Structured Freshman Year

A proposal for the introduction next fall of a "structured freshman year" was approved recently by the Executive Committee of the Faculty. It is designed for disadvantaged students who need special assistance and instruction because of inadequate preparation. The new program may be considered a year-long variation and extension of the former Bridge Program, which will not be held this summer. Instead students who seem to need assistance will be invited to the College five days early in the fall. Through placement tests it will be determined in just what areas a student needs special help, and he may enroll in special courses designed for different levels of preparation.

Fall-term courses in the structured freshman year include English 3, Mathematics 2, and a Freshman Tutorial Seminar. English 3, a new course entitled Basic Composition, will emphasize the mechanics of writing taught in sections of few students. Mathematics 2, Elementary Functions, was introduced last fall and will be continued as a pre-calculus course. The new Freshman Tutorial Seminar will include oral communication, study skills, and treatment of a topic or theme in current life, often utilizing skits in addition to written materials. Each tutorial group will consist of no more than ten students.

Continuing in the program during the winter term, students may take English 4, Intermediate Composition; Science 2; and an elective. Science 2 has not yet been approved by the faculty committee.

The spring-term program will include two electives and English 5, the basic English course required of all freshmen. English 7, the freshman seminar in English, may be deferred until the sophomore year under this new program.

It is important to note that a student in the structured program would not necessarily take all the special courses offered, but only those he needs. For example, he would not have to begin in English 3 if he had already achieved that level.

Selection of students and the organization of the program will be left to the Committee on the Structured Freshman Year, consisting of representatives from the Admissions Office, the Freshman Office, the Counseling Office, the English Department, the Science Division, and two students, one of whom is the head of the Afro-American Society's Big Brother Program.