The innovative educator Robert Maynard Hutchins was president of the university from 1929 to 1945—important and unstable times in world history. He and his faculty responded to the needs they saw in a rapidly shrinking, changing, and threatening world when they shaped the Core into the form it’s held for over 60 years. The Core courses are designed to cover the whole scope of human knowledge, and to teach not facts but the tools of inquiry. We require courses in civilization, but do not privilege Western civilization over any other. We require that students be proficient in a foreign language by the time they graduate, acknowledging the rapid globalization of our shrinking world. We require courses in physical sciences and biological sciences so that students understand both the power and limitations of scientific observations and experiments. We require courses in mathematics so that students understand formal reasoning and logic. We require that students study the social sciences and humanities, to learn the ways of encountering and analyzing primary texts that have shaped our understanding of ourselves and society. We require courses in art, music, and drama so that students understand the artistic vocabulary and how that vocabulary creates meaning and feeling.
Social sciences and humanities Core classes are capped at 20 students, taught by faculty, and based on the Socratic method of teaching, where the professor sits down with the students, not at a lectern, and asks questions that stimulate a conversation about texts and ideas. We use primary sources, not textbooks, and sit in a circle, so there is no “front” to the classroom. Most courses are taken in sequences of at least two quarters (three quarters is a year-long course).
Not only does the curriculum provide the background for any major and for continuing study after graduation, it also provides a common experience for all students in the College. All students have taken the same sorts of classes and read the same kinds of texts, struggling and triumphing over the same sorts of ideas. This gives every student a common vocabulary of ideas and skills, no matter his or her background before they came to the College.
Humanities, Civilization Studies, and the Arts (6 quarters)
Students must take six quarters altogether of courses on the interpretation of historical, literary, and philosophical texts (humanities), civilization studies, and dramatic, musical, and visual arts. Examples of courses taken for the humanities requirement include Readings in World Literature, Philosophical Perspectives on the Humanities, Human Being and Citizen, or Language and the Human. Examples of civilization sequences include Introduction to Western Art Music, Text and Performance, or Visual Language. Examples of courses in civilization include Introduction to African Civilization; Colonizations; Science, Culture, and Society in Western Civilization; or Ancient Near Eastern Thought and Literature. Students can also complete their civilization requirement by any of 11 civilization abroad programs.
Natural and Mathematical Sciences (6 quarters)
Students must take six quarters altogether in biological sciences, physical sciences, and mathematics. Courses in biological sciences include Cell and Molecular Biology/Genetics and Ecology and Evolution. Physical sciences courses include General Chemistry, Introduction to Astrophysics, and The Science of Global Environmental Change. Courses in mathematics include Calculus, Multimedia Programming as an Interdisciplinary Art, and Introduction to Computer Science.
Social Sciences (3 quarters)
Students must take a full year of social sciences. Courses include Power, Identity, and Resistance; Mind; and Self, Culture, and Society.
Language Requirement
The College also requires that students demonstrate language proficiency in reading, writing, and (where appropriate) speaking and listening, either through testing in AP or IB exams, through our own required placement tests, by participating in summer language-intensive study abroad, or by passing the College-administered language competency exam. International students can meet the requirement by providing supporting documentation.
Physical Education
The College requires students to pass a physical education test or take up to three classes in physical education, including jogging, archery, yoga, and conditioning. The College also requires students to pass a swimming test.
