THE CURRICULUM Committee of the Sanggunian Central Board (CB) gave an overview of a new course proposal for the Loyola Schools (LS) during the CB meeting held last August 30.
The said report contained the main points discussed by the committee members with regard to the Sociology and Anthropology (SA) Department’s newly proposed program, Bachelor of Arts in Sociology (AB SOC).
The overview was reported to the CB by CB Curriculum Committee Undergraduate Student Representative Pam Gaerlan.
According to her, the proposed sociology program aims to fulfill the mandate of a draft Commission on Higher Education (CHED) Memorandum Order (CMO) called “Policies, Standards and Guidelines for Bachelor of Arts in Sociology Program” released last April 2013.
The draft CMO states that amendments in the curriculum of all sociology programs offered by the different universities in the country must be made in order to comply with the required standards of CHED.
However, if a sociology program does not yet exist in a university’s curriculum, then it is mandated by CHED to create one.
The proposal was also made in compliance to CHED’s vertical integration policy, which mandates that an undergraduate program, a masteral program and a doctoral program in Sociology should be present in the university’s curriculum.
The Ateneo’s Sociology program is a CHED Center of Excellence (COE).
CHED describes COEs as “either public or private higher education institutions (HEIs) which have demonstrated the highest degree or level of standard along the areas of instruction, research and extension.”
Similarities to the AB SoS program
However, the CB Curriculum Committee members have noticed similarities between the proposed AB Sociology program and an already existing course in the Ateneo, namely AB Social Sciences (AB SoS).
During her report, Gaerlan showed a copy of the drafted syllabus for the AB Sociology program.
In the proposed syllabus, two additional courses were added to the current AB SoS curriculum. The new courses include a three-unit foreign language class and a proposed three-unit class called “SOC 135: Contemporary Social Problems/Issues.”
This means that the proposed AB Sociology program will have a total of 140 units, six more units than AB SoS.
Gaerlan expressed her committee’s concern about the possible difficulties future LS students will encounter in choosing which of the two programs to pursue in college.
Recommendations for the program
Gaerlan informed the CB members of her committee’s recommendations in order to develop the AB Sociology program.
The plans include the revision of the syllabi of both AB SoS and AB Sociology to create a clearer distinction between the two.
The committee also recommended that the student body be consulted in the matter.
As of now, Gaerlan said that there is no final curriculum for the proposed AB Sociology program.
Editor’s note: This article has been updated due to inaccuracies pointed out by the Sociology and Anthropology Department in the first version of the story posted last September 3, 2013. The GUIDON apologizes for the oversight.
