http://chronicle.com/weekly/v52/i05/05b02001.htm
From the issue dated September 23, 2005
POINT OF VIEW
Putting Liberal Education on the Radar Screen
By By CAROL GEARY SCHNEIDER and DEBRA HUMPHREYS
As we prepare for the next round of college applications, what issues are on everyone's
minds? We will be admitting one of the largest classes ever to pursue a college degree.
Many applicants are, no doubt,
preoccupied with such pressing questions as whether they will do well on the SAT or
make the right college choice. Their parents might be worrying about tuition costs, and
policy makers about continuing to increase access to higher education, improving
graduation rates, decreasing college costs, and putting into effect new forms of
institutional accountability. But what about learning?
The national conversations about affordability, access, graduation rates, and
accountability are important, of course. But we also need a parallel public conversation
about the kinds of learning today's graduates need -- a conversation that directly engages
students and their parents.
With increasing urgency, employers in a wide array of sectors are calling for graduates
who are skilled communicators, scientifically literate, adept at quantitative reasoning,
oriented to innovation, sophisticated about diversity, and grounded in cross-cultural
exchange. Civic leaders are expressing concern about declining rates of civic knowledge
among the young and what that might mean for the future of our democracy. What we
call "liberal education" has long responded to such important public concerns, now in
new ways, as colleges are experimenting with how to meet 21st-century needs -- for
example through asking undergraduates to conduct research, thematically linking a series
of courses, and promoting service learning, to name but a few strategies.
There is little evidence, however, that the public is aware of such changes in liberal
education, or that high-school students and their parents have been part of any discussion
about what graduates need to know in today's world. Is it any wonder that some students
have come to see the college degree as just a ticket to be punched on the way to their first
job?
Although liberal education has changed over time, it has always been concerned with
cultivating intellectual and ethical judgment, helping students comprehend and negotiate
their relationships with the larger world, and preparing them for lives of civic
responsibility and leadership. It is a philosophy of education rather than a set of majors or
a curriculum at a particular kind of institution. It is a focus not just at small liberal-arts
colleges, but throughout higher education. Today it helps students, both in their general-
education courses and in their major fields of study, analyze important contemporary
issues like the social, cultural, and ethical dimensions of the AIDS crisis or meeting the
needs of an aging population.
But liberal education and what it means have slipped off the public radar screen. That's
why the Association of American Colleges and Universities has begun a decade-long
campaign, Liberal Education and America's Promise: Excellence for Everyone as a
Nation Goes to College, to expand public understanding of the value of a liberal
education.
In preparation for the campaign, we organized a series of eight focus groups with college
juniors and seniors and college-bound high-school students from four regions of the
country. The responses from all eight groups are serious and sobering.
Today's high-school students are largely uninformed about the college curriculum and
uncertain about its demands, while the resources available to guide their preparation for
college life are very limited. Students do not regard high-school guidance counselors or
colleges themselves as trusted sources of information. Operating in a vacuum, they have
little understanding of the kinds of learning that either their future employers or their
faculty members see as important. While some believe that the college degree is little
more than a "piece of paper," most students do recognize that something important goes
on during the college years. The problem is they don't really know what that "something"
is or ought to be.
We asked our focus groups to examine a list of college outcomes and identify which are
the most and least important to them. The rankings produced across the groups are
remarkably consistent. What students most value is their own preparation for professional
success. They believe that such things as maturity, work habits, self-discipline, and time
management are what they need to achieve in college. A few of the college juniors and
seniors also recognize the importance of communication, problem solving, and critical
thinking. Whether they rank those outcomes high or low, however, none of the students
we interviewed identify specific courses, assignments, or activities that help prepare them
to meet those outcomes.
The most alarming finding has to do with what both current and prospective students
consider the least important outcomes of a college education: values and ethics, an
appreciation of cultural diversity, global awareness, and civic responsibility. When we
further asked students about the importance of deepening their knowledge of American
culture and history, of cultures outside the United States, and of scientific knowledge and
its importance in the world -- three staples of a strong liberal education -- each ranked at
the bottom of desired outcomes.
Today's students understand that college is important to their success in the work force,
but they do not recognize its role in preparing them as citizens, community participants,
and thoughtful people. They do not expect college to enable them to better understand the
wider world; they view college as a private rather than a public good.
As a result, they also seem to believe that learning is mostly about individual
development and simple information transfer. That is why they tend to think that if they
have already studied a topic in high school (for example, American history or science),
there is no logical reason to ever study it again. Moreover, we found little difference
between the outcomes valued by high-school seniors and those valued by college
students. That suggests that colleges are not conveying the importance of liberal
education to their students.
Indeed, our focus-group findings indicate a profound lack of understanding about the
tradition of liberal education. We found that high-school students are almost entirely
unfamiliar with the term "liberal education" and that college students are only somewhat
familiar with it. Some of those who have heard the term tend to associate it only with
traditional liberal arts and sciences, rather than with a broader philosophy of education
important for all students, whatever their chosen field of study. Some think it occurs only
in the arts and humanities, rather than in the sciences. Among those students who
associate liberal education with learning critical thinking, almost all see it only as
something that happens in those parts of the curriculum considered "general education,"
rather than in detailed studies in particular fields.
The confusion goes on. For some students, a liberal education is one that is politically
skewed to the left. As one college student put it, it is "education directed toward
alternative methods, most often political in nature." Another college student remarked,
"Initially, I thought and heard of 'liberal' as in Democrats and politics. I am conservative,
so my initial reaction was to brace myself, set up a defense of my values."
The lack of understanding among students -- and their parents -- about what a liberal
education is matters profoundly to the futures of the students themselves. It matters to
how well prepared they will be as the workers of tomorrow and as citizens in our
democracy. But it also matters to the future of that democracy. We have long passed the
time when we could worry only about preparing the elite, the leaders of society. In
today's complex and global environment, shouldn't we aspire to provide a liberal
education to all who pursue a college degree?
That is what we need to be talking about -- and not just among ourselves.
Carol Geary Schneider is president, and Debra Humphreys is vice president for
communications and public affairs, at the Association of American Colleges and
Universities.
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Section: The Chronicle Review
Volume 52, Issue 5, Page B20