Education: Change at Yale

• Share

Major revision of the first two years of the undergraduate curriculum at Yale University was recommended this week by the Committee on General Education, headed by Yale's President A. Whitney Griswold.

Most drastic change proposed: telescoping the freshman and sophomore years into one two-year course of study in preparation for a general examination at the end of the sophomore year. Formalized courses for freshmen and sophomores would be replaced by five "syllabi," consisting of two lectures and a 75-minute discussion period each week, plus intensive reading from a recommended book list. The new plan would also make it possible for qualified students to complete both high school and college in seven instead of eight years. The recommendations must be approved by the faculty before they are put into effect. Acting Dean of Yale College Alfred R. Bellinger predicted that no changes would be made before 1955.