General education courses are never intended as an easy grade but are instead at the center of college education, a University official says.

Ann-Janine Morey, University core curriculum director, spoke to students at Smith Hall Tuesday night about changes in SIUC core curriculum. She said the new core curriculum is an improvement and is designed to make general education courses more challenging and interesting to students.

The new core curriculum was devised because the Faculty Senate felt the general education courses were too easy. Courses in the new core will be available to students in July 1996.

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Morey said one of the differences of the new curriculum is the number of hours needed to satisfy core requirements. She said the old core required 46 hours of general education courses and the new core requires 41 hours. Morey said she feels this is one of the disadvantages of the new curriculum.

I think more core is better than less core because that (general education courses) is what a college education is all about, she said.

She said one of the advantages to a revised core curriculum is the advent of about 30 new courses. Most of these new courses fall into the Integrative Studies section of the new curriculum, Morey said. Integrative Studies incorporates classes geared toward multiculturalism and liberal arts courses.

Another goal of the core curriculum change is to push for smaller classes, especially in the multicultural section, Morey said. She said it is difficult to talk about diversity with a large lecture class. She said the core curriculum office has urged departments to provide sufficient personnel to staff smaller classes.

Morey said smaller classes will enable instructors and students to get together, talk together and have a conversation about the material being covered.

Morey said she suggests students pick general education courses that look interesting to them because students do better in courses they appreciate.

Morey answered students’ questions on whether courses in the old core will transfer to the new core curriculum. She said credits of students who enrolled at SIUC when the old core curriculum was in effect will automatically transfer to the new core curriculum in summer 1996.

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Kimberly Saving, head resident of Smith Hall, said she was very interested in what Morey had to say.

I hope that what she (Morey) wants from the core curriculum, people will put into it, Saving said.

Marco Nasca, a speech communications major and resident assistant at Smith Hall, said the new core was done in an interesting fashion.

The new core curriculum will give students a more diverse education, Nasca said.