The Wabash Commentary

Recently the Academic Policy Committee released the report on All-College Courses.  The discussion of All-College Courses “was part of a wider conversation this semester about the College’s curriculum and how we will offer courses and programs of quality in light of a reduced faculty after 2011.”    For those who haven’t yet read the report, this summary intends to make the main points of it clear and accessible. For those who have, it wouldn’t hurt to refresh what was overwhelming student support in favor of C&T at a time when faculty seem to be ignoring it.

The report revealed that a cardinal virtue of the course was creating a sense of community between students and alumni. Yet this community also serves as a way to connect faculty with students of diverse disciplines and more importantly as a way to  connect faculty with each other.  The cohesion brought about by C&T serves as a way to combat “fragmentation” in increasingly specialized academic disciplines.

In addition, C&T allows the student to develop “certain important competencies.”  Overwhelmingly, the skills identified concerned discussion and argumentation. As identified by students, the ability to discuss and articulate complex arguments is “a hallmark of a Wabash man.”    It is “noteworthy that students view C&T as the principal curricular mechanism for honing these skills.  And for many students, one of the only mechanisms.”