Discusses the question of whether community colleges are providing valid liberal arts/general education curricula, citing both community college critics and supporters. Argues for a definition of liberal arts/general education that takes into account the educational aspirations of community college students. Considers the fine line between liberal…

The debate over teaching the "canon," a collection of great books authored by Homer, Plato, Shakespeare, Kant, Darwin, and others that has traditionally represented the Western intellectual tradition, as a core of the college curriculum, is examined. Discussion begins with a description of how the canon has been taught from ancient…

Considerations regarding the undergraduate psychology program at Ithaca College are reviewed. In reevaluating the program, the following projections were made: the number of students who select psychology as a major in preparation for graduate studies will diminish; the majority of students electing the major will primarily need a solid liberal…

A project to help small independent liberal arts colleges integrate technology and the liberal arts in the undergraduate curriculum is considered in this newsletter issue. The first two stages of this project on Technology and the Liberal Arts, which is sponsored by the Council of Independent Colleges, are described, along with the progress of…

This collection of speeches and papers is the record of a two-day conference on general education, which focused on articulation, core curricula experiments, and instructional innovations. First, George H. Robertson's welcoming remarks are presented. Then, Donald D. O'Dowd points to evidence of the decline of the liberal arts, reasons for this…

Franklin College and Institute for European Studies is a small two-year liberal arts college in Switzerland dedicated to "the education of a new kind of international citizen for the last quarter of the 20th century." Accordingly, it is designed to spark interest in and concern for the contemporary scene in Europe so that American…

A senior seminar in corporate responsibility that emphasizes critical thinking and value-based judgment and includes pre-interviews, team presentations, a life-goal inventory, and a final interview is described, and its success in preparing students for employment interviews and in promoting student-teacher rapport is discussed. (MSE)

Bibliographic instruction can do more than provide directions on library use for a specific assignment; it can contribute to the objectives of liberal education by teaching skills in asking questions, critically analyzing information, and answering questions. (MSE)

Since World War II, US higher education has enjoyed a broad public consensus about its basic goals, values, and methods. That consensus is breaking down; and to preserve the best of higher education's heritage, the central tenet of the old consensus, that college opportunity should be as widely available as possible to those who could benefit,…

A new liberal arts curriculum to meet the challenge of global interdependence is proposed. Four courses (human culture, global values, comparative environmental studies, and global transformations) would form a required common core, with 28 electives providing opportunities for students and faculty to exercise choice and personal responsibility.…

A new program at Madonna University (Michigan) builds on the institution's existing emphasis on the humanities in teacher education by creating faculty development activities that promote an interdisciplinary learning community and developing courses to forge formal curricular links between key humanities general education courses and required…

A general education reform initiative, emphasizing an interdisciplinary approach, is being developed at the State University of New York-Geneseo by a team of faculty and administrators as the result of a national conference. Emphasis is placed on the process by which the initiative evolved, team membership, the role of the conference, and timing.…

Presents an overview of an evaluation of projects developed to improve students' quantitative reasoning skills and understanding of technology. (ZWH)

Educational achievement should be intellectually and philosophically divorced from cultural affirmation, which is merely a byproduct of the inclusion of diverse voices in the search for truth. A model based on the relationship between the valuation of oneself by others and by oneself is presented to explain differential effects of schooling on…

An undergraduate degree in public administration is neither needed nor a desirable educational goal for the fields of public administration and public policy. Undergraduate public-administration education should focus only on macrosocietal issues such as the substantive role of the citizenry in democracy; the nature of public interest; and…