I, Professor Steinberg, am on the English Department Curriculum Committee and the School of Culture and Society Curriculum Committee. As a faculty member with an interest in curriculum, I will be involved (in one capacity or another) in the College-wide review and re-evaluation of the General Education program that will be beginning this semester on campus.
As a first step in preparing for my involvement in this review and re-evaluation, I would like to solicit student input and research concerning the General Education program as it currently exists, as well as concerning possible alternatives to the existing program.
I am keenly aware that students often complain about their General Education courses and about the program as a whole, but I do not know the cause(s) of their complaints. As a result, I would like roughly half the class to volunteer to research and write papers that make an argument about the cause(s) of student discontent with the General Education program. For each volunteer, your paper should not simply enumerate student complaints against the General Education program but instead should analyze the cause(s) of those complaints. What causes students to complain about the program? Is the root cause something wrong in the program? in the students? in both? What concrete evidence can you provide that the causes you propose are indeed the real causes of the dissatisfaction?
The rest of class will explore alternatives to the current General Education program. I want each student in the other half of class to choose a school that would seem to be a good (or bad) model for The College of New Jersey in terms of future changes in our General Education program. Then, write a paper that makes a resemblance argument from precedent in favor of (or in opposition to) revising TCNJ's General Education curriculum to be more like the other school's. The paper should present a complete and logical resemblance argument that establishes a similarity (or lack thereof) between The College of New Jersey and the other school as a basis for recommending a change (or no change) in the direction of the other school's General Education program. In what ways is TCNJ like (or unlike) the school you've chosen? Why would the other school be a good (or bad) precedent for TCNJ to follow? How successful has the General Education program at the other school been? What concrete evidence can you provide that modelling ourselves after the school you've chosen would be a good (or bad) thing for us?
Keep in mind that your papers will be graded based on my usual grading criteria for papers. This paper should be 1000-1200 words long.