The History of Brown's Curriculum

Colleges & Universities Brown University
1

<p>Hi CC’ers!</p>

<p>In the Fall of 1967, seventy students at Brown set out to rethink undergraduate education at the school. Eventually joined by more students and a number of professors, the group conducted a yearlong study of college education, its history, and the latest ideas for making it better – all in the hopes of applying what they learned to Brown. The end result was a 400-page tome that presented the group’s research, proposed a philosophy of education, and set out the details of a new curriculum to implement that philosophy. Within two years, the student-centered philosophy of education presented in their report became Brown’s educational philosophy, and it endures to this day.</p>

<p>The group’s report – which has come to be known as The Magaziner-Maxwell Report in honor of its principal authors – has languished in relative obscurity in the time since it was released. About a year ago, the small non-profit that I lead set out to breathe new life into the Report by publishing it in a new, more accessible format. Ultimately, we hope that future Brown students will be more engaged with the history of and philosophy behind the New Curriculum. The new edition, complete with a new foreword from the original authors, will be released in a couple of weeks – online for free, of course, and in print at the cost of printing. </p>

<p>What’s fascinating about CC is that, though it is ostensibly a forum for college applicants, it actually hosts some of the most cogent discussions of Brown’s curriculum that I know of. With that in mind, I wanted to let you know about the upcoming release a little bit early, and invite you to take a look at our working draft of the Report before the finishing touches have been put on it:</p>

<p>[The</a> Magaziner-Maxwell Report](<a href=“http://openjar.org/mmreport]The”>http://openjar.org/mmreport)</p>

<p>I hope that this primary source will make a good complement to [modest’s</a> fantastic modern account of the curriculum](<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/brown-university/385841-brown-curriculum-university-college-explained.html]modest’s”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/brown-university/385841-brown-curriculum-university-college-explained.html) and the many discussions that take place here daily.</p>

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<p>Bumping this thread, as the Report has now been released. It’s available for free in electronic format, and in print from Amazon and the Brown Bookstore. Here’s our portal with links to all of these versions:</p>

<p>[The</a> Magaziner-Maxwell Report](<a href=“http://openjar.org/mmreport]The”>http://openjar.org/mmreport)</p>

<p>I hope that the Report provides some insight into the history of Brown’s awesome curriculum. I’d love to hear your thoughts!</p>

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<p>Thank you for this! I’d love to look through this when I have some spare time.</p>

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<p>For those with limited time, here are my recommendations for what to take a look at:</p>

<p>[ul][li]Introduction and Ch. 1 (History of GISP) – This will give you an idea of the historical context for curricular reform at Brown.</p>[/li]
<p>[li]Ch. 9 (Proposal for a Philosophy for Brown) – This is the student-centered educational philosophy that the group formulated for Brown. To this day, the curriculum at Brown closely tracks this philosophy.</p>[/li]
<p>[li]Ch. 18 (Grading & Evaluation) – This section was so important that they gave it a separate bibliography. It’s a great summary of the arguments against traditional grading. </p>[/li]
<p>[*]Ch. 15-16 (Proposals for Curriculum) – This can be a bit tough to slough through, but it’s interesting to see how different the adopted curriculum was from what they proposed. This contrasts with their philosophy, which was adopted very closely (as mentioned above).[/ul]</p>

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<p>Quick bump – my summer reading assignment for Brown’s awesome incoming class of 2016 :)</p>