To the Editor:
Our 1996-97 course catalog points out that "students earning 4's and 5's on the (Biology) Advanced Placement test. . . are exempted from taking the introductory sequence." This policy is lowering the quality of our biology education, and is a sad reminder that the Biology Department is not immune to the unfortunate "downward helixing" of Oberlin.
The reason that this exemption is harmful is that it is placing unprepared students into 200-level courses that now must slow down. I can understand that it might draw more prospectives to Oberlin - the immediate advanced status and apparent advantage must seem attractive to a medicine or Ph.D. hopeful. However, allowing students with as little knowledge as a 4 on the Biology AP test requires to launch into the middle of an Oberlin biology education deprives them of an important grounding in the discipline and dilutes the intellectual substance for students prepared for the 200s. (A 4 on the AP test is certainly an achievement - but it is equivalent to really only a portion of intro. biology.)
Unless a student has had a comprehensive biology education before Oberlin, as certainly some have, taking "Cell and Molecular Biology," for example, will result in some pedagogical inefficiency. Without a firm understanding of evolution, for instance, that taking our introductory sequence can instill, even a resourceful student will not fruitfully contemplate how evolutionary ideas bear on the cellular machinery. While unprepared students may pass such a course, they will be at a significant disadvantage as far as extracting the course's valuable substance.
Professors must struggle between retaining their standards - and speaking to really only part of the class, or teaching their courses at a pseudo-introductory level. If they opt for the latter, as they may be compelled to, then the average biology course taught at Oberlin will be at a lower level. Think about that.
Looking in the course catalog, I'm noticing 9 separate 200-level courses that are accessible now to anyone with a 4 on the AP exam. I'm seeing courses such as "Vertebrate Structure and Evolution" and "The Fungi" that biology majors can take at some point in their time at Oberlin. 1st-years can now join upperclasspeople in these courses.
With an introduction, talented thinkers can establish an important common knowledge - students can "be on the same page." Beyond the introductory level, more sophisticated discourse can proceed, and classes can realize the teaching potential of the professors and the learning potential of the students. We shouldn't sacrifice the Biology 200s to the superficial allure of advancement for prospectives.
Copyright © 1996, The Oberlin Review.
Volume 125, Number 6; October 11, 1996
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