The target of present-day curriculum revivalists is the curriculum that came into being in the late 1960s. The purpose of the reform is to restore a sense of a shared or common culture among undergraduates and thus among the leaders of American society. (MLW)

Developing a core curriculum at Harvard College involves the problem of producing change in a self-governing but externally-oriented community. Critics of Harvard's curriculum planning are answered in this essay, which focuses on the problems and positive aspects of faculty involvement in the curricular change process. (JMD)

The belief that there should be a core of learning as part of the undergraduate program is overwhelmingly shared by the academic administrators. Chief academic officers at 1,310 four-year institutions were surveyed and they ranked their goals, objectives, and program effectiveness. (MLW)

Daniel Bell, author and Harvard sociologist, is interviewed. Among the topics discussed are his view of society, his books, ideology, universities and higher education--including Harvard's core curriculum project and the 1968 student revolt at Columbia University, and Israel and the Jewish experience. (JMD)

Making a list of essential information is seen as a hopelessly inadequate, and perhaps even dangerous, way to face America's educational problems. Opposition to E. D. Hirsch's book, CULTURAL LITERACY: WHAT EVERY AMERICAN NEEDS TO KNOW, is discussed. (MLW)

A syllabus that shows the diversity of cultures should be the "core curriculum." A linear narrative of American history, a selection of significant periods and then a discussion of what was happening simultaneously in many places, and an attempt to dramatize the future are all suggested for a core curriculum. (MLW)

The task of general education should be to provide a broad framework for understanding, an intellectual context within which factual information can meaningfully be comprehended. Each framework should have at least three qualities in common: an historical dimension, an intellectual dimension, and an analytical dimension. (MLW)

The loose smorgasbord distribution requirements and free electives of the '60s, have given way to more proscribed requirements and core programs. General education is a response to a need to reaffirm the connectedness among people. The agenda for general education is to teach those common experiences, relationships, and ethical concerns. (MLW)

The debate over the nature and form of general education is discussed. The Project on General Education Models, which surveyed colleges and universities that had taken concrete steps to review or revise their general education programs, is described. Some new programs are outlined. (MLW)

Most Americans oppose establishing a set of universally required texts--not because creating a core curriculum is inherently undemocratic, but because it's an un-American idea. The Chall curve shows graphically what is at stake in teaching literate culture to everyone. (MLW)

The future demands a renewal of community and a curriculum that will counteract the excesses of individualism and broaden social visions, suggest these authors. This article is adapted from a forthcoming book and emphasizes the need for a curriculum that deals with the American heritage and the university's role in it. (Editor/LBH)

Harvard's recommendation of a core curriculum is examined and related to the general status of American higher education. It is suggested that the Harvard curriculum offers insight into the crisis faced by academe, and that the so-called reforms reveal failures of imagination and will and offer too little too late. They fail to examine the…

Occidental College offers international programs and foreign affairs courses. The emphasis on international studies extends to the core curriculum with three major areas that deal with the history, politics, and culture of other countries. Undergraduates are required to take almost two years of a foreign language. (MLW)

Changes in undergraduate curriculum are seen to be generated by significant social, political, and cultural forces at work throughout society. After World War II a core curriculum was encouraged, but an imposition of a core curriculum in today's institutions is seen as inappropriate and ineffectual. (MLW)

Information is seen as a "crucial resource," and what this portends for citizenship and the education of citizens is discussed. The erosion of hierarchies, power and participation, education for integrative thinking, and core curriculum are addressed. (MLW)