What do statistics, 20th-century American politics, 19th-century architecture and the Vikings have in common?
Those are the four classes I’m taking this semester, and I can tell you from experience they have almost nothing in common. This is not unusual for me. As a history concentrator who takes mostly social science courses, I’m used to jumping around through time and space. And I’m not the only one: Based on conversations with classmates, it seems that most students at Brown will take at least one or two “fun” classes outside their main fields.
In science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields, learning is often broken up into sequences across semesters. First, you take Chem 33, then Orgo I, then Orgo II. This fits the nature of the disciplines, where what you learned last semester is critical to what you’re learning this semester. Plus, students in the STEM fields tend to have less flexible course plans because their concentrations often have more requirements than non-STEM disciplines do.
The humanities and social sciences are not structured like STEM courses where information from semester to semester builds off of each other. Once you acquire the necessary skills — writing concisely, reading and thinking analytically — you can study a broad range of things. That’s at once liberating and disorienting.
The closest I’ve ever come to taking a coordinated course load was last semester, when I took “Land Use and Capitalism,” which briefly touches on India, at the same time I was taking “History of Colonial India.” Though the overlap was brief, I benefited from putting the material I learned in the two classes together for a broader perspective on India and capitalism.
This is a natural outgrowth of the way many non-STEM classes are developed, scheduled and taught: Each professor creates or modifies a course and teaches it on his or her own schedule. This system can be an asset because it allows professors to teach the subjects about which they have the most knowledge and passion.
But the downside of this can be fragmentary knowledge and a lack of perspective. As a solution, faculty members in the social sciences or humanities should come together and find areas where their courses could be taken either concurrently or in sequence like in STEM fields. While this might mean some professors need to change their course rotation, collaboration would allow professors to recognize where overlaps exist without forcing them to alter their courses or add new ones. Taking all the courses on a recommended schedule would be optional for students but available to them if they choose to utilize it. This process could be organized by the administrators, department heads or a student group, like the Critical Review. The recommendations could be posted on a number of platforms, including ASK, Banner or department websites.
Classes could overlap in time and place, for example HIST 1020: “Living Together: Muslims, Christians and Jews in Medieval Iberia” and HIST 1977F: “Barbarians, Byzantines and Berbers: Early Medieval North Africa.” Classes could also overlap across departments such as GRMN 1320K: “Achilles Around 1800” and CLAS 1120B: “Epic Poetry from Homer to Lucan.” Given the huge number of courses available on Banner, such a system could help students find courses they otherwise might miss.
The next step is to make students aware of these options, especially freshmen. Coming into Brown, I felt an acute lack of institutional knowledge. I had no clue who any of the professors were or what their classes were like, and there were more options than I could possibly shop. Since neither my freshman advisor nor my Meiklejohn Peer Advisor specialized in the fields I was interested in, I felt a little adrift. I shopped as many courses as I had time for, going only off of the subject and the Critical Review. Having slates of recommended courses that mesh well together could help provide freshmen, and all students, with an additional advising resource.
Another key resource could be lists of classes that are similar and what makes them different. For example, SOC 1620: “Globalization and Social Conflict,” HIST 1311: “Land Use and Capitalism” and HIST 0150A: “History of Capitalism” all cover similar themes and readings, but with some differences. Identifying all of these similar courses in one place would help students interested in the history of capitalism find the course that best fits them.
Plenty of other schools have course plans for the humanities and social sciences, but without the same freedom as the open curriculum, which can be just as overwhelming as it is liberating. Having optional slates of courses to help guide students through the sheer vastness of course offerings might make the open curriculum work better.
Duncan Weinstein ’17 would really like to see this idea implemented. He can be reached at duncan_weinstein@brown.edu.
