Liberal Education and the Liberal Arts: Indispensable to America’s Global Future

Liberal Education and the Liberal Arts:

Indispensable to America’s Global Future

University of Michigan

The Liberal Arts & Sciences in the Research University Today: Histories, Challenges,

Futures

May 22, 2013Carol Geary Schneider

Overview

The Need for a Compelling Educational Vision

Centrality for the Liberal Arts and Sciences Within That Vision

Centrality for High Effort, High Impact Practices, Across the Arts and Sciences Curriculum

1. The Need for a Compelling Vision

Liberal Education/Liberal Arts Education:

Clarifying Our Terms

So, What is a Liberal Education?

The Enduring Goals – from the Ancient World to

the Present Day

Broad knowledge of science, history, society and cultures – leadership knowledge

Powers of the mind: reasoning, discernment, and judgment

Personal Integrity: ethical and civic responsibility

Liberal Education Remains Our Premier Educational

Tradition Because These Goals Remain Constant – and Essential – Even as the

Practices Adapt – Again and Again - to a Changing World

The LEAP Initiative: Contemporary Goals for Liberal

Education

Knowledge of Human Cultures and the Physical and Natural World

Intellectual and Practical Skills Personal and Social Responsibility Integrative and Applied Learning

Contemporary Goals for Liberal Education (cont.)

The LEAP Essential Learning Outcomes

– Educators Identified the Essential Outcomes

– Employers Strongly Endorse Them

But Something is Missing…

What’s Missing is a Strong, Compelling and Widely Embraced Educational Narrative Showing…

Why These Forms of Learning Are Central to America’s Global

Future and to Our Students’ Long-Term Well-Being

An Earlier Example of a Compelling Educational

Narrative

The Report of the Truman Commission on Higher Education, 1947, Vol. 1

The Truman Commission– 1947, Vol. 1

The “principal goals” of higher education are “to bring to all the people of the Nation:Education for a fuller realization of democracy in

every phase of living;Education directly and explicitly for international

understanding and cooperationEducation for the application of creative imagination and trained intelligence to the solution of social problems...”

Imagine This Vision Updated for our Time and Century!

Higher Education Needs Such a Vision to Make the Case for the

Essential and Indispensable Role of the Liberal Arts and Sciences in Achieving These

Fundamental Goals…

The Fuller Realization of DemocracyGlobal Cooperation and UnderstandingSolutions to the World’s Most Urgent ProblemsBrainpower for an Economy Absolutely

Dependent on Innovation…

The Nations’ Great Research Universities are Uniquely Well-

Positioned to Articulate a 21st Century Vision

And to Pit it Against the Narrow and Instrumental Conception of First-Job

Training Which Now Prevails and Which the Current Administration is

Doing Nothing to Reverse

This Conference Can Lead to the Needed Educational

Vision

2. Centrality for the Liberal Arts and Sciences

Connect the Liberal Arts and Sciences With the World's Big Questions—

Contemporary and Enduring

Challenges Within Our Democracy

Cultures—Multiple and MultiplyingEconomy—In the Midst of Painful Dislocations

and VolatilitySociety—River Over Immigration and Other

“Social Questions”Politics—Contentious, Fractured, Lost

Confidence in Public Sector

Within Our Democracy…

The Communications and Technology Revolutions…And Their Effects in All Sectors

Education and Equity: Generations of Children Still Left Behind

Social Mobility, the Environment, an Aging Population

A Decaying Infrastructure…and More

Global Challenges

Poverty, War, SufferingSustenance and Human Dignity

Illiteracy and Its EffectsEducation and Opportunity

Energy and the Environment Research and Innovation

Terrorism and FearLaw, Justice, Democracy, Freedom

Global Challenges (cont.)

The United States’ Historic Role in Global Leadership

And as a Voice and Force for Democratic Values and Democratic Self-Determination

The Challenges at Home and Abroad Are Immense—

And the Liberal Arts and Sciences are Absolutely Indispensable in Building

Both Our Commitment and our Capacity to Tackle Them Successfully

To Ensure Our Democratic and Global Future,

Citizens Need

The Capacity to EnvisionAnalytical Skills to Test AlternativesThe Desire and Ability to Solve Problems Across

DifferenceWisdom to Consider Larger Contexts and

ConsequencesCommitment to Devote Time and Talent to the

Making of a Better World

To Ensure the Centrality of the Liberal Arts and Sciences

We Need to Connect these Studies With the World’s Big questions—Contemporary and Enduring

– Example—Redesigning General Education as to Build Global Insight and Cross-Cultural Competence

– Example—Engaging Liberal Arts Students—From the First-Year—in Research Questions Tied to Health, Sustainability, Sustenance, Self-Determination, Democracy, etc…

3. Connecting Vision and Practice: Centrality for

High Effort, High Impact Practices, Across the Arts and Sciences Curriculum

Changing the Way We Organize Learning in the Liberal Arts and Sciences

Connecting High Impact Practices—e.g., Research, Community-Based Learning and Projects—with Big, Cross-Disciplinary Questions

Building Students’ Capacities to Envision, Investigate, Collaborate, and Apply Their Learning

In the Words of the Truman Commission:

The goal is to bring “creative imagination and trained intelligence to the solution of social

problems”—and problems in the workplace as well.

To achieve this goal, we need to foster integrative, problem-centered learning across the disciplines.

Big Cross-Disciplinary Questions

The First Year Experience Should Introduce Illustrative Problems

The Entire Educational Experience Should Build Capacity to Grapple with Significant Questions

The Students’ Portfolio Should Demonstrate Deep Engagement with One or More Significant Problems—Problems That Matter to the Student and Problems that Matter to the Wider Society

Big Cross-Disciplinary Questions (cont.)

Disciplinary Inquiry is Still Foundational.But Students Also Need Experience in Connecting

Their Disciplines with Other Perspectives and Voices.

The Key Question for Research Universities—

and for All of Us…

Will We Use the Digital Revolution as An Opportunity to Flip the Classroom—and Even the Curriculum?– More Time for Collaborative and Cross-Disciplinary

Projects, Investigation, and Research?– More Opportunities for Community-Based Learning?– More Opportunity to Work With Faculty on Significant

Problems and Questions?– More High Impact Practices for Students Who

Currently Miss Out?

Four Recommendations for Research University Educators and Leaders

Articulate that Compelling Vision—For Liberal Education in the Service of Society

Connect the Liberal Arts and Sciences with the World’s Big Questions

Focus the Curriculum on Fostering Powers of the Mind—and Heart

Expect Each Student—Yes, Every One of Them!—To Devote Time and Talent to Big Questions of Their Own Choosing, Support their Efforts, and Celebrate the Results