By Hemesh Patel
Daily Bruin Staff As early as next year, the number of general
education requirements in the College of Letters & Science may
significantly be reduced, despite opposition from science faculty.
The General Education Governance Committee has been discussing this
issue for a year and plans to present the proposal to the Faculty
Executive Committee for review in early May. “It’s very
important to emphasize that nothing has been decided yet,”
said David Rodes, director of the committee and senior lecturer for
the English department. Assuming that there will be a major shift
from four-unit classes to five-unit classes next year, the
committee proposed to break down the general requirements into
three different groups: “¢bull; Foundations of Arts and Humanities
“¢bull; Foundations of Society and Culture “¢bull; Foundations of
Scientific Inquiry Currently, students are required to take four
courses each in the humanities and social sciences and three
classes each in the physical and life sciences. UCLA has more
science GEs than other schools in the UC system. Because the major
reductions come from the sciences, the physical and life sciences
faculty must debate this shift, Rodes said. The proposal cuts the
number of humanities and social science classes to three and
combines the physical and life sciences into one group ““
reducing the number of science GEs from six to three. Opposition
from the faculty mainly stems from the sciences. “I think
this is not a good idea,” said Ann Hirsch, professor in the
department of molecular cell and developmental biology. “Its
important for people to educated in the sciences, especially in the
the 21st century ““ the age of biology,” she added. But
according to the proposal, requiring students to take less classes
that are worth more units will allow for a more challenging and
intellectual experience. “I’m personally in love with
five-unit classes,” Rodes said. “I think it helps
counteract the curse of the quarter system.” If the proposal
goes through and if there is also a shift in units, the number of
GE units students will have to take will be reduced from 56 to 45.
The proposal would impact neither the foreign language nor the
quantitative reasoning requirements. Rodes said faculty members
have had many sharp opinions about the proposal and so far, the
opposition has been favorable with minor exceptions. The committee,
for example, has had to change the the title of one of the three
proposed groups from Foundations of Aesthetic and Humanistic
Experience to Foundations of the Arts and Humanities. “People
hated the word aesthetic,” Rodes said. At last Monday’s
faculty meeting in the department of organismic biology, ecology
and evolution, there was a unanimous vote against the proposal.
“Given that over the past 100 years science has boomed, it
would be irresponsible for UCLA to decrease that requirement that
drastically,” said Blaire Van Valkenburgh, chair of the
organismic biology, ecology and evolution department. By reducing
the number of science courses, GE classes in this field may change
to give students more in-depth courses with lab components, Rodes
said. Both Van Valkenburgh and Hirsch said the current system of
general education requirements is very complex and complicated.
Rather than cutting the science requirements from six to three, Van
Valkenburgh proposed to cut the requirement by one class, leaving
two classes in the physical sciences and three in the biological
sciences. “This would reflect how the sciences have grown
over the last 100 years, 50 years or even 10 years,” she
said. Hirsch said reducing the number of science classes to three
is a tragedy. “How can you understand what is going on with
the genome project and proteomics without having fundamental
knowledge in the sciences?” Hirsch said. Despite concerns
from faculty in the sciences, Rodes said the proposal may very well
become a reality. “I am an optimist,” he said. If the
proposal goes through the Faculty Executive Committee, it will then
go to the Undergraduate Council of the Academic Senate. If the
Undergraduate Council approves it, it will go to the Legislative
Assembly of the Academic Senate in June, where a final vote will be
cast and decision will be made.
CURRENT AND PROPOSED GE REQUIREMENTS
The General Education Governance Committee is proposing to
reduce the number of GEs required for students in the College of
Letters and Science
Current (1 course = 4 units)
Proposed (1 course = 5 units)
Humanities Literature (1 course) Philosophy
Language & linguistics Culture & civilization The arts
Literary studies (1 course) Visual and performance arts (1 course)
Philosophy & linguistic analysis (1 course) Total Units = 16 (4
courses) Total units = 15 (3 courses) Social
Science Social Analysis (2 courses) Historical Analysis (2
courses) Social analysis (1 course) Historical analysis (1 course)
Third course from either sub-group Total units = 16 (4 courses)
Total units = 15 (3 courses) Physical Sciences & Life
Sciences Physical sciences (3 courses) Life sciences (3
courses) Physical sciences (1 course) Life sciences (1 course)
Third course from either sub-group (Two courses must have a
lab/demonstration component) Total units = 24 units (6 courses)
Total units = 15 (3 courses) Total GE units
56 45 Original by CONNIE WU/Daily
Bruin Senior Staff Web Adaptation by STEPHEN WONG/Daily Bruin