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 The three divisional requirements (social sciences, humanities, and the natural sciences and mathematics) work toward the goal of “critical, creative and independent habits of thought and expression” in the mission statement.  The mission statement is so general that all the requirements fit “perfectly” into it.  I think that if the curriculum is going to be redesigned, the mission statement should be revisited.  However, it is hard to make it specific because the college educates students on so many topics and in so many ways.  I think that currently the curriculum fits with the mission statement very well, but the question is: could a different curriculum better accomplish these goals?

The new breadth requirements would have one less required class (five instead of six), but would cover more specific topics.  It seems that the reasons for the five topics have been thought out, in addition to the way they fit together.  I have been trying to figure out if this would give students less freedom.  It may narrow their choices to some extent, but I imagine that many classes would be cross-listed.  A large difference I see in the new curriculum would be that students would take more varied courses, but these varied courses could all relate to each other.  For example, with the current requirements a student could take two very similar classes from the social sciences division, but with the new requirements, these two classes would use different types of thinking skills.  This is what I understand to be the thinking behind the new requirements, and I like the idea. 

It will take a lot of work to implement the new requirements and make them work smoothly.  It like the idea of learning about topics, especially similar ones, using different mediums.  I think the course load in the new curriculum would mesh together better, but this may not be true when students actually try it out.  Right now it seems that students have to fulfill requirement they have no interest in, but perhaps this will still happen in the new curriculum.  I would also like to know if new classes would be created to go along with the breadth requirements.  Part of Bryn Mawr’s mission statement is to “sustain a community diverse in nature and democratic in practice.”  I think that this should not just apply to the students, but also to the classes offered and the curriculum.  I believe that the new breadth requirements would encourage diversity in thought and learning.