The Problem of Teaching In the Crimson, recent grad Kevin Hartnett writes a very thoughtful op-ed about the great failure of the proposed curricular reform: the bizarre omission from it of any consideration of pedagogy.

When I reflect on the Core classes that dot my transcript, the problem as I see it had little to do with what I was learning, and everything to do with how it was taught, an error of method, not of content. In this light, the Task Force’s report seems too erudite and abstract for the dilemma at hand, like trying to fix a broken down car with a new theory of locomotion. The proposed shift from “ways of knowing” to “real-world context” will do little to address the Core’s real problem, which is that it promotes an atomized, individualistic type of learning while rarely encouraging undergraduates to take a meaningful role in each other’s educations.

Hartnett focuses on ways in which students can engage each other in education; I would put the emphasis on trying to integrate Theda Skocpol's report on teaching into the Gen Ed discussion.

A truly bold reform at Harvard would say, we need to reconsider not just what we are teaching, but how we are teaching—and we cannot separate the two.  ¶ 8:28 AM