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Eliminate the writing sem monopoly

Princeton University is not like Columbia. We do not have a core curriculum, and all distribution areas cover a large number of classes, creating a good ecosystem of competition.

Freshman writing seminars are the exception to this rule, and their quality suffers as a result. It’s basic economics: with a monopoly in place, there is no incentive for improvement. If, say, a politics class is poorly taught, students will avoid that class and it will either improve or else stop being offered. All students, however, must take a writing sem, so they can live on without adapting.

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True, students rank their preferences among dozens of writing seminars and that creates a small amount of competition. But the structure is identical across all the seminars and they need the same size class — meaning that the worst writing sem might have as many students as the best.

Required and prerequisite classes for certain majors can present a similar problem for the same reason. But they normally leave at least some choice. For example, the EMP sequence can be taken instead of PHY 103 and MAT 201.Even these large introductory classes do not have a true monopoly.

Ultimately, the writing sem monopoly stunts innovation. The solution is to open the writing requirement to more classes. Just as an LA requirement can be satisfied by courses in literature, visual arts, architecture, music, photography and other subjects, students should be able to fulfill the writing requirement with all sorts of classes.

Maybe a student would prefer to learn writing from a history class, or perhaps a journalism class. Perhaps STEM majors would prefer a class more tailored to their specific needs: a lab class that focuses on the mechanics of writing lab reports, or even one dedicated to the art of writing grant proposals. For all other areas, Princeton acknowledges that many classes are capable of teaching students a new mode of thinking. Writing should not be different.

Beni Snow is a freshman from Newton, Mass. He can be reached at bsnow@princeton.edu.

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