In matters dealing with setting goals for student learning, students are shown to be but one constituency with which the college president deals. Discussed are pressures and constraints facing administrators who make curriculum decisions in a highly charged political context, characterized by forces ranging from faculty demands to trustee…

Inquiry education cuts across conventional distinctions between liberal arts and professional programs and is supported by specially designed curricula and pedagogies. The establishment of Hampshire College is described. The idea that undergraduate education should promote students' intellectual independence was a strong thread through the…

Discusses the general education core at Washington State's Shoreline Community College, which includes integrated studies courses and learning communities. Indicates that the college has established general education outcomes that guide the design of a coherent core of study for both academic transfer and vocational students. (MAB)

This article summarizes conclusions from a survey of the multicultural curriculum practices of 196 U.S. colleges and universities. Among findings are that 34 percent have a multicultural general education requirement, 54 percent have introduced multiculturalism into course offerings, and most institutions are seeking to increase faculty…

The quest for diversity must overcome the resistance of traditional White, male faculty to redefining the mission and curriculum of the liberal arts college. Change will be difficult, but it must occur if liberal arts colleges are to survive and maintain a central and relevant place in multicultural America. (MSE)

Examines the debate over "key skills" in the United Kingdom's higher education curriculum, intended to compensate for early specialization in school and make education more relevant to work. Suggests that a more fundamental curriculum reform is needed, because key skills focus narrowly on"practical" outcomes and because the…

In an interview, two college students discuss aspects of the college experience, including the transition from high school to college, the most helpful general education and other courses, choice of major, classroom communication, curriculum relevance, effective teaching methods, and particularly important experiences and skills learned. (MSE)

Describes an Alverno College (Wisconsin) first-semester general education course in studio arts that attempts to use the creative arts to develop skills in communicating, analyzing, inferring values, and formulating responses to works of art; to use varied teaching strategies to meet the needs of first-semester students; and to tailor these…

It is one thing to lament the financial pressures put on universities, quite another to face up to the poverty of resources for thinking about what universities should do when they purport to offer a liberal education. In "Powers of the Mind", former University of Chicago dean Donald N. Levine enriches those resources by proposing fresh…

A study of the college curriculum decision-making process examined the generation of options or alternatives considered as part of a general education curriculum revision in the late 1980s at a major church-affiliated university. This process was examined in the framework of the rational-choice model of human behavior. Data were gathered from a…

A comparative curriculum analysis was performed of the associate degree, electronics engineering technology programs of the DeVry Institute of Technology (DIT), a corporation-owned proprietary school in Illinois, Lake Superior State College (LSSC) in Michigan, and Mesa Community College (MCC) in Arizona. The curricula were compared in terms of…

A formative evaluation of curricular effectiveness of the General Education (GE) Program at the University of Montevallo, an Alabama state-supported liberal arts institution, is described. The GE Program is divided into 11 core areas. The American College Testing Program's College Outcomes Measures Program (COMP) objective test--a test of general…

Activities are described that illustrate the ways new emphases on structure, liberal arts curriculum, attention to basic skills, a global approach, four-year study courses, and non-lecture pedagogy are being incorporated into college curricula across the country. An opening essay ("The General Education Reform: Accomplishments and Future Agenda")…

A planned sequence of general studies at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College, entitled "The Link," is described. The Link addresses problems that were identified in three recent major studies of the college curriculum. Quotations from these national studies are included under seven categories of problems. Approaches to solving these problems…

The values, goals, and organization of general education have been highly controversial subjects in higher education for years. Two different perspectives are provided by B. Lamar Johnson's "General Education in Action" (1952) and Miami-Dade Community College's (MDCC's) "General Education in a Changing Society" (1978). Concerns…