A systems approach to higher education with special reference to the core curriculum

The general problem of interdisciplinary relations and transdisciplinary integration has its counterpart in the field of education in the problem of producing generalists rather than specialists, and at the undergraduate college level, in the problem of devising a rational core curriculum. At present, neither the student nor the faculty knows why one mixture of courses is better or worse than another.This paper advocates a solution to this problem based on the development of a computerized model of the core curriculum in which the interrelated mutually relevant concepts of various disciplines would be associated with teaching time allocations proportional to their degree of conceptual relevance. The foundation for such a development is laid by a discussion of conceptualvs. personal relevance, of acculturationvs. exculturation, of educationvs. instruction, and of immediatevs. delayed motivation.An algorithmic procedure is then outlined which would result in a dynamic model allowing the determination of educational bottlenecks or critical paths in the communication network transforming inputs into outputs. The general concepts of dynamic programming, program evaluation and review techniques, system and decision theory are used in developing the algorithm. The existence of such a model would allow a rational optimization of the curriculum and would make the present perennial trial-and-error experimentation in curriculum design unnecessary, since the computer could test various alternatives quickly and efficiently.