science in one of five themes. The five Freshman Inquiry courses on this fall's menu are: The Making of a Pluralistic Society: Who We Are and How We Came to Be; Embracing Einstein's Universe: Language, Culture and Relativity; The Ways of Knowing Home; The City: Visions and Realities; and Values in Conflict: Knowledge, Power and Politics. In each course, a strong emphasis will be placed on writing, graphics and other forms of visual communication, and math literacy. Students will receive writing assignments every step FALL 1994 9