Proposal of Adding Art History Program to Core Curriculum Requirement

To:               Peter Blair Henry

From:          Wu Qinxuan

Date:           May 11th, 2017

Subject:      Proposal of Adding Art History Program to Core Curriculum Requirement

As one of the top business schools in the world today, Stern School of Business is always devoted to build well-rounded students who are not only excellent in business, but also in other aspects such as liberal arts which make human-beings complete. After careful analysis of Stern’s current system of core curriculum, I strongly recommend that Stern should include one art history class in its core curriculum requirement because art history serves as a great connecting bridge that links people of different eras and cultures together. Also, the aesthetical and emotional perspectives of art history is going to provide the purely rational business students a great complementary way of thinking.

Firstly, I would really like to acknowledge the excellent setting of classes such as Text & Ideas and Cultures & Contexts which contribute to broaden students’ outlooks and deepen the knowledge in subjects that are outside their professional fields. However, the classes that Stern currently requires the students to take are still not enough. As a student who minor in art history, my previous experience with this subject gave me firm belief that art history is a necessary component of liberal studies so that everyone should study and benefit from it. At Stern, most students are going to join the finance industry in their careers later and work with numbers and models everyday. The beautiful paintings, sculptures and architectures give people a sense of pure beauty and tranquility in this busy and materialistic society.

What’s more important than the art history knowledge students learned is that, after the training to study and interpret the great artworks of the past, they will tend to explore the beauty of humanity which they have previously ignored. The aesthetic values and the willingness to find the beauty in the world around them are going to have a significant and positive influence on the students in their future years. Their experience with art history is also going to provide them a great way to relax themselves in the stressful world. For example, whenever the students are tired of their tedious work at Wall Street, they can go to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and give themselves a break by standing quietly in front of the works of Monet and appreciate the spiritual relief given by Impressionism.