Curriculum
There are two parts to this description of the NMS curriculum:
Introduction and Overview
Grounded in our South Loop Chicago neighborhood and looking forward into the twenty-first century, New Millennium Studies, an integral component of the Liberal Arts and Sciences Core Curriculum, challenges us—both students and teachers alike—to deepen our powers of observation, analysis, creativity, and expression. We will explore traditional and emerging ways of knowing, thinking, and communicating. We will consider vital questions about culture and society, about ethics, art, and education, and work together to respond to those questions using the breadth of media available today.
New Millennium Studies develops a broader context for students' work in their chosen majors and in the Core Curriculum. The course offers opportunities to draw on, experiment with, and incorporate the broad range of talents, skills, and knowledge that Columbia students bring to our college community.
Through a series of carefully framed thematic questions and strategically chosen common texts, students and teachers move through four sequential units. We begin with reflections on the familiar—families, neighborhoods, and communities. We then consider the balance of freedom and responsibility among individuals and their communities, both large and small, and engage with the consequent moral and ethical choices that attend such a delicate equilibrium. Finally, we explore why art matters within society and how art mediates between identities and cultures.
Recognizing the crucial need for students to be able to navigate an increasingly complex and rapidly changing world and society, New Millennium Studies values inquiry and curiosity, risk-taking, and a willingness to engage with viewpoints other than one's own. We value good questions, in short, as much as answers. Questioning our identities, communities, and cultures can help us to see the world beyond our boundaries more clearly. Becoming more aware of and empathic about the experiences of others can, in turn, help us to see ourselves, our possibilities, and our limitations more clearly. By studying both familiar and unfamiliar perspectives, diverse ways of looking at and responding to the world, we begin a process of re-discovering ourselves and our cultures.