Choosing one of the myriad instruments by which to measure civic engagement and psychosocial well-being is relatively easy. The hard part is choosing the one--or two, or three--that will actually connect the most salient elements of civic engagement and psychosocial well-being to the goals of a particular course, project, or institution. The…

Global perspective-taking involves three critical, developmentally based questions: (1) How do I know?; (2) Who am I?; and (3) How do I relate? As students grapple with these questions, their answers mutually reinforce the cognitive, interpersonal, and intrapersonal domains of human development, highlighting its holistic and integrated nature.…

If one hangs around public universities that have less than selective admissions policies, one is bound to hear a litany of complaints about today's students. They lack the attitude required for productive and serious academic work, and too many lack disciplined study habits; they have short attention spans and very little patience with academic…

The author had a conversation one late afternoon with an untenured colleague from another department regarding chili pepper ratings. Her colleague explained that the popular RateMyProfessor.com Web site allows students to rate faculty members not only according to standards of "clarity," "helpfulness," and something called "easiness," but also in…

In this article, the author shares her perspectives on the Bringing Theory to Practice project and liberal education. The Bringing Theory to Practice project has developed strategies and support for the necessary research and for initiatives individual campuses have proposed to affect the multiple and troubling increases in forms of student…

One of the more intriguing trends at the turn of the twenty-first century is the ascendant influence of religion in various aspects of American life. The renewed interest in religion and spirituality is not just a function of aging baby boomers acknowledging their mortality. The University of Pennsylvania reported that 86 percent of those between…

The educational purpose of the curricular breadth encouraged at liberal arts institutions is for students to acquire a variety of skills and knowledge, but it is often claimed that most skills are taught "across the curriculum," and liberal arts colleges tend to downplay disciplinary information when listing their educational goals. In this…

The great naturalist Edward O. Wilson's (1998) recent plea for the "consilience" of knowledge should strike a chord in the heart of every generalist. Invoking the unfinished agenda of the Enlightenment, Wilson has called for a rapprochement among the several branches of learning so that they can be viewed as interrelated and constituting a whole.…

In this article, the author discusses the issues on the impression of today's students towards liberal education. Results found that, students did not have a working definition of a liberal education and did not spontaneously value the outcomes of such an education. Consequently, students tend to focus on specific course-oriented outcomes; and…

Many faculty members generally assume that their students understand the purposes of college learning and that they are aware of the assumptions about liberal education embedded in the program configurations designed to advance it. In fact, it may very well be that, as Jerry Graff (2003) has suggested, our students are "clueless" about how to…

One of the most critical challenges facing institutions of higher education in the twenty-first century is the need to be more accountable for producing equitable educational outcomes for students of color. Although access to higher education has increased significantly over the past two decades, it has not translated into equitable educational…

Liberal Education and America's Promise: Excellence for Everyone as a Nation Goes to College (LEAP), the decade-long campaign launched earlier this year by the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U), rests on two fundamental premises. The first holds that there is an emerging, if hidden, consensus among business and civic…

Reports on thoughts expressed by nine Future Faculty Fellows, graduate students active in the Preparing Future Faculty program, attending the annual meeting of the Association of American Colleges and Universities. Comments addressed some fundamental questions facing education including the basic task to accomplish, questions about quality, and…

Reports on a study of the long-term effects of Antioch College's cooperative education program. Seventy-three 1946-1955 graduates completed work history questionnaires asking about jobs held since graduation and other relevant life events. Responses were analyzed in relation to respondents' co-op files in college archival records. Quantitative and…

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)