In a cultural environment that maintains that post-secondary education ought to produce job ready graduates, the importance of the liberal arts and the competencies they teach, along with the questions they engage, often comes up for debate. In such a culture, honors may appear frivolous, elitist, and rear-guard. Angela Marie Salas defends both…

The computational problem-solving mode of thought that has become widespread since the computer revolution has two aspects. The first aspect is the organization of one's view of the world into "context-free" terms and uniform relations between these terms. The relations that are to hold among these terms are taken to be standardized, and…

Defends the role of humanities instruction in the education of engineering undergraduates in the areas of problem solving, risk taking, and the synthesis of metaphors and symbols. (AEA)

The benefits of studying the humanities to the business executive are considered. The humanities can help develop both the values and functional skills that are necessary for executive success. Competence in value analysis helps future executives to understand the full implications of the economic system, especially when it is followed by the…

Memory is the primary mechanism of modern education. Despite memory's importance in other ways, it is not the primary tool for solving problems, making theories or plotting courses of action. Students should be taught how to separate trivial from important information by using critical judgments, ethical standards, and logic. (MLW)

Four commission reports on higher education are discussed. Each report is labeled by its particular thrust: classical, liberal arts, progressive, and liberal reform. The studies reflect the view that resources have been misallocated, arts and humanities remain the best hope for sustaining high cultural standards, and too much specialization…

Papers presented at this conference focus primarily on the development of critical thinking and problem solving skills. Topics related to critical thinking include metacognition, curriculum development, and teaching strategies in foreign languages; teaching critical reading of literature to develop critical thinking skills; use of guided design in…

A task force of community and junior college representatives defined and tested the hypothesis that study of the humanities offers students a way to develop certain skills and attitudes including working with others, solving problems, making decisions, and adapting to changes in the workplace. (JOW)

Describes decision-aiding software, Policy/Goal Percentaging (P/G%), that can process a set of controversial alternatives when used with microcomputer-aided instruction. The benefits and objectives of microcomputer use are discussed, and applications of the software to problems in the fields of natural sciences, social sciences, and the humanities…

The increasing trend toward specialization in education and reasons why corporations need college graduates educated in the liberal arts are discussed. Individuals are needed by corporations with a broad cultural background and high cognitive capacity for problem-solving and for perceiving profit-taking within the context of moral principles and…

Approaches used by colleges and universities to implement values clarification and inquiry, moral education and development, and normative and applied ethics into the curriculum are examined, along with the way that the schools are defining values education in terms of their own students and mission. In "Values in the Curriculum," Edward…