Core curriculum

For the Core Curriculum of Columbia College, see Core Curriculum.

In education, a core curriculum is a curriculum, or course of study, which is deemed central and usually made mandatory for all students of a school or school system. Core curricula are often instituted, at the primary and secondary levels, by school boards, Departments of Education, or other administrative agencies charged with overseeing education. At the undergraduate level, individual college and university administrations and faculties sometimes mandate core curricula, especially in the liberal arts. But because of increasing specialization and depth in the student's major field of study, a typical core curriculum in higher education mandates a far smaller proportion of a student's course work than a high school or elementary school core curriculum prescribes.

Examples in Higer Education

Amongst the best known and most expansive core curriculum programs at leading American colleges are those of the University of Chicago and certain collegiate divisions of Columbia University. Both can take up to two years to complete without advanced standing, and are designed to foster critical skills in a broad range of academic disciplines, including: the social sciences, humanities, physical and biological sciences, mathematics, writing and foreign languages. However, other selective institutions have largely done away with core requirements in their entirety, the most famous being the student driven course selection of Brown University. Further, as core curricula began to be diminished over the course of the twentieth century at many American schools, several smaller institutions became famous for embracing a core curriculum that covers nearly the student’s entire undergraduate education, oftentimes utilizing classic texts of the western canon to teach all subjects including science. St. John’s College in the United States remains famous in this vein.

Choice v. Curriculum

Many educational institutions are currently trying to balance two opposing forces: On the one hand, teachers wish to require students to have a common knowledge foundation, often in the form of a core curriculum; on the other hand, teachers want students to be able to pursue their own educational interests through free choice of courses. This debate can be seen in Harvard's changes to its core curriculum.

In 1999, the University of Chicago announced plans to relax its core curriculum, including reducing the number of required courses from 21 to 15. When The New York Times, The Economist, and other major news outlets picked up this story, the University became the focal point of a national debate on education. The National Association of Scholars, for example, released a statement saying, "It is truly depressing to observe a steady abandonment of the University of Chicago's once imposing undergraduate core curriculum, which for so long stood as the benchmark of content and rigor among American academic institutions." [1]

The changes were ultimately implemented, but the controversy eventually led to then-President Hugo Sonnenschein's resignation in 2000.