Staff Editorial | Quantitative Requirement lacks cohesion, clarity

This spring, pre-registration information lists over 21 courses that can satisfy Vassar College’s Quantitative Analysis requirement. These include classes in nine subject areas, ranging from astronomy to psychology, mathematics to geology. This diversity typically makes it relatively easy to match a quantitative course to one’s own interests.

But this degree of variety in course choice also leads to a great variety in the kind of skills student develop. While the onus is ultimately on students to choose classes that will serve them well in their life after college, our requirements are meant to create a baseline of knowledge that every Vassar graduate possesses.

Although the goals of the Freshman Writing Seminar and Foreign Language Proficiency are clearly articulated in the Course Catalogue, the description of quantitative courses is remarkably vague. Since Vassar has so few requirements in comparison to other colleges, the justifications for the few mandatory courses of the College should articulate clear purposes and goals. A subcommittee of the Committee on Curricular Policy has taken up reviewing the Quantitative Analysis requirement, taking into consideration the needs and concerns of both students and professors. These discussions are encouraging, and hopefully they will eventually lead to a larger discussion about the quantitative requirement and how it can be clarified and strengthened.

Created about 10 years ago, the quantitative requirement came about when faculty members noticed that “Vassar students take everything…except science,” according to Professor of Astronomy Debra Elmegreen, a faculty member who had a strong hand in developing the original quantitative requirement. After much debate, the requirement was created to ensure what the Course Catalogue calls “numerical literacy,” and calls for students to take at least one class that includes “quantitative analysis.”

Faculty, then and now, want Vassar students to have solid, practical quantitative reasoning skills—understanding statistics and graphs, for example—after college. Professor of Mathematics and Director of the Undergraduate Research Science Institute (URSI) Peter Pappas notes that this ability to “argue with numbers” is integral.

However, both students and some faculty acknowledge that the skills emphasized are not always the same from one quantitative course to another. Creating clearer connections between courses and quantitative skills would be a benefit to both students and faculty. Emphasizing topics such as statistical analysis, graph reading and implementation, logic, or reasoning using equations would create a baseline of knowledge for all students participating in Quantitative Analysis courses. Furthermore, incorporating these topics into the overall trajectory of a course will help build proficiency and demonstrate what the quantitative requirement is trying to achieve.

Vassar’s peer institutions have taken several different approaches to the issue of quantitative requirements. At Wellesley, students are asked to take a Quantitative Reasoning Assessment shortly after arriving on campus. The test is meant to gauge quantitative skills, and those with low scores must enroll in an Introduction to Quantitative Reasoning course before taking any other quantitative courses, such as chemistry or economics. Mount Holyoke has developed a core curriculum that includes one course in science as well as one in mathematics.

However, the best solution may not be to increase the number of required courses. Instead, Vassar should continue to work towards strengthening the requirements we already have. The emphasis should not be placed on simply requiring a math or science class, but instead on encouraging the College to create clear goals for the Quantitative Analysis courses and then encouraging students to choose quantitative classes that interest as well as educate them. A knowledge of mathematics and quantitative reasoning is an extremely important component of being an educated individual, as are the development of writing and foreign language skills. If streamlined, the Quantitative Analysis requirement is one that would give all students much-needed practical skills. The College might consider reviewing this requirement to make sure that it serves its purpose.

The Staff Editorial represents at least a two-thirds majority of the 20 member Editorial Board.