This article presents the authors' response to David Schweingruber's comments on their paper about sociology's disciplinary core being reflected in introductory sociology textbooks. In his comment, Schweingruber argues that introductory textbooks do not adequately reflect the disciplinary core because the authors of such texts employ terms that…

Presents a rationale for a reassessment of general education. Provides and illustrates a General Education Program Schematic which includes eight concerns: student learning objectives, interdisciplinary approaches, team teaching, community involvement, career awareness, basic business education, computer literacy, and independent study. (AYC)

Suggests curriculum may be improved through comparative studies of other societies. Claims there is little coherent education available in England and Wales. Provides models of the educational system of other countries; discusses the role of the teacher as a professional; and explores support for a core curriculum. (KO)

As educators abroad have turned to U.S. colleagues for advice about how to teach democratic citizenship, U.S. educators have been challenged to think more carefully about what civic education is, how to do it, and how to justify it. This paper reflects and deliberates about three key questions: (1) What, exactly, is a common education for…

Noting that the change to comprehensive secondary schools in Britain has not been accompanied by a rethinking of the former divided curriculum, the author presents a model for a compulsory core curriculum for all secondary students through the fifth year. (SJL)

Compares traditional and nontraditional curricula in the area of organization of information and proposes a new model for organization of information in which information is redefined and cataloging is perceived as a mode of organizational behavior. Some implications of this model on the core curriculum for organization of information are…

George Bernard Shaw famously quipped that "a Catholic university is a contradiction in terms." While the party-line response to Shaw is that the term "Catholic university" is instead a tautology, those who work, study, and teach at such institutions often find themselves pondering Shaw's oxymoron, asking themselves: how are…

The task of general education should be to provide a broad framework for understanding, an intellectual context within which factual information can meaningfully be comprehended. Each framework should have at least three qualities in common: an historical dimension, an intellectual dimension, and an analytical dimension. (MLW)

Advocates a skills-based curriculum as an inexpensive way of preparing children for the future. Briefly discusses the eight independent learning skills to be taught: reading, writing, research, planning, problem solving, self discipline, self evaluation, and presentation. This model was developed at the Zoo School in Grand Rapids, Michigan. (SJL)

This scheme for a core curriculum rejects central control over the precise body of knowledge taught or the teaching methods used but advocates some control over experiments in education and the early assessment of their results. (Author/SJL)

Describes the Liberal Arts Studies (LAS) Program at Medgar Evers College (New York), which successfully merges basic skills and liberal arts education. Each LAS course is considered part of the foundation for a specific professional studies program, while providing knowledge and abilities that contribute to lifelong learning. (DMM)

The debate over the nature and form of general education is discussed. The Project on General Education Models, which surveyed colleges and universities that had taken concrete steps to review or revise their general education programs, is described. Some new programs are outlined. (MLW)

The level of specificity of objectives and content in field education programs are described, the structure and function of monitoring and evaluation systems are analyzed, and a framework for modularizing field education content to achieve a high degree of precision in teaching and learning is proposed. (Author/MLW)

The current debate about the core curriculum is seen as focusing on "means" rather than the "ends" of general education. Unless the aims of education are debated and some consensus is achieved, it is thought the quality of undergraduate education is not likely to improve. (Author/MLW)

A promising model for professional education is the workshop, studio, or clinic, wherein a team takes on the complexity of actual situations and must figure out what to do. In these situations, individual abstracted problem solving is secondary. In general education, instructors and students are less protected by disciplinary fences. (MLW)