In recent faculty meetings, Tufts professors have discussed the purpose of existing general education policies, namely the university’s writing requirement. They have been assessing a proposal that would prevent students from placing out of the requirement.
The university currently allows students who scored a four or five in Advanced Placement English to be exempt from English 1, the introductory writing course required for undergraduate students across the School of Arts and Sciences, School of Engineering and the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts. For those in the School of Arts and Sciences, a five on an AP English exam acts as the equivalent of the second course of the writing requirement.
Melinda Latour, an associate professor of music, offers her perspective on the potential changes.
“We totally get that students want as few requirements as possible and as much choice as possible, and I think that the faculty at Tufts very much wants to support that, to the degree to which we think it also sets students up for success,” Latour said.
She specified that the distribution requirements are meant to ensure that students have a wide breadth of knowledge by graduation. She also made clear that the writing requirement is unique in the sense that it is intended to “ensure [students’] success within the college experience.”
“One of the main reasons this has come up for writing particularly is that we’ve been noticing that students who pass out of the writing requirement sometimes do worse in their later seminars. … It has not been an advantage for students,” Latour said. “Part of this is because the AP exams and the ways you might pass out of that requirement only measures a certain skill.”
In addition, she emphasized the importance of an entry writing course.
“It is not only helping you do college level writing, which you’re not going to get access to in high school, but it also [incorporates] information literacy, how to use specific Tufts resources, how to do research at a university … that could set you up for the rest of your career,” Latour said.
She also detailed her own experiences surrounding this conversation.
“I have noticed that I’ve had some students who don’t really know how to use the tools we have at Tufts … [but if] we bring in the library staff to do these seminars, half of the students already had it … which is kind of a waste of their time,” she said.
Jessica Maloney, a graduate student who taught English 1, expressed that the requirement is generally a good thing.
“While I think the writing requirement is an overall positive necessity, I understand the stress that both students and instructors feel. Students don’t want to take ENG 1, and they really don’t want to take ENG 2,” Maloney wrote.
She added that the writing requirement could be changed by the instructors, illustrating the relevance the class has to the students.
“I have had students who had a fairly solid understanding of how to write clear and focused arguments, but I’ve never thought of any student as not needing the course or being too advanced for [first-year writing],” Maloney wrote.“So regardless of their level coming in, every student should get something out of the opportunity to share their voice in different ways.”
Nimah Mazaheri, dean of academic affairs for the School of Arts and Sciences, additionally highlighted Tufts’ commitment to academic excellence for its students.
“We are continually reviewing the undergraduate curriculum, including writing requirements, as part of our commitment to providing the strongest possible academic experience for all of our students. These are discussions we approach with great care through faculty deliberation,” Mazaheri wrote in an email. “Please know that any changes to the requirements would be determined through a faculty vote, and there isn’t a finalized proposal to share at this time.”
Some students gave their perspective on the proposed change as well.
Jennab Kamara, a first year at Tufts who placed out of the first half of the writing requirement, shared that she would like the policy to stay the same.
“Writing is a valuable skill, which is why I think [that] where the placement rules are at currently are actually beneficial,” she said.
She mentioned that if the requirement were to be changed to no longer allow students to place out, it would create more barriers to course access for incoming students, noting that the current placement allows for less demand of the English 1 courses.
Kamara also claimed her placement out of English 1 has not hindered her writing ability at a collegiate level and, in her view, multiple classes at Tufts are able to offer the same skills and experience of learning collegiate writing that an introductory English course does.
Maia Dildy, a first-year student who placed out of the full requirement, offered a similar perspective.
“Last semester … three out of five classes I took were humanities, and so I ended up having to write five essays in total last semester, which I think is around the same for the writing for English 1,” she said. “Even if I didn’t take those English classes, I think I’ve gotten in a lot of writing.”
Like Kamara, Dildy explained that not taking the required English classes offered her more freedom to pick classes that resonated with her — which, in turn, led her to take humanities classes that ultimately benefitted her writing.
“I was able to do and take more of the classes that I wanted to,” Dildy explained. “I still think that there are many opportunities to enhance your reading and writing skills without having to take those classes, and I think that students should have the ability to place out if they can.”
