The presidential and vice-presidential debates organized by the Commission on Presidential Debates have been among the most-viewed television programs in history. But much has changed since the debates were first televised in 1960. Information channels that were once the domain of traditional media (i.e., television and print journalism) are being…

At colleges and universities, thinking one's own thoughts is at the heart of all the other activity that, together, constitutes a liberal education. Self-examination and reflection enable people to make sense of the world and their places in it. Each individual can experience the mind as it grasps its own dynamics and spawns deep and unique…

Integrating a "global perspective" into courses necessarily involves examining whether traditional disciplinary assumptions still apply in a global context and, if not, how they need to be translated in order to remain relevant. In this article, the author maps out this process by tracing one "intellectual journey" in order to…

In the National Council on Education and the Disciplines' (NCED) 2001 Mathematics and Democracy, Lynn Steen vividly declares, "The world of the twenty-first century is a world awash in numbers". In that volume, Steen and his collaborators articulate a clear call for broad reforms to prepare students for the ubiquitous need for quantitative…

Educators face the important challenge of preparing students to live constructively in a religiously diverse world. At some institutions, a reluctance to allow issues of faith into the classroom creates an obstacle to cultivating the skills students need to understand, process, and engage a religiously pluralistic society. At faith-based…

Each generation of students inevitably must confront anew the fundamental questions of meaning and value that have vexed human beings down through the ages. As students have struggled with these "Big Questions," individually and collectively, liberal education has traditionally sought to provide them with a variety of cultural and historical…

Service learning has moved into the mainstream of American higher education as an effective pedagogical approach to improving the teaching and learning of course content, but it has not sufficiently addressed the civic dimensions of the disciplines. The next phase of service learning's development must focus on the achievement of civic learning…

This article briefly outlines some strategies that the author has successfully implemented to infuse elements of civic engagement into a large, first-semester chemistry course, without sacrificing traditional content. The selection of appropriate illustrative examples and recurrent themes in the lectures sets the stage for civic engagement. The…

At a time when college administrators, faculties, and parents are debating the purpose and value of higher education, the rising cost of a baccalaureate degree, and the role education plays in the twenty-first century, a major in theatre, theatre studies courses, and theatre activities have not received much interest. It is not uncommon to hear,…

Liberal arts colleges are seen as engaged in moral education. Three moral lessons that a college teaches are described as (1) love for the truth, (2) learning is a human good, and (3) learning requires intellectual rigor or "discipline." Colleges are seen as places of hope. (MLW)

A Hamilton College (New York) program in public affairs education provides undergraduate students with opportunities to do research, then to share the results by teaching in a local high school. The program provides academic role models for motivated high school students, gives college students an audience for their work, enriches the secondary…