
Curricular Review: Redefining a World-Class Education
	Introduction to the Curricular Review	3:38
	A Harvard Education: Two Tensions	7:18
	Concentrations, Calendars, and Contexts	7:08
	Audience Question & Answer: Part One	9:47
	Audience Question & Answer: Part Two	11:50
History, Structure, and Content of American Academic Culture		41:39

	Concentrations, Calendars, and Contexts
	A major question facing the Curriculum Review concerns Harvard's concentrations and whether they are "too concentrated." Although the concentration model is premised on the "hope" that all Harvard students will proceed to graduate school in their discipline, in fact, less than ten percent of the members of any class have gone on to get a PhD. Over the last fifty years, more than two-thirds of the members of each graduating class instead have pursued a professional degree in law, business, or medicine. The University needs to recognize these realities and to design concentrations accordingly. For example, concentrations might be less discipline-based and more focused on applications, such as a joint concentration on combating AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa. Or there might be a full year of science involving physics, mathematics, and chemistry.<br> <br> The current requirement that students declare their concentrations at the end of freshman year — "very early in comparison to other institutions" — is also a subject of curricular review. So is the overall structure of the Harvard College calendar. Extending the first semester into January, an age-old Harvard practice, likely presents more disadvantages than advantages. Alternatively, ending the semester in December would enable the College to capture students extracurricular, athletic, and public service "spirits" through a range of artistic, research, and other pedagogic possibilities.<br> <br> Meanwhile, the Curriculum Review also is exploring ways to integrate some of these outside endeavors into students' academic experience. Perhaps undergraduates, who now spend over half their time on such activities, might do a reflective project with a faculty member following completion of an artistic or public service effort. Other areas that curriculum committees are reviewing include study abroad and science literacy, for those students who are not continuing in this discipline. <br> <br>

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