The English Department's recent decision to remove ENG 202 from its curriculum presents the rest of the University with a fundamental question: What is the purpose of an introductory course? Years of student course evaluations demonstrated that many did not enjoy ENG 202 and adopted a kind of "make-it-through" mentality so that they could have the option of becoming English majors. The politics or chemistry major who considers signing up for ENG 202 out of a love for William Wordsworth is quickly shot down.
University departments, in light of the ENG 202 decision, should reconsider the function that introductory-level courses serve within the curriculum. The student who wishes to take a survey course just to learn a thing or two about anthropology, art history or psychology ought to be welcomed into an exciting and informative set of lectures. He should not be faced with the impression that the course's only value is to fulfill the prerequisite for upper-level classes.
Princeton makes astronomy courses available to classics majors and philosophy courses available to civil engineers through a number of 100- and 200-level courses that aim to provide a comprehensive introduction to the subject matter. These courses could become some of the most memorable components of the undergraduate's academic experience, and already some introductory courses could serve as models for this ideal. Veterans of 100-level economics courses recall challenging problem sets, engaging and well-structured lectures by excellent professors and the satisfaction of new knowledge about economics. ECO 101 fills McCosh 50 to capacity and a good number of the students in the lecture hall have no intention of becoming economics majors.
Clearly, many introductory classes, such as English or art history, would not incorporate problem sets or labs into a reformed curriculum. Nevertheless, the departments could take a lesson from students' positive responses to the neat structure and excellent lectures of 100-level economics classes and work to improve the quality of their own lectures and syllabi. Perhaps survey courses, like freshman seminars and McPherson's Civil War course, can become another academic hallmark of Princeton.
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