University of Virginia Library

Curriculum Encouragement Given

By Jere Abrams
And Jackson Lears

—ed.

In regard to perusal of the
soon-to-be-released Curriculum Catalogue,
we would like to provide
an orientation for the students,
faculty, and administrators.

For students, a word of encouragement:
concern with the curriculum
and the manner in which you
are being taught involves more than
attending classes and grade-point
achievement. It must be a long range
commitment to improving
the lines of communications and
understanding as well as improving
yourselves. The over-riding purpose
of your presence at the University
cannot be lost in solely social or
academic pursuits.

For faculty, a note of solace:
our report's assumptions have not
regarded the student as an innocent
victim in the curriculum squeeze.
The student shibboleth of "relevance"
has not been equated only
with contemporaneity. We have
tried to limit "relevant" and
"meaningful" to a definition of a
course's pertinence to its discipline.
If the fallacy of student relevancy
appears, it is inadvertent. At the
same time, we have aimed at
dispelling the pejorative connotation
of "undergraduate." Faculty
indifference in this matter can only
lead to a violent, rather than
rational, curriculum revolution.

And for the administration, a
"recommendation:" human engineering
is a current solution in our
national government for alleviating
the unresponsiveness inherent in
bureaucracy. We could use it at
Virginia. It is your responsibility to
successfully join economic and
academic considerations at this
university. If procedural actions
dominate the response of university
administrators to human problems,
then there can be little hope of
meaningful substantive change.
From departmental inflexibility to
the promotion of instructors, the
basis for decisions and the form
your action takes must suit the
functions of this institution, with
regard to its students and faculty.
Administration, with regard to
curriculum, must recognize the need
of the benefit before it makes
pro of more decisions.
This is suggesting
academic democracy: this is advising
educational pragmatism.

Although we have provided only
an overview of the curriculum
situation in our series of articles
this newspaper, our work has
produced valuable and specific
information for students, faculty
and administrators. One can interpret
for himself what we have
recorded through a thorough examination
of our catalogue. For
further assistance to individual
faculty members, we are maintaining
our files of course evaluations.
Any faculty or administration
member may consult our
returns of student evaluations.
Please address all inquiries to the
Office of Student Government.
Newcomb Hall. Any suggestions or
corrections will be welcomed for
future evaluation word.