Students Deserve Better than Pathways

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CUNY Students Deserve Better than Pathways

Thousands of CUNY faculty oppose Pathways, CUNY’s new general education framework; and students should know why—your future is at stake!

Pathways is…

A management scheme to graduate more students in a shorter time at lower cost—by reducing academic standards. Government disinvestment in public higher education is driving these changes.

Faculty Oppose Pathways Because…

• It will diminish the quality of a CUNY education.
• It promotes a standardized, compressed curriculum that will mean:

Less flexibility for students to pursue wide-ranging academic interests,

Fewer opportunities for students to explore different and important ideas, because of a reduction in specialized course offerings,

A narrower understanding of cultures and international diversity for students who need preparation for a global economy, because of potential shrinkage of departments like anthropology, history, and foreign languages.

• It limits core classes to three hours per week, even though four hours is a recognized best practice for many subjects. That will mean:

Science classes without labs,

Foreign language and composition classes without time for students to practice speaking or writing in class with their professors, and

Less time for faculty to provide extra help for students who need it.

• It’s a false solution to students’ difficulties with transferring credits from college to college.

A Real Solution to Transfer Issues Means Investing In Students by…

• Providing more and better academic advisement,
• Reducing class size,
• Improving technology to allow accurate updating and sharing of transcripts between colleges,
• Maintaining standards—like science courses that include labs—so credits earned can be transferred to any college a student chooses to attend, and
• Hiring enough full-time faculty so students can take the classes they need for their majors and graduate on time.

Despite threats and intimidation, CUNY faculty are fighting to defend academic integrity and oppose diminishing educational opportunity for CUNY students.