Distribution requirement system needs rethinking

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The Foreign Exchange

Distribution requirement system needs rethinking

This piece represents the opinion of the author:

Benjamin Ziomek

Columnist

November 19, 2010

As a liberal arts college, one of Bowdoin's main goals is to expose students to a wide variety of fields. Many of us come to the College undecided about our major, and having the freedom to explore is invaluable. Even for those of us who arrive on campus with a clear major—or even career—in mind, the breadth of course offerings is a godsend. Not only can we take whatever we want, but the school encourages such behavior. Bowdoin wants to make sure that all of its graduates are well-rounded individuals who possess knowledge gained from courses across the spectrum of academia. The system of distribution requirements was born from this desire. It has changed over the years, but the basic idea is the same: to ensure that all Bowdoin students have a broad experience in the liberal arts. However, as currently conceived, the system of distribution requirements is failing to achieve this goal.

In order to graduate, a Bowdoin student must take courses in the natural sciences and mathematics, social and behavioral sciences, and humanities. Every class at Bowdoin possesses one of these designations, and students hardly even notice that this division requirement exists—we just ignore the (a), (b) or (c) next to course names in the catalog. In fact, it's a common misconception that the requirements are a holdover from the old system of division requirements and that they don't even impact current Bowdoin students! So far, so good; the requirement that we spread ourselves between the three main branches of academia is an important one, and it is so intuitive that most of us don't even have to think about taking courses that fulfill all three of the letter designations.

The problems with the system begin when we examine the additional distribution requirements that sit just below the aforementioned division requirements in the course catalog. INS, MCSR, VPA, ESD and IP—these are the acronyms that haunt the nightmares of Bowdoin students. Just like contracting the diseases that these five designations resemble, freeing oneself of these requirements is a long and arduous process that causes much pain to the student body.

This is not to say that a system of five requirements is a terrible idea. In theory, distribution requirements are a great idea. All Bowdoin students should graduate with a basic understanding of science, the arts, mathematics and a broad perspective on the world. However, the implementation of the requirements leaves a lot to be desired. Attaching distribution requirements to courses is left up to professors. While this policy may seem eminently reasonable, as it is professors who know the content of their courses best, it has transformed these requirements into a game that faculty members play with students.

Professors that teach popular or difficult courses tend not to go through the bother of certifying their courses with a distribution requirement, since they don't want students to take their courses simply to fulfill distribution requirement. This has left classes that should obviously fulfill a requirement sitting naked in the course catalog, stopping many a student from taking classes that would have greatly contributed to their education simply because they needed a requirement that a particular course didn't provide. On the flip side, smaller departments that desire higher enrollments try to attach designations to anything they can, even if the course only tangentially relates to the distribution requirement. While this system creates a flow of elective-seeking students to under-subscribed departments, it also plunges a knife into the heart of the original reason for distribution requirements. It is all too common for students to complete distribution requirements with courses that are only tangentially related to the subjects that the requirements purport to cover, thus avoiding exposure to all facets of academia.

Not only do the designations attached to courses often have little relationship to the content of the courses themselves, but many courses also exist simply for the purpose of letting students fulfill requirements in the easiest possible manner. The sub-100 level courses in science are the biggest culprits, letting many students escape Bowdoin without ever experiencing a real lab class. And MCSR—the supposed quantitative requirement—is easy to fulfill without cracking open a mathematics textbook. I could accept the existence of these courses, provided that they were reciprocated on the side of the arts and humanities. Alas, the truth is that students of the humanities are coddled while students with quantitative majors are forced to sign up for normal courses in order to fulfill their own missing requirements.

There is no silver bullet that can fix distribution requirements. Even if it were desirable, it would be too much to ask for Bowdoin to tear down the system and rebuild it. Yet there is a simple solution that can solve the most glaring issues with the system. If all classes have to possess a distribution requirement—just as they do a division requirement—the incentives for professors to incorrectly designate courses will evaporate. If courses require a designation, there will be no reason for professors to leave off requirements that courses should have. There would be no reason to fear attracting students who are simply after the requirement; with so many designated courses to choose from, such students would never make up large portions of a class. Requiring designations would also solve the problem of courses lacking designations that they clearly should possess.

The biggest issue with universal designations is that it would make finishing distribution requirements much easier. In order to maintain some hint of the challenge that currently faces students, there should be an additional requirement. As some courses—such as American government and English—would not fit into the current set of requirements, I propose a new sixth requirement called History of Western Thought—or HWT for short. This would have the pleasant benefit of ensuring that students gain an appreciation for the Western canon while at Bowdoin, something that should never be left out of a liberal arts education.

Currently, the distribution requirement system causes nothing but pain. While we are meant to be gaining an appreciation for the breadth and diversity of academia, the only thing students really get from chasing acronyms is a headache. This state of affairs would be very easy to change, and no additional resources would be required to make distribution requirements universal. If anything, the abolition of the designation certification process would save the administration time and money, as well as make life easier for students—all without damaging Bowdoin's goal of providing students with a well-rounded, liberal education.

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