Tag Archives: Matthew Goldstein

December 18, 2011, 10:57 pm

CUNY’s Pathway to Whatever

City University of New York is moving forward with a controversial plan for a thirty-credit “common core.” In part one of this post, “How Central is the Core?” I traced some of the general arguments in favor of undergraduate core curricula, but I also faulted the CUNY proposal as an instance where the imposition of a common core will actually lower academic standards.

Some of the comments posted to “How Central is the Core?” anticipated points I intended to make in this follow-up. Let me borrow what has already been said. History professor Sandi Cooper, the chair of the University Faculty Senate, in particular, captures the distress of many CUNY faculty members as they contemplate the “common core.” Professor Cooper has complaints about the process: