Translation 2010

This article was a translation of a Chinese article.

As always, the undergraduate students in school of Harvard University are required to attend a series of courses except their major course, to guarantee their undergraduate education covers broad research subject and research method. The new general education program of Harvard committe to connect the knowledge learned in class with the life outside the campus even life after graduation. There has a link between the content of general education curriculum and other course content, but the teaching method is not the same. The purpose of general education is not bring students into a discipline, but integrate a discipline into the life of students. The general education program connect arts & technology with the 21st century and the life after graduation, let students know all the study and research skills in Harvard.

The general education curriculum is composed of a series of courses except the major for the undergraduate, that has replace the core system which is implemented in the past 30 years. Currently, there are many general education class which is transformed from the largely modified core curriculum, while other definitions are new, like the course named “What Is Life: from quark to consciousness”. These new courses will contact the classroom learning with a wider range of meanings. It’s not only interdisciplinary, but beyond the classroom. Among these courses, some are teaching by the professorss in different departments.

In the new curriculum system, students must choose a course in eight course categories. This new system encourage professors innovate boldly in the area of excursions、hands-on workshops、guest lectures and other new models. Of course, it’s also encouraged innovate boldly to the students.