The Purposes of the Undergraduate Curriculum Reconsidered

Extract

In the Summer 1985 issue of the News for Teachers of Political Science, Peter Steinberger raises the perenially fascinating question of the appropriate purposes of the undergraduate political science curriculum. Professor Steinberger rejects two possible purposes, coverage, and the production of good citizens. He also questions the value of teaching subjects that might be learned outside the classroom. Instead, he argues the purpose of an undergraduate curriculum should be teaching one or more modes of thinking characteristic of political science, what might be called our strategies of inquiry. While I agree with Professor Steinberger that we should teach our students how we think, I believe the political science curriculum should have more purposes than this.