To the Editor:
As I intend to be an informed and active alumnus of Dartmouth, I browse The Dartmouth Online from time to time. Tonight, I read "College plans for Asian-American studies" (The Dartmouth, July 6), and I am a bit concerned.
I can assure you that I am a firm supporter of the liberal arts education. I see no point in gaining any specific skills in college, as there is plenty of time for that later. I was a philosophy major myself. But do we really need all of these departments?
Native-American studies, African and African-American studies, Jewish studies, Asian-American studies and perhaps others I've missed ...
Are we not diluting the quality of our education by expanding just to keep up with the politically correct Joneses? The College eliminated the interdisciplinary group of courses and made cuts in other departments, only now to decide to add a full minor in Asian-American studies.
While we're at it, why don't we add minors in Italian-American studies and Irish-American studies -- both groups who constituted two major waves of immigration into the United States? Maybe as things develop we could add Latino-American studies.
Where do we decide to end this madness?
Does earning a minor in any of these departments add anything in terms of knowledge or intellectual development -- the purpose of the liberal arts education -- over what studies in history would achieve?
Furthermore, while the entire history of Asia may be afforded only a few classes in the history department, does it really make sense to make an entire minor out of the short history of Asian Americans?
I suppose there are many people who would answer yes to my questions, but I suspect they would be more interested in the specific goals of any one of these departments rather than the overall consequences of adding them all.
Unless we intend to expand continuously and significantly as a college -- something I strongly encourage the college not to do, as the beauty of Dartmouth is often found in its intimate size, both geographically and in population) -- we need to be more cautious in how we develop our academic departments.
Instead of eliminating resources in our libraries and current departments so that we may dilute them with others, we should work to strengthen the institutions we already have.
