“Eat your vegetables.”
“Why, Mommy?”
“Because . . . Mommy says they’re good for you.”
Every college and university sets up graduation requirements
students must satisfy to receive a diploma. Graduation requirements come in many shapes and sizes; typically, but
not in every instance, students must complete 120 semester credits, maintain a
grade point average of 2.00, pass a writing assessment, complete a major and a
minor, and be in residence on campus while completing a designated number of
credits. In addition, graduation requirements include completing study in areas
labeled variously as “liberal education,” “liberal learning,” “general
education,” and “core curriculum.” It’s this aspect of the graduation
requirements that is most closely
connected to the ideal of the educated person.
To avoid mix-ups and
confusion right from the start, it helps to boil down the labels (e. g., “liberal
education,” “liberal learning,”) into what I’ll call educated-person requirements.[1]
Who thinks up these educated-person requirements in the first
place? At some point, and revisited every so often, colleges and universities
discuss questions such as: “What is an educated person?” “What understanding,
abilities, and values should graduates of this college possess?” and “What are
the essential learning outcomes necessary for our students to meet the demands
of complexity, diversity, and change?” Faculty members at each institution
usually take the primary role in discussing such questions and providing
answers. Ideally, these answers represent the heart and soul of what professors
on each campus believe about the educated person. Some schools will sponsor
learning experiences (for example, first-year seminars and orientations) to
help students understand the thinking behind educated-person requirements and
prepare them to take advantage of the promised knowledge, skills, and traits.
At too many campuses, however, students receive little guidance other than a
brief background explanation and a listing of the requirements in the college
or university catalog. Here’s a hypothetical example of general education
requirements:
General Education at “Middle of the Road” College
The General Education
requirements ensure that students develop a core of liberal arts abilities and
experience a range of liberal arts perspectives—social, scientific, humanistic,
and artistic—as determined by the faculty. These requirements also expose
students to a diversity of perspectives necessary for living and working in an
increasingly interdependent world. The General Education program seeks to
accomplish three goals: 1) development of important abilities and skills drawn
from study in the liberal arts; 2) exposure to a broad variety of disciplines;
and 3) a developing global perspective.
General
Education: A Summary of Requirements
Two
courses from the Social Sciences
Two
courses from the Fine Arts
Two
courses from the Sciences (one fulfilling a lab requirement)
Two
courses from the Humanities
One course
in Mathematical/Symbolic Reasoning
One course
in Interdisciplinary Issues
One course
in Global Perspectives
One course
in College Writing
Foreign
Language¾each student
must complete an introductory year’s study of a foreign language at the college
level.
At almost any four-year
college or university, throw in the number of credits required for a major (and
a minor), some for electives, a minimum number to be completed at the junior–senior
level, and voila! . . . supposedly,
you have an educated person.
As you might have noticed, the main flaw in most programs of
educated-person requirements is this: students are rarely given a chance to
fully understand and appreciate the reasoning
that lies behind the requirements. Why wouldn’t a college or university want
its students to launch their quest to become educated persons with eyes wide
open, ready to take best advantage of their learning? What takes place at most
schools reminds me of this familiar conversation.
“Eat your vegetables.”
“Why, Mommy?”
“Because . . .
Mommy says they’re good for you.”
This sort of an approach hardly leads to the ideal of the
educated person. It’s too easy for all concerned to fall into the trap of
thinking that educated-person requirements only match up with specific courses
and academic disciplines (history, computer science, sociology, and so on). The
understandable (but regrettable) response of most students is to trudge through
these sets of required courses and to jump through the hoops without much deep
thought about the educated person. I don’t want this to be your fate.
I urge you carefully analyze and measure the value of
educated-person requirements at the college or university you have chosen to
attend. You must work within a specific system and listing of requirements, but
take as much control and responsibility as possible to develop your ideal of
the educated person. Here’s a way to do just that.
Take a trip to your local library or do some background
research. Examine a variety of catalogs from private, public, and community
colleges, focusing your attention on “graduation requirements” and, in
particular, those listed as “liberal education,” “general education,” and “core
curriculum.” Read any introductory background explanations and rationales the schools
advance. (Would you believe a number of colleges and universities don’t have
such a section and launch right into their lists of requirements?) Take a good
look at the required subject areas/categories (sometimes these are identified
as “core” or “theme” areas; for example, humanities, cultural diversity, natural
sciences). Take note of exactly how students are supposed to satisfy these
required subject areas.
Try to answer these questions:
1. What were the strongest arguments made for completing these
types of educated-person requirements?
2. What are the similarities and differences among these
requirements? What is confusing or unclear?
3. Which background statements and explanations for
requirements seemed most persuasive?
4. Did any of the supporting arguments and discussions connect
with your ideal of the educated person? How so? According to your emerging
views on the educated person, what is missing in these requirements and
explanations? What seems unnecessary? What would you add? Why would you make
these additions?
