Nursing and good undergraduate education have these priorities in common: careful use of language, understanding of our interdependent world, a vision of great teachers, the relationship between theory and values, and the relationship between the classroom and the imperative of service. (MSE)

This two-part essay is a critical look at the core curriculum in the American college: a diagnosis and call for action. Several assumptions are made: that the college curriculum is a living and evolving part of human culture (and conversely, that it is not value-free); that higher education has value beyond the functions of socialization and…

American commitment to education is not just a commitment to access but to excellence as well. We need to ask again the hard questions about our academic purposes. Is there a conscious organization to the curriculum today? The answer is a cautious affirmative, for the goal of diversity has taken us, academically, far from shore. A college…

American higher education should have three priorities: (1) show students that we are connected through the use of symbols; (2) help students understand, through science, the underlying patterns and connections of the natural world; and (3) teach students about social and civic institutions through familiarity with other cultures. (MSE)

After a survey of general education reform movements of this century, it is suggested that general education should focus on experiences that knit individuals into a community. Six themes are proposed: use of symbols, membership in groups and institutions, producing and consuming, relationship with nature, sense of time, and values and beliefs.…

This paper suggests three educational changes that need to be made in light of the changing relationship between the student and the institution. First, a closer relationship between colleges and elementary and secondary schools must be built. Since a majority of high school students go on to college, educators from the separate levels must focus…