Undergraduate Education

At a time when it had long been customary to establish educational programs in accord with rigid classical formulas, Benjamin Franklin made his stand with the reformers. "As to their studies," he wrote of the Pennsylvania youths who would attend his new academy, "it would be well if they could be taught everything that is useful and everything that is ornamental."

His was one of the first modern arts and sciences curricula, encompassing not just classical subjects but disciplines now categorized as the humanities, the social and natural sciences, and the professions. The inculcation of knowledge that’s useful as well as beautiful showed Penn’s founder was innovative; the insistence on the "everything" showed he was ambitious.

Today, the students who study in the School of Arts and Sciences come from well beyond the borders of the state, but the tradition of educational innovation and ambition remains unchanged. SAS undergraduates are some of the world’s best. Many use their time at Penn to craft an education that suits their own high-reaching interests; some have customized a course of study that led to the creation of new academic programs, such as the Biological Basis of Behavior major. In the fall, a new pilot curriculum, designed to support students in shaping their own course of study, will be introduced.

College Dean Rick Beeman calls himself an "agnostic" when it comes to curriculum renewal. He holds that any number of structures can accomplish what a liberal arts education is supposed to do, which he defines as developing "habits of mind" that enable students to think critically and analytically, and to express thoughts clearly. Says Beeman, "My mantra these days is, number one, the best liberal arts education is that education which is consistent with the personality of the institution in which it is implemented, and number two, the best curriculum is the one faculty and students believe sincerely and uncynically is a good curriculum."

The existing requirements at Penn are configured to achieve the goals of a liberal arts education; the pilot is an exploration and testing of ways to do it that are more in harmony with the School’s personality. It’s a way of getting curriculum out of the way of ambition as Franklin’s legacy for innovation draws breath in the twenty-first century.