University of Virginia Library

Stuart Pape

At Hampshire
In Massachusetts

Most University students probably
passed over the announcement
last week that a new school, Hampshire
College in Massachusetts, had
opened its doors to an entering
class of 268. But the opening of
this school is worthy of more than
a passing glance for administrators,
faculty and students.

Without years of tradition, good
and bad, and multitudes of vested
interests to worry about. Hampshire
sets out to embody many of
the concepts of academic life missing
at most other universities, including
Virginia. Some faculty
members here expressed philosophies
similar to the guiding principle
at Hampshire during last year's
College curriculum - reform debates,
but the consensus brought
forth then was more of the tired,
out-dated curricular theory.

Rejects Formality

The guiding principle at Hampshire
is based on a rejection of the
strict, segmented curriculum found
here. No courses are required and
as, the New York Times has
reported, students may take from
three to six years to graduate.
Interdisciplinary study, small seminars
and independent study characterize
the Hampshire program.

The curriculum is organized
chronologically into three divisions:
the first exposes the student to the
Humanities and the Arts; the Natural
Sciences; and the Social Sciences.
The second division allows a student
to specialize in one of those
areas, with the third devoted to
independent work. The goals of the
classic liberal education with a historical
perspective are fostered,
while at the same time allowing the
students to consider real world problems.

Courses offered at Hampshire
include: "Campus Design: A Problem
in Applied Ecology; Social
Order Here and There; and The
Search for a Usable Past." To
some extent our Experimental University
offers courses of a comparable
nature. They do not unfortunately
make up for Math 1 and the
abominable foreign language requirement.

In addition all students have the
opportunity to take Human Development
Seminars, which include
topics such as adult socialization,
feminine identity, and human sexuality.
One can imagine a benefit
accruing from these seminars to
faculty and administrators as well
as the students.

Lacking Here

The program of study at Hampshire
seems to have something, that
undergraduate education at Virginia
lacks. Most seriously, perhaps, is
the absence of any coherent philosophy
underlying the rules for required
courses which are sprinkled
with elements of student freedom.
No one knows why they must take
either a Math or a Science or a
Foreign Language. And why six
hours of this and eight of that.

The President of Hampshire sets
forth his schools philosophy thusly:
"We want to bring together under
the rubric of liberal arts the experience
of freedom and at the same
time understanding of the complexities
and realities and possibilities of
the most advanced technological
society in the world. Our intention
is to reconcile the beautiful and
potentially dangerous thrust toward
freedom and the thrust toward making
our complex society work for
human ends."

The exposure to a variety of
fields, which the student purportedly
gets from taking required courses
is supposed to broaden his perspectives
and enlighten him. It falls
miserably, as any student who has
endured it all here will tell you.
Rather that promoting the development
of students with mature, rational
outlooks it leads to fragmented,
disorganized clusters of knowledge.

It is a false concept to maintain
that one can study government

without exposure to sociology, economics,
psychology and history.
English is equally interrelated with
art, drams, history, and political
theory. Naturally there are courses
offered here which recognize and
foster these connections. But the
entire thrust of undergraduate education
is in the opposite direction.

Faculty members and departments
still jealously guard their
respective domains as if they were
just that. The sigh of relief that
resounded through Wilson Hall at
the conclusion of the last faculty
meeting devoted to the curriculum
last fall betrays an unfortunate reluctance
on the part of most faculty
members to face up to the
failure that is this University's undergraduate
program of study.

The steps taken last fall make a
poor program of study more palatable.
They fail to come close to
attacking the real problems in education
here.

It would be unfair to implicate
all faculty members in this failure.
There are undoubtedly many fine
instructors who attempt to make
sense out of the chaos which reigns.
The first-year seminar concept affords
many students the opportunity
to be exposed to education as it
should be. But they are a minority
of the class, not to say of the
school. I have already mentioned
the role that the Experimental University
plays.

Piecemeal Efforts

These, however, are piecemeal
attempts to rectify a shameful and
lamentable course of study which
passes itself off as one of the best in
the nation and proper preparation
for the future. A student does not
benefit nearly as much from one
seminar or Experimental U. course
as he would from a coherent, intelligent,
enlightened pattern of
instruction.

The University of Virginia,
one-hundred and fifty one years old
could do much worse than following
the example of a freshman
upstart in Massachusetts. Lets stop
wasting four good years of our
lives.