By Hailey Heinz
The freshman class entering Northeastern in the fall of 2007 might find themselves unable to use Advanced Placement (AP) credit from high school, and could be taking a very different version of Advanced Writing in the Disciplines (AWD) if the Faculty Senate has its way.
Last week, the senate approved a resolution to send a report on general education requirements to all undergraduate programs. The departments will consider the report’s recommendations, and the senate will resume discussion next January.
The report, developed by the senate’s Academic Policy Committee, outlines ideas for integrating general education requirements with major requirements. Two controversial ideas are eliminating AP credits and replacing AWD with a three-course “Writing Intensive” requirement.
Currently, students can use the AP exam to replace some of their basic requirements including College Writing and Introduction to American History.
For sophomore business major Laura Platt, her AP credits were the difference between completing her Northeastern education in four years or five.
“I would be so mad if I couldn’t use my AP credits,” said Platt, who used her credits to replace College Writing, Calculus for Business and Business Statistics. “From what I heard about calculus for Business and Business Statistics, my AP calculus class was more intense,” Platt said.
When the resolution was presented to the senate, concerns were raised that high-achieving students might be discouraged from attending Northeastern if they were unable to use AP credits. The response from committee members was schools across the nation have been reevaluating their acceptance of AP credits, so Northeastern would still be able to compete for high-achieving students.
For Adam Simone, however, it would have been a factor. Simone, a freshman mechanical engineering major, is in the Honors Program and entered Northeastern with AP credits for various requirements. He said those credits have allowed him flexibility to take on a minor in electrical engineering and to take electives that interested him.
“I would have had to factor that in,” Simone said.
As far as possible changes to the AWD courses go, the main benefits of the committee’s plan would include linked courses in the freshman year, a cluster of major and non-major writing courses and a capstone course at the end, said Gerry Herman, chair of the Academic Policy Committee.
“We’re looking at more integration between general education and the major,” he said.
Herman said some departments have already begun integrating with AWD courses. Journalism and history students, among others, already replace AWD with required major courses, Journalism 3 and Historical Writing. Herman said if departments choose to adopt the plan, the course will become more integrated for other majors, which it is already beginning to do by offering sections that group students by major.
The report recommends students be required to take three “writing intensive” courses, excluding College Writing. Herman said departments will have the option of whether to integrate the class, and there will still be an AWD course as it exists today.
Genevieve Jewell, a middler business major, is currently finishing up her AWD requirement. Although she said her class was mostly business majors, she would have liked to see it geared more toward writing for a business setting.
Justin Sharifipour said he feels just the opposite. Sharifipour, a middler criminal justice major, said he completed his AWD requirement last summer, and took a mixed section, rather than one geared toward criminal justice. He said he would like to see the class stay more generalized, since students get plenty of practice in their major when fulfilling their major requirements.
“You get all your criminal justice papers in your criminal justice classes. The way I see it is the class is to make everyone’s writing better. I think the way AWD is now, everyone should be writing at an equal level,” Sharifipour said.
After discussion by the senate, the resolution was supported by most voting members. The one dissenting vote was David Marshall, chair of communication studies. Marshall said he voted against the resolution because he thinks it places too many limits on students who already have a lot of required courses to take.
“My read on the proposal is even though it may alleviate a few things, I would rather students choose how their majors intersect with their other requirements,” Marshall said. “I would simplify it to completely allow students to take a double major or a minor, or maybe pursue a few courses that they just really want to know about.”
Marshall said he also feels college is the place for students to tailor their educations to their own specific needs and curiosities.
“My other argument is the role of high school is … general education. The role of university is, yes, good solid, liberal arts … but let’s not get so caught up in it,” Marshall said.
Herman said maintaining flexibility for students is a concern, and something the committee considered seriously in developing their recommendations. He said this is one of the reasons the committee recommended the current number of total credits, 128, should not be increased.
The report includes other changes such as a requirement that every undergraduate major include a senior-level capstone experience to help students integrate their learning, including core requirements, general education requirements and co-op experiences. The report also recommends the creation of a director of the University Core Curriculum or a similar position to ensure the report’s suggestions are discussed and followed through.
Another recommendation is that every student be required to participate in at least one Freshman Learning Community, which would group students together for several classes their freshman year, drawing connections between different subjects. Herman said ultimately, the goal of the report is to help students tie their education together.
“We hope that over their five years, students understand integrated education even though we haven’t created a course called ‘integrated education,'” Herman said. “We want to make sure students carry with them an education that actually makes sense.”
