Loosen course requirements

I spent the second half of my summer taking a Spanish class at Georgetown University to fulfill the language component of Curriculum 2000. Now that it is complete, I am not at all closer to fluency than when I first stepped into the classroom. In fact, I might even be farther away.

Although my lackadaisical personal approach to the class couldn't have helped, no amount of enthusiasm could have salvaged the worthlessness of this course. Simply put, it was not an environment conducive to intellectual stimulation. Maybe four of the six students would show up each day. The activities that filled the syllabus barely passed for legitimate lessons. There were stories I didn't read and movies I didn't watch. The rest of the class could not have been much more engaged than I was-discussions would consist mostly of banal sentences in broken Spanish, followed by a prolonged awkward silence.

I readily admit that if I had pushed myself to complete all of the readings and contribute to the class discussion, I could be writing this column in pitch-perfect Spanish. But let's be honest: my grade isn't going to be factored into my GPA at Duke because it is a transfer credit, and I could pass the class without putting in much effort. It sounds like the perfect summer class and, in a way, it was. But as pleasant as it sounds to coast through a class and end up with a course credit, I know this is not the way a university should educate its students.

When students are faced with general requirements unspecific to their major that they have no interest in taking, they will more often choose the quick and painless class that can give them the credit. In taking these required courses, students must divide their attention between courses that contribute to their academic focus and ones that mostly just distract. And just as I did with my Spanish class, students will miss out on a chance to actually retain knowledge.

I am not advocating for a system that would prevent students from creating dynamic and adventurous schedules. A liberal arts education should expose students to a variety of subjects, but some of the requirements enforced by Curriculum 2000 do more harm than good. For students with a clear vision of how they can make the most of a Duke education, there should be a system that would allow them to bypass some required classes, giving them more space in their schedule to pursue a project in their chosen field of study.

The new program would give students a chance to waive certain course requirements. Students would present their dean with a proposed course load that sufficiently boosts their dedication to a project within their major. If this plan is approved, they will pursue that project in lieu of the required course. For example, if students want to write a thesis during their senior year-a time when many have curriculum requirements to finish up-they should be able to skip the required course. The work and research that go into the creation of a thesis would benefit a student more than a course of no interest to them, a course they would simply skate through, disinterested and bored.

But even if a student lacks a specific project that would take the place of a required course, he or she should be able to have enough freedom to take courses that are of interest to them. This summer, instead of cramming for a grammar test, I could have been taking a course that would complement the research I've taken on for my thesis.

There is something to be said for serendipitous course selections that begin as a way to complete a requirement and end up turning a student on to their true passion. But based on what I've witnessed, at some point students will take at least one or two classes that may provide them with a credit for a missing Mode of Inquiry, but give them little in terms of knowledge relevant to their area of interest. Adding flexibility to the requirements outlined in Curriculum 2000 would give students a chance to focus on a project of their own volition, a personal mission that will benefit them long after they forget what they were forced to learn to complete a requirement.