Highly specialized education is no longer relevant to the needs of our diversified society. A return to a broad, general education curriculum is needed. (HS)

The success of a college or university must rest on its academic integrity. The college president sets the tone for an institution, determines the strength of general education and liberal learning. The presidents, the provosts, and the deans must take the initiative. (MLW)

The designation of "liberal" as the educational path toward a person's cultural completeness has given way to use of that term in contexts implying freedom for personal exploration of all kinds. The primary functions of the liberal education institution have become sidetracked by consumerism. (MLW)

During the '40s and '50s, an experiment in general education was conducted at the undergraduate college at the University of Chicago. "The Chicago Plan" included: students would enroll after two years of high school; a strictly prescribed curriculum; an autonomous faculty; and comprehensive exams to assess students' progress. (MLW)

The loose smorgasbord distribution requirements and free electives of the '60s, have given way to more proscribed requirements and core programs. General education is a response to a need to reaffirm the connectedness among people. The agenda for general education is to teach those common experiences, relationships, and ethical concerns. (MLW)

The importance of technological literacy in liberal arts education, and approaches to teaching the concepts behind systems analysis and artifacts in engineering, are outlined and discussed. (MSE)

The history of undergraduate teaching in the United States is discussed in an attempt to determine whether the curriculum is now in a period of crisis. The most crucial ingredient in the excellence of higher education may be the admissions policies and the quality of the faculty teaching available courses. (MLW)

Colleges must seek a curriculum that prepares a student for a career as well as citizenship. A trilinear curriculum is suggested that combines equal parts of general, integrative (theme-oriented, interdisciplinary, and elective), and vocational courses and that begins with precollegiate education. (Author/MSE)

A sampling of projects resulting from the Sloan Foundation's program of grants to encourage a central place for quantitative reasoning and technology in the college curriculum is presented. (MSE)

The crisis in the humanities is linked to society's prevalent attitudes which assume that the humanities are extraneous to the real needs of society. The humanities can help in "developing a moral and imaginative framework for action." (MLW)

The history of liberal education in the United States is a reflection of U.S. History. Among the influences on its existence and development are the needs of the church and of science, the rise of specialization, changing campus life-styles, and the need to correct and build on secondary education. (MSE)

Hampshire College, representing an innovative response to student discontent, and Amherst College, the exemplar of the liberal arts tradition, are compared. Seen from Amherst, Hampshire's curriculum is trendy, its standards lax, a remnant of California counterculture. From Hampshire, Amherst appears a bastion of cultural elitism and authoritarian…

Traditionally, the goals of a liberal arts education have been expressed in terms of "self-actualization,""self-realization," and other terms implying self-fulfillment. The reality is that focus on measurable "achievements" tends to put students out of touch with the functioning of their own psyches. (MLW)

The Great Lakes Colleges Association, composed of twelve small liberal arts colleges in Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan, has been a leader in the integration of women's studies into the curriculum of its member schools. The consortial approach and the women's studies program are described. (MLW)

Four goals for a Second Wave of general education reform should be: broaden existing reforms and embed them more firmly in the life of the college; engage a larger number of colleges; attract new individuals to the movement; and confront more candidly the barriers to devising, approving, and implementing reforms. (MLW)