A Study On Henry Rosovsky And The Core Curricular Reform At Harvard In 1970s And 1980s

After the Second World War, American higher education entered into a golden age. However, in the mid and late 20 th century, under the influence of complex factors at both domestic and abroad, the universities encountered a range of problems,which eventually made the curriculum reform of higher education a reality. Under the leadership of Henry Rosovsky, Harvard University was the first one to carry out the core curriculum reform.The early experiences made Henry Rosovsky have a unique understanding on American higher education. He believed that the United States had the best universities in the world. Faced with the crisis of American university, he advocated cultivating “educated people” and putting it as the target of curriculum reform. 1979,Harvard University began toreform their core curriculum. The core curriculum reformations aimed to strengthen students’ education from five aspects: literature and art Literature and Art, History Study, Society Analysis and Moral Reasoning, Science,Foreign Culture.The core curriculum reformations led by Henry Rosovsky not only effectively solved the educational crisis at Harvard University, but also restored the coherence of General Education and made American universities recognize the importance of General Education.The core curriculum reform embodied the democratization and fair,popularization and universalization, diversification and diversity of characteristics which reflected some characteristics and the goal of "citizen of the world" about the post World War II American higher education. In addition, thanks to it Harvard University not only stayed on top but aslo helped to advance American education culture.