When Charles William Eliot launched his radical reforms at Harvard in the late 1870s, he was convinced that the fixed curriculum, based on English liberal education models, was ill suited to the democratic spirit, the cultural diversity, and the rapidly changing circumstances in America. Seventy years later, in a post-World War II climate of…

The individual element of multicultural education needs to be recognized. The Association of American Colleges' national project, "Engaging Cultural Legacies: Shaping Core Curricula in the Humanities," helps colleges develop curriculum that challenge students to explore the humanities as reflected in their own social values, ideas, and…

Discussion at the Wingspread Conference on the New American College (August 1994) concerning a new model of educational excellence in higher education is summarized. The model emphasizes the need to connect general education with specialized education, theoretical learning with practical learning, and development of intellectual skills with…

Both general education and the structure and process of specialization on the undergraduate level must be reformed in relation to each other to strengthen curriculum and practice of liberal learning. Reform could mean either redistributing the time allotted in the undergraduate curriculum or tying general education to specific student interests.…

Lack of support for language and literature study in higher education reflects the larger attitudes of American culture: that learning for its own sake has little value. This provincialism is outmoded, dangerous, and intellectually indefensible, and must be eliminated in order to redefine language and literature studies. (MSE)

Philosophical origins and evolution of a Brooklyn College (New York) early childhood/elementary teacher education curriculum that integrates studies in liberal arts/sciences and teacher education are described. The curriculum includes a humanities, social sciences, and mathematics/sciences strand. It was developed in response to local realities…

Even during the reconstruction of general education in the college curriculum there remains great confusion about what general education should be, made worse by a preoccupation with educational process rather than outcomes. Serious attention to institutional, mission, philosophy, goals, and structures is necessary, and will enhance the faculty's…