Article 1: Original Curriculum and its Goal
Latin, Greek, Theology, Mathematics, what else could someone ask for in a liberal arts curriculum? These were the four topics that dominated the University at Lewisburg’s curriculum in its early years. While these subjects still exist today, they were the cornerstone of education for a male in reaching gentleman status in society.
The majority of men who attended the University at Lewisburg were educated to be lawyers, ministers, and political figures. “The percentage of men who attended college was single digits” said Karl Voss, current Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Bucknell University. Education was not a right of passage, but more an attempt to prove status.
Article 2: Change in Curriculum
When Chemistry was established as a course for seniors in 1850, it was an extremely controversial decision. Today, applied sciences like Chemistry dominate the College of Arts and Sciences at Bucknell University. With the original course subjects still standing as pillars under the institution’s current curriculum, there is no such thing as a “general studies degree” at Bucknell anymore.
Joe Murray, a professor in the Education Department at Bucknell University revealed that majors did not exist until the mid-20th century. Specialized education is far more common now at Bucknell, as students study the field they want to find a career in. Now, Bucknell University has three separate colleges (College of Arts and Sciences, Freeman College of Management, and College of Engineering) that branched out over the past few decades to accommodate the diversity of today’s careers.
Article 3: First Athletics
Collegiate sports such as football, basketball, soccer, track, and others dominate the entertainment scene in modern society. However, the only major varsity established on campus around the founding of Bucknell University was baseball. The majority of sports played on campus were crude games with no organization.
Crude sports were very similar to intramural sports played on college campuses today. Groups of students would meet to play in the former Tustin Gymnasium with no organized league or professional coaching. These games consisted of sock-ball, corner-ball, town-ball, hand-ball, and crude football.
Baseball was the first varsity sport known to Bucknell and saw large success over its first few years. In September of 1867, an all first-year team was assembled known as the both the “Olympians” and the “College Nine”. The team went on to play four consecutive seasons together, only losing one game.
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