5. Were most of the requirements geared to the completion of
specific courses? How much leeway is allowed for students to pursue individual
paths and ways of satisfying the requirements?
6. Do you think it’s possible to attain the educated-person
outcomes (i.e., cultural diversity, critical thinking, ethical reasoning,
communication skills) by completing the requirements?
Now that you’ve had a chance to sort through educated-person
requirements from a range of colleges and universities, let me suggest some
things about the learning process that will help you make any choices allowed
and to assess the value of the requirements.
First of all, watch out for learning experiences that exclude the exercise of individual reasoning
powers and judgments. If you are not taking an active and questioning
role in learning, and if your individual powers of judgment are rarely
involved, then the subject or course studied is technical and limited in
regard to the educated person ideal. This questioning and judging, or what
might be termed a “critical component,”[2]
helps define “educated-person learning,” whether gained in classrooms, on the job,
or through experiential/life learning (such as travel, independent reading,
community-based study). Yes, and don’t get me wrong, I agree that technical
know-how and skill development for specifically defined occupational tasks are
important, but they don’t qualify in the realm of educated-person requirements.
Data processing, inventory control, accounting—no matter how valuable or difficult to learn—are not examples of
educated-person requirements and what best forms an educated person.
The learning best matched to educated-person requirements, in
my opinion, is non-technical, broadly
applicable, and stresses individual
reasoning, questioning, and judgment.
For the most part, such learning is located in what we call the liberal arts
areas of the curriculum—the humanities, the fine arts, the natural and physical
sciences, and the social sciences. But why is this?
The liberal arts help students learn how to ask good
questions, to exercise judgments based on both facts and values, and to analyze
problems (and if you can do these three things reasonably well, you’ll be a
student any college or university would be proud to claim). Indeed, without
attention to these learning objectives, most areas of the liberal arts cannot
be taught or researched. While a course in modern art might try to teach only
about the artists and what they create, it’s unlikely that students will go far
without asking some of these essential questions: “What is good art?” “Who is
an artist as opposed to a technician?” “Why do cultures develop and need art?”
In contrast, most (but not all) courses in business administration and similar
areas necessarily concentrate on “how” to do something—better, more quickly,
more cheaply. Questions like “Is it right to . . . ?” or “What are the human
implications of doing . . . ?” are not the first in mind for such branches of
study.
But alas, study in the liberal arts disciplines can fall well
short of the ideal. Courses in history, psychology, and other liberal arts
areas can be narrow and technical (depending on the subject and who is doing
the teaching). Liberal arts courses don’t
automatically guarantee learning results that meet the ideal standards. So,
for example, someone teaching a history course who sticks to an endless
narrative of names, dates, and facts contributes no more to an educated-person
ideal than the instructor of advanced widget sales.
Learning experiences that are soon outdated and inflexible in application are hardly the best for
building the educated person. But, the understanding, abilities, and traits
derived from a well-formulated set of educated-person requirements are seldom
swept aside by technological change or unpredictable future trends. Educated-person
learning allows students to be flexible, confident in the face of change.
To sum up, you need to do some thinking and digging around
within a system of educated-person requirements to find appropriate subjects of
study, good teachers, and stimulating learning strategies. Don’t be afraid to
find out if your school will allow learning outside the classroom as a strategy
to fulfill requirements. Overseas study, internships, community service, and
independent study may be excellent options for you to pursue.
[1] Definitions
supplied by the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U)
are helpful. But, as you will see, the use of the terms “liberal education,” “general
education,” “liberal learning,” and “core curriculum” is not uniform across
higher education. That’s why I prefer to concentrate on the ideal of the
educated person and how these variously labeled requirements fit with that
ideal. Here’s how the AAC&U defines liberal education and general
education:
“Liberal Education—Liberal Education is an approach to learning that
empowers individuals and prepares them to deal with complexity, diversity, and
change. It provides students with broad knowledge of the wider world (e.g.,
science, culture, and society) as well as in-depth study in a specific area of
interest. A liberal education helps students develop a sense of social
responsibility, as well as strong and transferable intellectual and practical
skills such as communication, analytical and problem-solving skills, and a
demonstrated ability to apply knowledge and skills in a real-world setting. General Education—The part of a liberal
education curriculum shared by all students. It provides broad exposure to
multiple disciplines and forms the basis for developing important intellectual
and civic capacities. General Education may also be called ‘the core
curriculum’ or ‘liberal studies.’”
[2]
The critical component of education,
in contrast to the technical, attempts to expose students to multiple and
conflicting perspectives on themselves and their society to test previously
unexamined assumptions. It strives to create conditions that stimulate students’
intellectual, moral, and personal development. Critical education deliberately
tries to stimulate students to formulate goals, develop their cognitive map of
the world, and construct viewpoints about their roles in society.
