Faculty Accepts General Education Proposals

The Faculty yesterday gave final approval to the program of "guided distribution" recommended last month by the Committee on General Education, Provost Buck announced last night.

Under the new plan, every undergraduate starting with the Class of 1955 must take at least three GE courses, one each in Humanities, Natural, and Social Sciences before the end of his sophomore year. In addition, three more distribution courses will be required. These may be chosen from second group GE courses, or any course offered by the various Departments. The Committee on General Education will, however, publish a list of "recommended courses" for advanced distribution.

The original recommendations of the GE Committee required advanced distribution courses from either upper group GE courses or from a list of about 80 courses compiled by the Committee. During the Faculty discussion, the Committee changed its proposals so that any course whatsoever is now suitable for advanced distribution. However, only two of the total of six distribution courses may be in the area of the student's concentration. No other major changes were made in the Committee's recommendations.

English A Revised

Recommendations for the revamping of English A were also approved by the Faculty at its meeting yesterday, and the matter was referred to the Committee on Educational Policy for implementation.

Several "elastic clauses" have been included in the action revising the present distribution setup. For example, students concentrating in natural sciences, or pre-meds may count three lab courses, or two lab courses and a math course as fulfilling the GE requirement in Natural Sciences. Also, in cases where concentration requirements make it necessary, students may spread the required three elementary GE courses over their first three years.

The new GE program will go into effect gradually. For the next two years, distribution requirements will remain the same, but freshmen entering next fall must take at least one elementary GE course during the first two years, and undergraduates entering Harvard in the fall of 1950 will be required to take at least two elementary GE courses before their junior year. The program goes into full effect beginning with the Class of 1955.

The first proposals for GE contained in "General Education in a Free Society," suggested that in the areas of humanities and social sciences, one particular course would be required of all students. In that program, only one distribution course would have been permitted in the area of concentration.