Every student that enters Dartmouth must make major adjustments to college life. But this year, college life is adjusting more than the students.
The Class of 1998 will be the first class to operate under the comprehensive new curriculum that has been in the works since 1991.
The old curriculum required students to take four classes in three divisions -- Humanities, Sciences and Social Sciences.
But the new curriculum has 10 narrow requirements, like two laboratory sciences classes, a literature course, an arts course and a non-Western course.
There also is a multi-disciplinary requirement that will require students to take classes that are team-taught by professors from different divisions.
Students also must have a "culminating experience" in their major -- like a thesis or a seminar.
The College had hoped to have the new curriculum -- which is the first comprehensive curriculum change in more than 50 years -- in place for the Class of 1997, but had to put it off for a year for fiscal reasons. But now the new curriculum is ready to go.
Dean of Freshmen Peter Goldsmith said the Class of 1998 is special because it will be the first class to work under the new curriculum.
"It's going to be the first class that will be assured of being versed in a broad range of modes of learning and kinds of knowledge that the faculty has decided upon as being crucial for students in the 1990s," Goldsmith said.
"I believe that its likely to have the effect of assuring students in the Class of 1998 that they have some ... measure of understanding of world cultures over a broad spectrum," he said.
Goldsmith said he thinks the new curriculum could have some spill-over effect outside of the classroom, especially because of the multidisciplinary requirement.
"Perhaps it will encourage students to look at knowledge in less compartmentalized ways," he said.
Goldsmith came to Dartmouth in mid-September 1993, making the Class of 1998 the first class he is completely responsible for.
"I certainly feel more responsible for this class. Unlike last year, all the communication this class has received from this office has been from me," he said. "It means both the successes and the shortcomings of that communication are my own."
"On the positive side, I take some pleasure in the thought that I've had the means of influencing to a degree the way the students look at Dartmouth and the way they will approach their studies," Goldsmith said.
"The degree that communication misfires, well," Goldsmith said with a smile, "it's obviously my responsibility too."
Goldsmith said he thinks this class also is special.
"On paper, once again, they look like the most academically talented and diverse group of students that Dartmouth has ever admitted," Goldsmith said.
The Class of 1998 has the highest number of women in College history and about 23 percent of the class are minorities.
Besides the new curriculum and being the first true class under Goldsmith, the Class of 1998 will be the first class to feel the effects of the report by the Committee on the First-Year Experience.
The committee, created and chaired by Dean of the College Lee Pelton, was formed to investigate how to increase intellectualism during the freshman year.
Its report, released in May, recommends overhauling the residential life system to have all-freshman dormitories with a faculty member living nearby.
Although the major changes are still several years down the line, Goldsmith said some small changes will be in place this year.
The Class of 1998 will be asked to read "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas" and then English Professor Bill Cook will give a lecture on the book during Orientation Week. After the speech, the class will break down into small groups to discuss the reading.
Goldsmith said the reading and discussion "represents not only an effort to increase the intellectual level of the event but also to decrease the number of incidences where students are talked at and increase the number of instances where students talk to themselves and faculty and administrators."
Also the College is changing the "Class Meetings" so that they will be more practical, Goldsmith said.
There also will be more late night College-sponsored activities during Orientation week.
"These events represent a recognition that while we would like students to get to bed early, it's absurd to imagine that it's going to happen," he said.
One of the recommendations of the committee was to start calling freshmen first-year students instead.
But as of press time, the College still will refer to the Class of 1998 as freshmen.
"A change is still possible," Goldsmith said. "I don't know. It's a little bit out of my hands. I believe people need to be consulted who haven't been consulted yet."
He said Pelton will discuss the implementation of the First-Year Experience Committee's recommendations with the rest of the community this fall.
This year, the College will also change the way grades are reported.
Transcripts will now list the average grade in a class along with the number of people taking the class.
Old transcripts only list the course grade.
